In the early 1990s, New Yorkers clutched their bags as they sped through Times Square, a needle-strewn stretch of the city where junkies and prostitutes loitered in doorways. Today, parents bring eager groups of children here to see the hit musical The Lion King before scooping up souvenirs in the new Disney megastore. Office workers stop for lunch at the local delis, while relaxed tourists stroll by munching ice-cream cones.
Times Square has been reclaimed by the family, prompting comedienne Rosie O'Donnell to remark: "Even the hookers now dress like Teletubbies."
As New York celebrates its 100th birthday this weekend, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani points to the commercial vibrancy of Times Square as an example of how he stamped law and order on the city's mean streets.
Giuliani is using the 100th birthday bash to draw attention to the extraordinary revival of the city. During this weekend's round of vintage food fairs, music festivals, traditional sports and fireworks, residents are marking the centenary of New York's birth in 1898, when five metropolitan areas were merged to create the largest city in the US.
"The city is stronger than it's been in a very long time," proclaims Giuliani. "Our economy is thriving, tourism is booming, crime is down in record numbers, and New York is seen, worldwide, as an urban success story.
"As we wish New York City a `happy birthday', let's remember that what was once described as `the greatest experiment in municipal government the world has ever known' is now proudly known as the capital of the world."
The mayor likes to talk big, but there is no doubt that residents feel increasingly safe in a place once branded Fear City.
Rudy Giuliani rode into New York like the gun-slinging sheriff of some Wild West town. His zero tolerance policy, where the police crack down on petty crime in the hope of preventing more serious offences, has contributed to a drop in the crime rate which criminologists admit is astonishing.
Since he took office in 1993, the number of murders has declined to a 30-year low. Last year, 885 people were murdered: in 1992, the number of murders was 2,005. Giuliani, a Republican, has won widespread support from many New York libertarians who would not normally dream of voting for his party. But there are signs that the tide could be turning.
On New York's centenary, there is growing nostalgia for the fierce and sometimes ugly passions which characterised much of the city's history. At Manhattan dinner parties, the intelligensia is questioning the mayor's apparent attempt to turn New York into a politically correct oasis on the East Coast.
In one of his first acts in office, Giuliani banished the squeegee men - those who soaped the windscreens of reluctant motorists for a fee. He later erected barriers across the city to prevent jaywalking and started a campaign to make the tough-talking New Yorker more polite.
Taking on the sex industry, the mayor set out to enforce a new zoning law which is likely to banish sex shops such as Peepland from its traditional spot on 42nd Street, adjacent to Times Square. The feather boa brigade has fought back with legal action.
But the sleaze merchants are losing the battle against a law the city officials believe will force all but 20 of the city's 150 X-rated businesses to move or close.
Next, the mayor decided to crack down on taxi drivers by proposing a new list of rules for disciplining and weeding out reckless cabbies. The plan was in response to a 40 per cent increase in accidents involving cabs and other livery vehicles, between 1990 and 1996. Taxi drivers protested vociferously that the proposed rules would push them out of business. Last month, they tried to hit back with a bumper-to-bumper protest which could have paralysed the city. The mayor crushed the strike by threatening to arrest or revoke the licences of any drivers who disrupted traffic.
A Federal judge later ruled that the Giuliani administration violated the First Amendment rights of taxi drivers by preventing their protest.
"Mr Giuliani has created a New York which is antithetical to our rich history and our responsibility for civil rights. The city is becoming increasingly authoritarian and repressive," warned Norman Siegel, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, last week.
Siegel, who worked on behalf of protesting taxi drivers, fears the mayor is turning New York into a police state. He says: "Freedom of expression and tolerance for dissent seems to have no place in the mayor's vision of what New York should be."
Allegations of police misconduct have risen sharply during Giuliani's time in office. In one incident last Sunday, an off-duty police officer was arrested for shooting a squeegee man who had tried to wash his windscreen.
The latest cause in the mayor's civility campaign has provoked another wave of protests, this time from street vendors. Giuliani's office plans to ban vendors on 144 streets in Manhattan to ease congestion in the city's skyscraper district. The so-called hot dog war has led to more accusations that the mayor has gone too far.
"When tourists come to New York, they eat a hot dog before they see the Empire State building," says Dan Rossi, a cart owner and spokesman for the Big Apple Food Vendors Association.
The group believes the mayor is protecting the interests of big restaurateurs while trampling over the rights of street sellers. "He is the type of man who believes power comes through fear. That is how he functions," Rossi says. On this centenary weekend, many residents are enjoying a better quality of life in a more secure city. But there is growing concern that the price of that tranquillity may be the essential New Yorkness of New York.