Everything about Times Square totally explained
Times Square is a major intersection in
Manhattan,
New York City at the junction of
Broadway and
Seventh Avenue and stretching from West
42nd to West
47th Streets. The Times Square area consists of the blocks between Sixth and
Eighth Avenues from east to west, and West 40th and West
53rd Streets from south to north, making up the western part of the commercial area of
Midtown Manhattan.
Formerly
Longacre Square, Times Square was renamed after the Times Building (now One Times Square), the former offices of
The New York Times, in April 1904. Like the
Red Square in
Moscow,
Trafalgar Square in
London, and
Tiananmen Square in
Beijing, Times Square has achieved the status of an iconic world landmark and has become a symbol of its city. Times Square is principally defined by its animated, digital advertisements.
The intersection of Broadway and 42nd Street, at the southeast corner of Times Square, is the Eastern Terminus of the
Lincoln Highway, the first road across
America.
History
Before and after the
American Revolution, the area belonged to
John Morin Scott, a
general of the New York
militia where he served under George Washington - the man who became the first
President of the United States. Scott's
manor house was at what is now 43rd Street, surrounded by
countryside used for
farming and breeding
horses. In the first half of the nineteenth century it became one of the prize possessions of
John Jacob Astor, who made a second fortune selling off
lots to
hotels and other
real estate concerns as the city rapidly spread
uptown.
In the early 1900s,
New York Times publisher
Adolph S. Ochs moved the
newspaper's operations to a new
skyscraper on 42nd Street in
Longacre Square. Ochs persuaded Mayor
George B. McClellan, Jr. to construct a
subway station there, and the area was renamed "Times Square" on
April 8,
1904. Just three weeks later, the first electrified
advertisement appeared on the side of a
bank at the corner of 46th Street and Broadway.
The
New York Times moved to more spacious offices across Broadway in 1913. The old Times Building was later named the
Allied Chemical Building. Now known simply as
One Times Square, it's famed for the "ball" which "drops" from a tower on its roof every
New Year's Eve.
As New York City's growth continued, Times Square quickly grew as a cultural hub full of
theaters,
music halls, and upscale hotels.
Celebrities such as
Irving Berlin,
Fred Astaire, and
Charlie Chaplin were closely associated with Times Square in the 1910s and 1920s. During this period, the area was nicknamed
The Tenderloin because it was supposedly the most desirable location in
Manhattan. However, it was during this period that the area was besieged by crime and corruption, in the form of
gambling and
prostitution; one case that garnered huge attention was the arrest and subsequent execution of police officer
Charles Becker.
The general atmosphere changed with the onset of the
Great Depression during the 1930s. In the decades afterward, it was considered a dangerous
neighborhood. The seediness of Times Square, especially its adult businesses, was an infamous
symbol of New York City's
decline and corruption from the 1960s until the early 1990s.
In the 1980s, a commercial building boom began in the West 40s and 50s as part of a long-term
development plan conceived under Mayors
Ed Koch and
David Dinkins. In the mid-1990s, Mayor
Rudolph Giuliani (1994–2002) led an intense effort to "clean up" the area, increasing
security, driving out
pornographic theaters, drug dealers and "
squeegee men" and opening more
tourist-friendly
attractions and
upscale establishments. Advocates of the
remodeling claim that the neighborhood is safer and cleaner. Detractors, on the other hand, argue that the changes have diluted or
"Disneyfied" the character of Times Square and have unfairly targeted lower income New Yorkers from nearby neighborhoods such as
Hell's Kitchen.
In 1990, the State of New York took possession of six of the nine historic theaters on 42nd Street. The
New 42nd Street nonprofit organization was appointed to oversee their restoration and care. The theaters were variously renovated for Broadway shows, converted for commercial purposes, or demolished.
In November 2006, the traffic pattern through Times square was modified significantly in what is nicknamed by the New York City Department of Transportation as the "Times Square Shuffle." Cars traveling south on Seventh Ave can no longer stay on Seventh Ave when they reach Times Square. The road turns into Broadway, and to stay on Seventh Avenue drivers are now required to make a series of turns before reaching Times Square.
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New Year's Eve
Times Square is the site of the annual
New Year's Eve ball drop. On
December 31,
1907, a ball signifying
New Year's Day was first dropped at Times Square, and the Square has held the main New Year's celebration in New York City ever since. On this night hundreds of thousands of people congregate to watch the
Waterford crystal ball being lowered on a pole atop the building (though not to the street, as is a common misconception), marking the new year. It replaced a lavish fireworks display from the top of the building that was held from 1904 to 1906, only to be outlawed by city officials. Beginning in 1908, and for more than eighty years thereafter, Times Square sign maker
Artkraft Strauss was responsible for the ball-lowering. During
World War II, a minute of silence, followed by a recording of church bells pealing, replaced the ball drop because of wartime blackout restrictions. Today, Countdown Entertainment and One Times Square handle the New Years' Eve event in conjunction with the Times Square Alliance. A new energy-efficient LED ball, celebrating the centennial of the
ball drop, debuted for the arrival of 2008.
On average, about 750,000 revelers crowd Times Square for the New Year's Eve celebrations. However, for the millennium celebration on December 31, 1999, published reports stated approximately 2 million people overflowed Times Square, flowing from 6th Avenue to 8th Avenue and all the way back on Broadway and Seventh Avenues to 59th Street, making it the largest gathering in Times Square since August 1945 during
celebrations marking the end of World War II.
In 1972, entertainer
Dick Clark began hosting a live half-hour
ABC special detailing the event entitled
Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve, which not only aired the descent of the ball, but also performances from popular bands and commentary from various hosts in other cities, notably
Las Vegas,
Los Angeles, and
Orlando. During the
millennium celebrations in 1999,
Peter Jennings based ABC's operations in Times Square, hosting
ABC 2000 Today.
Times Square today
The Theaters of Broadway and the huge number of animated neon and LED signs have long made it one of New York's iconic images, and a symbol of the intensely urban aspects of Manhattan. Times Square is the only neighborhood with zoning ordinances requiring building owners to display illuminated signs. The density of illuminated signs in Times Square now rivals that of
Las Vegas. Officially, signs in Times Square are called "spectaculars", and the largest of them are called "jumbotrons."
In 1992, the Times Square Alliance (formerly the Times Square
Business Improvement District, or "BID" for short), a coalition of city government and local businesses dedicated to improving the quality of commerce and cleanliness in the district, started operations in the area. Times Square now boasts attractions such as
ABC's
Times Square Studios, where
Good Morning America is broadcast live, elaborate
Toys "R" Us,
Virgin Records, and
Hershey's stores, as well as restaurants such as Ruby Foo's (
Chinese food), the
Bubba Gump Shrimp Company (
seafood), Planet Hollywood Restaurant and Bar (Theme Restaurant) and Carmine's (
Italian) along with a number of multiplex movie theaters. It has also attracted a number of large financial, publishing, and media firms to set up their headquarters in the area. A larger police presence in Times Square has improved the safety of the area.
Notable examples of the signage include the Toshiba billboard directly under the NYE ball drop and the curved seven-story
NASDAQ sign at the
NASDAQ MarketSite at
4 Times Square on 43rd Street. Currently under construction, the Toshiba sign will be the newest, most energy efficient sign in Times Square and capable of broadcasting images to 1080p resolution. The Nasdaq sign was unveiled in January 2000 and cost $37 million to build. The sign is 120 feet (36.6m) high. NASDAQ pays more than $2 million a year to lease the space for this sign. This is actually considered a good deal in
advertising as the number of "impressions" the sign makes far exceeds those generated by other ad forms.
In 2002, New York City's outgoing mayor,
Rudy Giuliani, gave the oath of office to the city's next mayor,
Michael Bloomberg, in Times Square after midnight on
January 1 as part of the 2001–2002 New Year's celebration. Approximately 500,000 revelers attended the fete. Security was high following the
September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, with more than 7,000 New York City police on duty in the Square (twice the number for an ordinary year).
On the morning of
March 6 2008 a small bomb went off in the area by the military recruiting station, causing minor damage but no injures.
Notable landmarks
Times Square is a busy intersection of art and commerce, where the chaos of hundreds of advertisements (signs and "newscrawlers") live for viewers' attention. A few famous examples:
Corporate presence
The following corporations are headquartered at Times Square with many others having corporate presences in the area:
Six Flags Inc.
Condé Nast Publications
Diamond Management & Technology Consultants
Ernst and Young
Instinet
Lehman Brothers
Morgan Stanley
Bain & Company
MTV Networks
The New York Times Company
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
Thomson Reuters
Pillsbury, Winthrop, Shaw, Pittman, LLC
Elizabeth Taylor
Viacom
EQW Radio Station
Major buildings on and near Times Square
1 Times Square
Thomson Reuters Building (3 Times Square) (External Link)
Times Square Tower
New York Times Tower
Bank of America Tower, New York City (construction)
The Orion
New York Marriott Marquis
AXA Center
One Astor Plaza
1500 Broadway
W Times Square
Renaissance New York Times Square Hotel (2 Times Square)
Sheraton New York
One Worldwide Plaza
Conde Nast Building (4 Times Square)
1585 Broadway
810 7th Avenue
5 Times Square
11 Times Square (construction)
Worldwide Plaza
Times Square culture
Times Square currently serves as the primary shooting location for ABC's Good Morning America and MTV's Total Request Live which have studios facing the square. The annual Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve along with other New Years Eve celebrations is filmed at multiple locations around the square.
In the early 2000s Howard Johnson's closed one of its last urban restaurants.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Times Square'.
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