TIMES SQUARE

Description

Essentials about Times Square in brief

Manhattan is already crowded, shrill and loud. With its countless colorful neon signs and its daily chaos of people and traffic, Times Square is definitely the undisputed center in terms of overcrowding, shrillness and volume. And with over 50 million visitors annually, the square is also the number one attraction in New York City. Times Square is located at the intersection of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretches from West 42nd to West 47 Street. It is the most famous square in New York City and one of the most famous in the world. In American modesty, the square is therefore often called “The Crossroads of the World” or “The Center of the Universe”.

The Theater District

Times Square is in the middle of Manhattan’s Theater District, where most of New York City’s major theaters are located. It is therefore the perfect starting point for an evening visit to the theater or musical. In addition to about 40 theaters, there are countless cafes, fast-food chains, souvenir stores, movie theaters and restaurants around Times Square.

The history of Times Squares

The square owes its name to the T.S.1 building used by the New York Times newspaper in 1904 (before that it was called Longacre Square). From the early 1920s, theaters, musical houses, oyster bars and cabarets lined the street all the way up to 50th Street. In addition, some of Manhattan’s most elegant hotels were found in this neighborhood.

The tradition of billboards began early on, the first examples of which consisted exclusively of white light bulbs and to which the area, especially around Broadway, owes the name “The Great White Way.” Until the mid-1940s, advertising activity was limited almost exclusively to the northern part of the intersection; from the 1950s onward, buildings at the southern end of the square were also hung with posters or neon signs, and the roofs of the lower buildings in particular were covered to the last meter.

With the advent of the first television sets in the 1950s, the clientele in the large theaters often stayed away. Gradually, the playhouses were forced to close, and the buildings stood empty. During the 1960s, the area around Times Square developed into a red-light district. Striptease bars, porn cinemas, sex stores, tacky souvenir stores, dingy motels and fast food joints dominated the streetscape. Prostitution, drug dealing and pickpocketing made Times Square one of the most dangerous areas of the city in the 1970s.

In the mid-1980s, it was decided to redevelop and revitalize the square. Everything “shady” was removed from the square and the old buildings were restored or, in some cases, rebuilt according to original construction plans. In the 1980s and 1990s, several large corporations settled in Times Square and more theaters and hotel chains returned to the square. In 2009, after some reconstruction, Times Square reopened with a new street system. The only continuous drivable street is now only 7th Avenue. Broadway was provided with colorful paving stones in the Times Square area and converted into a pedestrian zone.

Times Square Ticker and Times Square Ball

Two Times Square fixtures have particular notoriety. One is the Times Square Ticker, a huge ticker on the front of the One Times Square building, on which headlines are published in text format. It was put into operation in 1928 to announce the results of the presidential election. And second, the Times Square Ball, a ball attached to a flagpole that drops at the turn of the year in what is known as the “ball drop” to ring in the New Year. The ball was introduced in 1907 as a safety measure because of the numerous fireworks-related injuries that occurred at the New York Times New Year’s Eve party in Times Square in 1904. The annual New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square is one of the largest in the world. People gather as early as the afternoon to get the best possible view of the ball drop and the video screens that are set up to show numerous performances by rock and pop stars throughout the night.

The view of Times Square

If you want to see the hustle and bustle of Times Square from above, you should visit one of the many rooftop bars on the square. Here you are spoiled for choice and can enjoy the magnificent view of the crowds and the neon signs at your feet with a drink in your hand.