One block east of Penn Station, Sixth Avenue collides with Broadway at seedy Greeley Square . Perhaps Horace Greeley, founder of the Tribune newspaper deserves better than this triangle. Known for his rallying call to the youth of the nineteenth century to explore the continent ("Go West, young man!"), he also supported the rights of women and trade unions, denounced slavery and capital punishment and commissioned a weekly column from Karl Marx. His paper no longer exists and the square named after him is one of those bits of Manhattan that looks ready to disintegrate at any moment.

Herald Square opposite is perhaps best recognized as the one George M. Cohan asked to be remembered to in his 1904 hit song. These days its grimy mediocrity wouldn't inspire anyone to sing about it, and the area's unkempt and seedy nature is tempered only by that American temple of commercialism, Macy's , the world's largest department store, on the corner below.

Greeley and Herald Squares

• Greeley and Herald Squares

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