West 46 St, Times Square

West 46th in Times Square starts off in the east at Duffy Square. It's basically a big walk island with some statues and people trying to sell things. From what I hear, though, you can get half-priced Broadway tickets though I'm sure the seats are in the nose bleed section. This place is always packed and extremely hard to navigate so I try to avoid it whenever possible.
The Howard Johnson's building which used to be an actual Howard Johnson's has quite the history for something that looks like it may as well be in outer space at this point. It was once a gay burlesque, a regular burlesque and a dance center where Henry Miller met his wife June. Across the street is the Marriott Hotel. It destroyed 5 theatres to allow for its construction in the 80's which led to a landmarking project throughout Times Square. It's an ugly building from stem to stern. There were a ton of great theatres on this block but now only the Lunt-Fontanne and Richard Rodgers Theatre are right here. Both were built in the early 20th century and featured debuts like Guys and Dolls and The Sound of Music. There are several other hotels on this block but none of them are great and none of them are cheap because of their location. For the amount that third rate hotels can charge in this area, I'm really surprised that they all stay in business. The two old theatres are lovely, but it's hard to see the beauty of the buildings because everything on this block is covered in lights, advertisements, tickers, etc. It's what Times Square is famous for now, but I think it's exhausting to look at.
Coupling the lights with the tourists, noise, trash, and just crowds of people, this is a street and an area in general that I avoid like the plague. You can't get any decent food here, there's no neighborhood bar . . .it's just tourism everywhere. And, it's really annoying.