Central Midtown

Location: Central Midtown (sometimes called simply "Midtown") comprises the area between 40th and 59th streets, flanked by Eighth Avenue to the West and Park Avenue to the East.

Character: Central Midtown is what many people imagine the entire city of New York to be. Skyscrapers, neon lights, crowds of people, a cacaphony of car horns, and so on. Its most famous location, Times Square is best known precisely for this type of aesthetic. It is perhaps one of the world's most famous interesections. Even subway announcers (or digital recordings gradually replacing them) sometimes play into this by announcing the 42nd street stop as "the crossroads of the world".

Yet while quite a few New Yorkers work here (Central Midtown is home to many media and advertising conglomerates, not to mention a whole bunch of theaters) very few actually live here.. or in any area even remotely resembling Midtown.

Because of all its charms and also due to the fact that the area has one of the highest concentration of hotels in the city, tourists outnumber locals by a large factor (perhaps 10:1 in Times Square).

As any large commercial area, Central Midtown is not free from crime, especially pickpocketing on busy streets. Times Square has always been (and will probably remain) the center of such activities with thousands of dazzled tourists walking through it in half-slumber, providing excellent targets.