Worse than Godzilla?

Remembering a National Geographic from the 1980s. An article on New York. A photo of Japanese tourists peering out from behind a glass wall, with expressions of awe and fear at the spectacle of Times Square.
The caption explained that the tourists were safely behind glass, because the Japanese were "unaccustomed to urban crime" in their country.
The city has now expanded the sidewalks and the areas in the middle of the square because so many tourists now encroach on the street. They pose for pictures there, which is good because it gets them out of the way of others not lurching along like elephants.
For me, and many others, the area is now basically a blank space given over to tourists. When thinking of a decent bar or restaurant, the mind passes right over the square, until you hit the gastronomic (and generally cheap) jackpot of multi-ethnic food on Ninth Avenue.
When I was a tour guide, unless asked I would generally not tell the tourists about how you could travel over a block from 8th Ave. and easily find a decently priced and flavorful restaurant. The city needs the suckers to patronize the bullshit theme places. Good for the economy.