Broadway, New York (must see)

Broadway, known as the Wickquasgeck Trail in the New Amsterdam time, was snaked along the length of Manhattan Island. The trail became the main road through the island. Actual Broadway is a bit longer than the old trail it replaced. The street starts at Bowling Green in the southern tip of Manhattan and wends its way through the Bronx, and through Westchester County, all the way up to Sleepy Hollow. It is the oldest thoroughfare in the city.

When the Dutch took over Manhattan, they widened the trail to road size. They called it "Gentlemen's Way" or "Heeren Weigh" in Dutch. When the British arrived, they noticed how wide the main street was, and called it Broadway Street.

By 1907 a 30-block section of Broadway between Times Square and Sherman Square at 72nd Street was a part of Manhattan, referred to as "Automobile Row." The motorcar had arrived. Automobile dealerships, showrooms, parts stores, and garages, packed both sides of the street. In time Broadway became mostly a one-way traffic lane in Manhattan.

In the current century, Broadway has been made less accommodating to cars and more pedestrian friendly. Traffic lanes at strategic places have been turned into public plazas and mini-parks. Bicycle lanes have been established between 42nd Street and Union Square.

Since 2009, parts of Broadway in Times Square, Duffy Square, and Herald Square have been closed to automotive traffic. Broadway has been narrowed around Madison Square and Union Square, permitting pedestrian plazas to exist at the roadside.

Lower Broadway at Bowling Green and City Hall Park is the customary venue for the city's famous "ticker tape" parades, when large amounts of shredded paper are thrown from nearby office buildings into the parade route, creating a celebratory effect. It has been referred to as the "Canyon of Heroes." Paper showers still are dropped from skyscrapers lining the route, but ticker tape is long a thing of the past. Toilet rolls have been used, but the effect is not so grand.

"The Great White Way" is about the section of Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, home to the Theatre District. The district stretches between 42nd Street and 53rd Street, including Times Square. Shep Friedman, a reporter for the New York Morning Telegraph in 1901, was the first to use the phrase "Great White Way" about Broadway.

Everything and anything happens on Broadway. From Bowling Green to Sleepy Hollow, the stories, the neighborhoods, and the hits just keep on coming.