Great White Way

By Deane Barker • • tags: theater, new-york-city, definition, broadway •
Updates
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Definition: a street brilliantly lighted at night and devoted chiefly to public amusements

The Phillips Avenue Diner in Sioux Falls at night

The Phillips Avenue Diner in Sioux Falls at night

(Credit: South Dakota Department of Tourism)

Clearly, Broadway in New York City is an example of this. However, I suppose it could apply to any “entertainment district” of a city – even a couple blocks Phillips Avenue in downtown Sioux Falls.

Wiktionary just has this for etymology:

So called from its brilliant illumination at night.

Why I Looked It Up

In an article about singer Vanessa Carlton:

Despite never repeating the smash success of her first hit, Carlton continued to record – and even made it the Great White Way as Carole King in the musical “Beautiful.”

Clearly, that’s a geographic metonym for Broadway.

I did find a blog called Great White Way Wisdom with a subtitle that expanded the concept to theater in general:

Broadway, Off-Broadway, The West End and The Bard meets Quirk. Life as I know it- told by those I listen to.

Update

Added on

Not surprisingly, the book Broadway: A History of New York City in Thirteen Miles has an entire chapter entitled “Great White Way” which talks about how New York City’s Broadway got that name, and a period when other cities tried to copy the …vibe, that the Great White Way created for NYC.

Links from this – Geographic Metonym December 28, 2021
For example, if often takes the form of a place name being used to refer to (1) a significant event that happened at that place; or (2) an organization, institution, industry, or concept associated with that place. Examples: “The White House” to refer to a presidential administration “Wall Street”...
Links from this – Broadway: A History of New York City in Thirteen Miles July 25, 2024
This is a lovely history of New York City, focused down to a single street. It follows Broadway north from the southern tip of Manhattan, mile by mile, and talks about the history of the city as the street moved northward. Along the way, it has random vignettes of things that happened on the...