OHNY Times Square

Woke up early to get to my volunteering stint for the week, OHNY's Peeling Back The Neon tour of Times Square. As described on their website:

Peeling Back the Neon! April 21, 2007
Think Times Square is all electric glimmer and gloss? Join OHNY to catch a glimpse behind the neon. Offering a look at a century of design, The Times Square Alliance tour guides will take you to spaces and places that will help define “The Crossroads of the World.”

We began the tour (led by Judy) at the Times Square Information Center (located inside the now landmarked Embassy Movie Theatre). She started off with a quick history, both of "the Deuce" in general and of the Embassy Movie Theatre and the story of its landmarking in 1999. She then took us outside to view the Louis H. Friedland designed building (1560 Broadway) from its 46th Street side; Judy pointed out the four statues along the 2nd floor of the building. Turns out the then (1927) owner of the bulding, Israel Miller, wanted to pay homage to the theatre stars of the day and commissioned Alexander Stirling Calder (the mobile dude's daddy) to make them. The women so sculpted are Mary Pickford as Little Lord Fauntleroy, Rosa Ponselle as Norma, Ethel Barrymore as Ophelia, & Marilyn Miller as Sunny.

Pics of the statues here.

We ventured farther away from Times Square along 46th and stopped in for some quiet reflection inside the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin aka Smoky Mary's. Judy told us a hilarious (though probably incredibly sacrilicious) story that happened in the church years ago.

Back outside on the plaza next to Father Duffy Square (the former and future site of the TKTS booth) where we saw the Naked Cowboy honing his craft and grabbing some ass. An article about the old TKTS booth with a mention of The Israel Miller Building's landmarking. I was too far away from Judy to hear what she was saying above the roar of the traffic around us and the screeching subway below, so I reverted back into usher mode and discussed future volunteering efforts with the OHNY coordinator.

Our final stop on the tour was André Balazs's Hotel QT (shouldn't it be Hotel DL?), famous for its stylish/budget party vibe (the rooms originally had no doors/screens for the showers and still have no doors to the main bathroom area). Maybe I'll stay there next time I'm out on the town...