Times Square used to be a festival of neon light

Behold Times Square when it was New York’s premier entertainment district, a festival of neon lights emanating from billboards and theaters.

The postcard carries a 1945 postmark, but it appears to depict Times Square in 1940. Two films released that year, Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator and The Westerner, with Gary Cooper, blaze across movie marquees.