Someone I follow on IG (@thebackstageblonde) works as a Broadway dresser on various shows and leads theater district tours, and literally lives in Times Square. Work wise it makes sense for her and she's very into the history of all the buildings, theaters etc. I do love when people have enthusiasm for unusual things, and I also love that you are not so cynical as to just 100% make fun of someone who says that.
I live in Washington Heights and am thankful to be in a calmer part of the city, but being in Times Square never gets old - not walking, but the moment with a good view, in the dark, after a show. It just reminds me I live in a really cool city even if I rarely even leave my neighborhood.
Ok so as a former New Yorker of ten years who also had to work there before Conde Nast moved downtown, I deeply understand the loathing. Being trapped amid slow walkers in the fetid stench of tourist BO and steaming trash while hungover and late to work is the seventh circle of hell. BUT as a nine year old musical theater geek getting off the bus from Allentown Pennsylvania and seeing those bright lights for the first time, I get people's excitement.
It's bold, it's brash, it's chaotic, it's over-the-top and in-your-face. It's the spirit of so much of NYC but in its crassest, most commercial form. I think the way to love (or at least tolerate) Times Square is to go rarely and allow yourself the same sense of wonder and awe that you do in nature. Look at this wild place! Look at what humans can make! Think of all of the wanting and yearning and dreaming and making that's happened here. Then get the hell downtown and get yourself a drink. You earned it.
I feel like this entire post describes me in so many ways... But there are positive ways to look at this. First, he is trying to make you LOL. Two, he is sending you a signal that he can love you no matter how horrible flawed and awful you may (perceive yourself) to be.
This is hysterical. Obviously living in Times Square would be pure hell.
And yet. I feel the same way that you do about tourists, but when I really examine where it's coming from, I think it's a form of classism? Your experiences with tourists in your hometown are real and objectively annoying (or more than annoying. Infuriating!). But I think to some extent you're aware that some of your disdain for tourists in Times Square (or other Very Popular Places, say, The Eiffel Tower) is rooted in judgment of what you perceive to be a lack of taste, a lack of originality, and an inability to appreciate "real beauty."
I think whether or not its intentional, Kellen is effectively subverting the idea that earnestness is cringe.
I'm with you in your loathing of Times Square, but I still think everyone who ventures to NYC needs to see it once and decide for themselves. My elderly mother and I passed through Times Square once, and that ultra conservative soul was delighted to see the Naked Cowboy. You never know!
I would add that one should not traverse Times Square if one is hoping to speed walk. :)
OMG, Orlando!!! I just about wet my pants laughing sooo much!
Bahahaha!!!🤣🤣🤣
Also, very poignant: "Understanding the diversity of influence that creates fashion and culture does."
.
Buuuuut, serious now, HOW do you KNOW he IS who he SAYS he is???
I've never used a dating app. A friend of mine wants us both to try it out. I prefer meeting IRL.
Aaaaaaand.....crikey!.... IF he IS studying psychology, don't you think he'd throw some curve balls atcha to test you out? Check your mind on the bell curve?
I dunno.
Dating apps in general scare me (and I'm otherwise distinctly brave).
K, now I neeeeeeeeeed ypu to keep us in the loop with this one.😉
As an elder millennial who has never lived in NYC but have visited at various times throughout my life AND grew up in Chicago (for context), I don't hate Times Square. I like to wander through it and see all the humanity melding together there. It's also where the half-priced theatre tix are! However, I cannot imagine wanting to live there. I'm not sure what it says about someone that WOULD want to live in that zaniness. This guy sounds sweet - like an excited puppy - but hopefully, if anything happens with you two, he eventually calms down enough to enjoy the quiet.
I liked the anonymity of walking through the "mall" in Yosemite and not knowing anyone. You never expected to run into anyone you knew and on the rare occasion that you did it was a treat.
Orlando - you must be my long-lost twin when it comes to both the blood-soaked hellscape that is being trapped in the midst of Slow Walkers, and having to share your lovely home town (I lived in S.F. in the 90s, in New Orleans after Katrina, and now live in Nevada City in the Sierra foothills) with Tourons, who are part tourist/part moron . . . but this Kellan sounds worth finding out what he means when he says he wants to live in Times Square!
I used to work at the Disney Store on Pier 39, as well as the Warner Bros. Store in San Francisco Centre and that's the term we came up with for far too many of these sheeple.
If your relationship with him is still developing then why are you telling me his NAME and where he works and his sexual preference publicly. Betting that may sink your boat, especially since it isn’t a common name. Privacy!
MA'AM! (Yes, you deserve to be ma'am'd for this). I have been making content on the internet for over a decade. I have had many a boyfriend who valued their privacy and did not want to be named online. Kellen is a unique name, and also NOT HIS NAME. I'm not an idiot. If you'd like to try and figure out who this person is by googling the ninety Equinox locations in New York and then trying to figure out which hot gay trainer this is (hint: there are HUNDRED OF HOT GAY EQUINOX TRAINERS in Manhattan) be my guest. Otherwise take your mansplaining elsewhere I'm full up on mansplainers here.
My husband works there and occasionally I visit him or go to our dentist (also there) because it's the union dentist. Your descriptions of it are exactly how I experience it and now I am also wondering if there's something I'm missing...it's nice to know the inside of someone else's brain closely resembles mine and if I'm crazy at least it's in good company
I lived in NYC for 5 years, but had to leave for my job. I went back for a conference in November and stayed in Times Square and was IN HEAVEN! I was close to everything - could see everything. I had access to anything I wanted and there was just so much going on. My apartment in NYC was in Morningside Heights/West Harlem and all I could see from my windows were other apartment buildings. I could not even see the sky. Would have killed to live in Times Square (and still would).
Someone I follow on IG (@thebackstageblonde) works as a Broadway dresser on various shows and leads theater district tours, and literally lives in Times Square. Work wise it makes sense for her and she's very into the history of all the buildings, theaters etc. I do love when people have enthusiasm for unusual things, and I also love that you are not so cynical as to just 100% make fun of someone who says that.
I live in Washington Heights and am thankful to be in a calmer part of the city, but being in Times Square never gets old - not walking, but the moment with a good view, in the dark, after a show. It just reminds me I live in a really cool city even if I rarely even leave my neighborhood.
Ok so as a former New Yorker of ten years who also had to work there before Conde Nast moved downtown, I deeply understand the loathing. Being trapped amid slow walkers in the fetid stench of tourist BO and steaming trash while hungover and late to work is the seventh circle of hell. BUT as a nine year old musical theater geek getting off the bus from Allentown Pennsylvania and seeing those bright lights for the first time, I get people's excitement.
It's bold, it's brash, it's chaotic, it's over-the-top and in-your-face. It's the spirit of so much of NYC but in its crassest, most commercial form. I think the way to love (or at least tolerate) Times Square is to go rarely and allow yourself the same sense of wonder and awe that you do in nature. Look at this wild place! Look at what humans can make! Think of all of the wanting and yearning and dreaming and making that's happened here. Then get the hell downtown and get yourself a drink. You earned it.
How are we going to find out what Kellen really means???! Orlando, you're the best, and I look forward to reading Part 2 of the Times Square saga.
I grew up in Sausalito, CA and I feel exactly like you do about tourists...
I feel like this entire post describes me in so many ways... But there are positive ways to look at this. First, he is trying to make you LOL. Two, he is sending you a signal that he can love you no matter how horrible flawed and awful you may (perceive yourself) to be.
This is hysterical. Obviously living in Times Square would be pure hell.
And yet. I feel the same way that you do about tourists, but when I really examine where it's coming from, I think it's a form of classism? Your experiences with tourists in your hometown are real and objectively annoying (or more than annoying. Infuriating!). But I think to some extent you're aware that some of your disdain for tourists in Times Square (or other Very Popular Places, say, The Eiffel Tower) is rooted in judgment of what you perceive to be a lack of taste, a lack of originality, and an inability to appreciate "real beauty."
I think whether or not its intentional, Kellen is effectively subverting the idea that earnestness is cringe.
I'm with you in your loathing of Times Square, but I still think everyone who ventures to NYC needs to see it once and decide for themselves. My elderly mother and I passed through Times Square once, and that ultra conservative soul was delighted to see the Naked Cowboy. You never know!
I would add that one should not traverse Times Square if one is hoping to speed walk. :)
OMG, Orlando!!! I just about wet my pants laughing sooo much!
Bahahaha!!!🤣🤣🤣
Also, very poignant: "Understanding the diversity of influence that creates fashion and culture does."
.
Buuuuut, serious now, HOW do you KNOW he IS who he SAYS he is???
I've never used a dating app. A friend of mine wants us both to try it out. I prefer meeting IRL.
Aaaaaaand.....crikey!.... IF he IS studying psychology, don't you think he'd throw some curve balls atcha to test you out? Check your mind on the bell curve?
I dunno.
Dating apps in general scare me (and I'm otherwise distinctly brave).
K, now I neeeeeeeeeed ypu to keep us in the loop with this one.😉
As an elder millennial who has never lived in NYC but have visited at various times throughout my life AND grew up in Chicago (for context), I don't hate Times Square. I like to wander through it and see all the humanity melding together there. It's also where the half-priced theatre tix are! However, I cannot imagine wanting to live there. I'm not sure what it says about someone that WOULD want to live in that zaniness. This guy sounds sweet - like an excited puppy - but hopefully, if anything happens with you two, he eventually calms down enough to enjoy the quiet.
Omg this reminds me of when Ziwe interviewed Andrew Yang and he said Times Square was his favorite subway stop 😂
I liked the anonymity of walking through the "mall" in Yosemite and not knowing anyone. You never expected to run into anyone you knew and on the rare occasion that you did it was a treat.
Orlando - you must be my long-lost twin when it comes to both the blood-soaked hellscape that is being trapped in the midst of Slow Walkers, and having to share your lovely home town (I lived in S.F. in the 90s, in New Orleans after Katrina, and now live in Nevada City in the Sierra foothills) with Tourons, who are part tourist/part moron . . . but this Kellan sounds worth finding out what he means when he says he wants to live in Times Square!
I can't wait to hear more!
Love the word tourons. Why didn't I think of that?!
I used to work at the Disney Store on Pier 39, as well as the Warner Bros. Store in San Francisco Centre and that's the term we came up with for far too many of these sheeple.
If you hate tourists that much, why are you leading a tourist group trip to Mexico?
...To show them how NOT to be assholes when they travel, DUH! ;)
I live in Las Vegas. Oh the stories I have about tourists acting stupid.
If your relationship with him is still developing then why are you telling me his NAME and where he works and his sexual preference publicly. Betting that may sink your boat, especially since it isn’t a common name. Privacy!
MA'AM! (Yes, you deserve to be ma'am'd for this). I have been making content on the internet for over a decade. I have had many a boyfriend who valued their privacy and did not want to be named online. Kellen is a unique name, and also NOT HIS NAME. I'm not an idiot. If you'd like to try and figure out who this person is by googling the ninety Equinox locations in New York and then trying to figure out which hot gay trainer this is (hint: there are HUNDRED OF HOT GAY EQUINOX TRAINERS in Manhattan) be my guest. Otherwise take your mansplaining elsewhere I'm full up on mansplainers here.
My sincere apologies! Glad to hear he is still anonymous. Peace.
My husband works there and occasionally I visit him or go to our dentist (also there) because it's the union dentist. Your descriptions of it are exactly how I experience it and now I am also wondering if there's something I'm missing...it's nice to know the inside of someone else's brain closely resembles mine and if I'm crazy at least it's in good company
I lived in NYC for 5 years, but had to leave for my job. I went back for a conference in November and stayed in Times Square and was IN HEAVEN! I was close to everything - could see everything. I had access to anything I wanted and there was just so much going on. My apartment in NYC was in Morningside Heights/West Harlem and all I could see from my windows were other apartment buildings. I could not even see the sky. Would have killed to live in Times Square (and still would).