42nd Street

            42nd Street is a major crosstown street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, known for its theaters, especially near the intersection with Broadway at Times Square. It is also the name of the region of the theater district (and, at times, the red-light district) near that intersection. The street has held a special place in New Yorkers' imaginations since at least the turn of the 20th century, and is the site of some of New York's best known buildings, including (east to west) the United Nations, Chrysler Building, Grand Central Terminal, Times Square and the Port Authority Bus Terminal.The corner of 42nd Street and Broadway, at the southeast corner of Times Square, was the eastern terminus of the Lincoln Highway, the first road across the United States, which was conceived and mapped in 1913.

          In the early 1990s, city government encouraged a clean-up of the Times Square area. In 1990, the city government took over six of the historic theaters on the block of  42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues. In 1993, the Walt Disney Corporation bought the New Amsterdam Theater, which it renovated a few years later. Since the mid-1990s, the block has again become home to legitimate theaters and mainstream movie theaters, along with shops, restaurants and attractions that draw millions to the city every year. This area is now co-signed as "New 42nd St" to signify this change.