One hundred years ago today on April 8, 1904, New York City Mayor George McClellan stood in the middle of Longacre Square, a three avenue, 13 block hourglass shaped thoroughfare with Adolph Ochs, the publisher of The New York Times. The paper had just built a new building in the Square that year on the odd triangular lot where Seventh Avenue, Broadway and 42nd Street intersect, the second tallest in the City, to house the headquarters of their newspaper. To commemorate this event, the Mayor signed a proclamation officially renaming the area after the newspaper - and Times Square was born.

In October of 1904, a new subway line, which was currently under construction throughout the five boroughs of New York City, added a station that linked Times Square with Grand Central Station. That link lured 350,000 people to the underground rails for that first ride. Then, on December 31, 1904, The New York Times, to celebrate the successful lobbying of the Mayor's Office to rename Longacre Square in their favor, held a New Year's Eve celebration with fireworks, and a song by composer George M. Cohan called, Give My Regards to Broadway. This first Times Square New Year's Eve celebration immediately had Times Square replace City Hall Park as the favorite gathering site for New Yorkers to ring in the new year. In fact, the celebration became so huge and attracted so many people that in 1906, Adolph Ochs arranged to have a large illuminated four-hundred-pound glass ball perched on a 375-foot marble-and-limestone needle lowered from atop the building's tower precisely at midnight to signal the end of one year and the beginning of the next - a tradition which still continues today.

Over the decades, Times Square has gone through many changes, and a few ups and downs. In the early 1900s, Times Square became known as "The Great White Way" for the many theatre productions being held there. In fact, 113 productions were held on 42 theatre stages during the 1914-1915 theatre season - despite the fact that the country was in the middle of the first World War. During The Great Depression, these theatres served as escape routes for people who wanted to forget, at least for a little while, the hardships facing Americans. While many theatres have closed over the last 100 years, many remain and still entertain both New Yorkers and tourists from all over the world to this day.

It was in the late 1960s and early 1970s that Times Square went from a bustling theatre district to the prime location for live nude shows, erotic bookstores, and X-rated movies. In the late 1970s, the number of adult establishments in Times Square reached 140. Along with this new form of entertainment came a skyrocketing crime rate that turned Times Square from "the place to be" to the most dangerous place in the City, keeping both tourists and New Yorkers far away.

Times Square continued to deteriorate until 1993 when Mayor Rudolph Giuliani took office and decided to make the revitalization of Times Square one of his top priorities. When he took office, the number of adult establishments in Times Square went from 140 to 36, a number that Giuliani still considered to be too much. Using the full resources of his Administration, which included a combination of new legislation and condemning certain areas to the wrecking ball, he chased out the adult establishments and replaced them with legitimate businesses who wanted to be the first to re-occupy the new Times Square, which Giuliani slowly transformed from the center of the adult entertainment industry to a new business hub for major corporations.

Today's Times Square is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world, with 27,000 residents living in the 13-block area, hundreds of thousands working at the various places of business, and an estimated 26 million annual visitors each year. Many major corporations including Morgan Stanley/Dean Witter, Conde Nast and NASDAQ have brought their corporate headquarters to Times Square. Major networks like ABC and MTV broadcast live shows from Times Square every day - and over one million people line the streets along with billions watching on television every New Year's Eve to watch the famous ball drop to mark the beginning of each new year.

My personal history of Times Square dates back to the early 1980s when my mother took me to see my first two Broadway shows, Annie and Peter Pan. As a young boy, I was amazed at the incredible sets and live performances taking place right before my eyes. I still remember watching Sandy Duncan, who played Peter Pan, soar above my head as she flew over the audience on the way to Never Land. Since those two plays, I have seen a few more, including Once Upon A Mattress, Beauty and the Beast, Riverdance, and Phantom of the Opera. While I may be older since I have seen my first Broadway play, I still enjoy watching the curtain rise on "The Great White Way."

Although I may have some pretty fond memories of Times Square, I do have a few bad ones. My most vivid is when my friend Jeff and I as teenagers wanted to go to Times Square to, "check it out." At that time, Times Square was still considered New York City's "Red Light District." As soon as we got out of the train, we were instantly offered drugs, fake Driver's licenses - and sex - right out in the open. Almost every store sold pornography and offered, "ID Cards" to anyone who wanted one - and prostitutes walked around freely wearing nothing but lingerie - or less. It was when we witnessed a man running down the street screaming, "He's got my wallet! He's got my wallet!" and then collapsing in the middle of the street that we realized that Times Square was not a good place for two 14-year-old boys to hang out, so we quickly jumped in a cab and made a hasty exit.

Since that incident, and since Mayor Giuliani cleaned up Times Square, I have been back too many times to count, especially lately. Every time a friend of mine from the South Park Digest comes to visit me, the first place I take them is Times Square. In order to have them experience the true feeling of being there, I take them to Father Duffy Triangle, right in the middle of Times Square. I love watching the looks on the faces of my friends who have never been to Times Square before as they do a complete 360-degree turn and realize that they are right in the middle of the Crossroads of the World.

There are many things to see in New York City, but Times Square will forever serve as the focal point for New York City's entertainment, celebration - and triumph.

Happy Anniversary.