Broad Street vs. Broadway

NEW YORK - In the mid-19th century, New York somehow usurped Philadelphia's place as America's cultural and economic capital. We've been eating Gotham's dust ever since.

No matter what it is that gets Philadelphians puffed up with pride, New York is inevitably perceived as bigger, brighter and better - at least by New Yorkers. These are people who, as a rule, view Our Town more as an eastern precinct of Wasilla, Alaska, than as the vital, vibrant, swinging and sophisticated burg it really is. But that is probably true of the world at large, as well.

Take, for instance, the cities' main north-south thoroughfares, Broadway and Broad Street. Both have histories dating back to their respective city's founding. Both stretch from the cities' southern ends to their northern edges. And both are the physical and spiritual homes of their locales' indigenous culture.

But thanks primarily to the Theater District in Midtown Manhattan, it is Broadway that for generations has captured the hearts and minds of people around the world. After all, what aspiring stage actor has dreamed of seeing his or her name in lights on a Broad Street marquee? And is anyone familiar with such tunes as "Lullaby of Broad Street" or "On Broad Street"?

The name "Broadway," incidentally, apparently derives from an Old Dutch word meaning "discount electronics," given the preponderance of such outlets to be found along its length.

Typically, New Yorkers - even non-natives - wax poetic when speaking of their "Great White Way" (gee, talk about politically incorrect . . .).

For Manhattanite Winston Royster, Broadway (that is, the Theater District) is the greatest place on earth because of the multicultural mass of humanity that relentlessly populates it.

"I love the people on Broadway," enthused Royster, 65. "It's the most diverse crowd. So many people come here to see Broadway plays. Everyone is happy to be on Broadway. Once you meet Broadway, you'll always come back. Broadway gets in your blood."

It's true that thousands of diverse people daily jam Broadway's Midtown section. But what Royster didn't say was that roughly 72 percent of them are scalpers hawking tickets to "Jersey Boys."

According to Karen Dubin, who moved to Manhattan after she graduated from Northeast High School 35 years ago, Broadway - specifically Times Square, which is located where Broadway intersects with 7th Avenue - is a real-life Land of Oz.

"When you look from any vantage point, it's a sea of neon," said Dubin, a TV and radio commercial casting director. "It's like the pulse of the world. It's the most electric place on Earth."

That's all well and good for those who have gladly chugged the Big Apple-flavored Kool-Aid. But maybe taking a closer look at Broad Street and Broadway will allow the truth to emerge:

* Broad Street was once celebrated as the longest straight street in the world; Broadway looks as if it was laid out at a particularly happening crack-smoking party.

* Broad Street has the Mummers, who play their instruments while decked out in spectacular, wildly imaginative costumes; Broadway has the Naked Cowboy, who performs in tighty-whities and boots.

* Broad Street has the Kimmel Center, named for a philanthropist, and home to one of the world's most acclaimed symphony orchestras; Broadway has the Ed Sullivan Theater, named for a dead TV host with no discernible talent and home to David Letterman, one of America's most acclaimed philanderers.

* Broad Street gave us the Broad Street Bullies, a hockey team that personified macho; Broadway gave us Broadway Joe Namath, who had a propensity for wearing full-length fur coats, and who once donned pantyhose for a TV commercial.

* Broad Street has delicious, soft and chewy pretzels; Broadway has hot roasted nuts that will chip your teeth before burning your mouth.

* Broad Street has the Academy of Music; Broadway has the MTV studios.

* Broad Street has a statue of William Penn, whose philosophies of religious freedom and ecological conservation continue to light the way for our nation; Broadway has a statue of George M. Cohan, who found fame and fortune writing songs that exhorted American soldiers to slaughter their European counterparts.

* Broad Street has the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, one of the nation's most prestigious bastions of high culture for more than two centuries; Broadway has the Crown Art Gallery where, for $35, you can purchase a poster-sized copy of Frank Sinatra's 1938 mug shot taken by the Bergen County (N.J.) Sheriff's Department.

* Broad Street has Temple University and Hahnemann University; Broadway has Hershey's Great American Chocolate Store and M&M World.

* And, of course, sometime late next week, Broad Street will have a parade for the World Series champs; Broadway won't.