During the Great Depression, crime rates rose all throughout Manhattan. Men, who were losing their jobs, left and right were desperate for any income they could find - even if it meant turning to such unsavory activities as gambling or even crime. In the 1930s - the period in which Runyon's short stories took place - a real element of danger appeared in Times Square for the first time. The decidedly more menacing midtown was a deterrent to the 'everyday" folks, and even tourists began to stray away from the area at night. Indeed, Broadway and the Square had always been a late-night destination. However, late night quickly transitioned to all-night, as diners, arcades, bars, and pool halls began to keep their doors open twenty-four hours a day. The diners, particularly, became hotspots for late-night loitering. Restaurants like Lindy's (The New York deli on which Guy's and Doll's "Mindy's" is based) offered a place to congregate for the low cost of a cup of coffee or a piece of cheesecake. Out on the sidewalks, a seedy scene played out each night. Multitudes of prostitutes, pickpockets, mafia, grifters, drug addicts,and drunks wandered the streets, looking for business or entertainment. It was a well-known fact that Arnold Rothsetein - Jewish Mafioso leader - declared the corner outside Lindy's his unofficial office, and would stand there conducting business into all hours of the morning. Grifters and hustlers played their games on the streets in plain view - dice and card games took place in alleys and in the back of businesses. Though tourists still flocked to the "glamorous" Times Square, they did it by daylight - returning to more savory parts of the city after their evening's entertainment was over. Nighttime on 42nd street became known as a "paradise for losers" - a mecca for the seedy underbelly of the entertainment district.
When Fiorello La Guardia was elected mayor of New York City in 1934, he took a stance against the many crimes manifested in Times Square - with a particular interest in ending criminal gambling. He declared war on all crime, and encouraged the police to take a harder stance on any criminal activity. It was La Guardia who encouraged the "muss 'em up" attitude of the New York Police - he would get results, one way or another. Slot machines, permanent craps and card games, and lotteries all saw persecution and shut-down under La Guardia and his rough-and-tumble team of cops. Prostitutes abandoned their corners, fleeing back into the burlesque theaters lining 42nd street. Bookies and dealers indeed abandoned the alleys that had housed their operations for so long - but didn't give up. Instead, they moved inside. In the cover of night, storage rooms and garages in the back of bustling buildings played host to floating card and dice games - the destination never decided too far in advance. The popularity of these games grew under persecution, attracting more gamblers than before La Guardia's bans. Though the mayor triumphed over slot machines, his fight against other forms of gambling had severely backfired. La Guardia's war against crime did accomplish one major thing - to convince the rest of New York that Times Square was hopelessly wicked - at least for the time being.
After the end of World War II, thousands of soldiers and sailors returned to the city. New York, like the rest of the country, experienced an economic boom. Life returned to a pre-depression "normal" after the war. Tourism picked back up, with vacationers flocking again to the city, cameras in hand. Enthused developers prepared plans for Broadway. Lines of sparkly skyscrapers and public artworks were planned, investors were informed, and contractors were contacted. However, all this planning and peculation really went nowhere. Times Square resisted any change, and despite some new neon, remained the same low-rent pleasure quarter it had become in the fifteen years prior. Even as the rest of Manhattan prospered and grew, the square stood still in time - as it would for years to come.
Information Drawn From:
American Guide Series. New York City Guide; a Comprehensive Guide to the Five Boroughs of the Metropolis--Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, and Richmond ... New York: Random House, 1939. 167-73. Print.
Bianco, Anthony. Ghosts of 42nd Street: A History of America's Most Infamous Block. New York: William Morrow, 2004. Print.
Garrett, Charles. The La Guardia Years, Machine and Reform Politics in New York City.New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers UP, 1961. 124-76. Print.
Heckscher, August, and Robinson, Phyllis C. When LaGuardia Was Mayor: New York's Legendary Years. New York: W.W. Norton &, 1978. 107-26. Print.
Bianco, Anthony. Ghosts of 42nd Street: A History of America's Most Infamous Block. New York: William Morrow, 2004. Print.
Garrett, Charles. The La Guardia Years, Machine and Reform Politics in New York City.New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers UP, 1961. 124-76. Print.
Heckscher, August, and Robinson, Phyllis C. When LaGuardia Was Mayor: New York's Legendary Years. New York: W.W. Norton &, 1978. 107-26. Print.