Times Square facts

Times Square facts

Times Square is a street square located in Manhattan in the center of New York City, United States. It is one of the main commercial areas of New York City. It is called the ‘road junction of the world’. It is one of the world’s busiest pedestrian intersections and one of the major centers of the global entertainment industry. Travel+Leisure magazine named Times Square the most visited tourist destination in the world. About 3 lakh people travel through it every day. This area is famous for its colorful electric lights and bright signboards. Every year the Christian New Year is celebrated here with great pomp.

Location

It is located on the west side of midtown Manhattan. It is bounded by 6th Avenue to the east, 8th Avenue to the west, West 53rd Street to the north, and West 40th Street to the south.

When was Times Square built?

The surrounding Longacre Square neighborhood was renamed “Times Square” during the tower’s construction, and in January 1905 the New York Times moved into the tower.

History of  Times Square

When Manhattan Island was first settled by the Dutch, three small streams converged near what is now 10th Avenue and 40th Street. These three streams formed the “Great Kill” (Dutch: Grote Kill). From there the Great Kill wound through the low Reed Valley, known for its fish and waterfowl, and emptied into the deep bay of the Hudson River at present-day 42nd Street. The name was given to a small village called Great Kill, which became a center for car manufacturing, as the highlands to the south and east became known as Longacre.

Before and after the American Revolution, the area belonged to General John Morin Scott of the New York militia, where he served under George Washington. Scott’s manor house was on what is now 43rd Street, surrounded by countryside used for farming and horse breeding. In the first half of the 19th century, it became one of the most prized properties of John Jacob Astor, who made a second fortune by selling off large amounts to hotels and other real estate concerns as the city rapidly spread over the city.

By 1872, the area had become the center of New York’s horse-drawn carriage industry. The area was previously unnamed, and the city authorities called it Longacre Square after London’s Long Acre, where the horse and carriage trade was concentrated in the city. William Henry Vanderbilt owned and operated the American Horse Exchange there. In 1910, it became the Winter Garden Theatre.

As Lower Manhattan’s more lucrative commerce and industrialization pushed homes, theaters, and prostitution northward from the Tenderloin District, Longer Square became nicknamed Thieves’ Lair for its reputation as a low-entertainment district. The square’s first theater, the Olympia, was built by cigar maker and impresario Oscar Hammerstein I. According to Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898, “By the early 1890s this sparsely laid-out stretch of Broadway was aglow with electric lights and crowded with middle- and upper-class theater, restaurant, and cafe patrons.”

Subway

• A, C, E – 42nd St. Port Authority.
• 7 – 42nd St.
• N, R, W – 42 Int / Times Sq.
• 1, 2, 3 – 42 cents.

Territorial boundary

• South 40th Street.
• North 53rd Street.
• 9th Avenue West.
• East on 6th Avenue.

architecture

• Advertisements (the first electric billboard was erected in 1917) depended on much of the area’s architecture.
• The facade of the most famous building, 1 Times Square, is covered in billboard advertising.

Tour

• Historic Times Square with the Big Onion.
• Tour 42nd Street with Paul Rush on foot.
• Walkin’ Broadway is a self-guided audio tour.
• Times Square is a free walking tour on Fridays at noon

Where to eat?

• Pre-theatre restaurants.
• Times Square Restaurant.
• Times Square attractions.

4 Best Things

• Madame Tussauds – Famous wax museum and a favorite for kids.
• TKTS Booth – Discount tickets to scores of Broadway and Off-Broadway productions.
• Replay’s believe it or not! – 500+ unusual and modest exhibits.
• One Times Square – 1475 Broadway at 7th Avenue (42nd / 43rd).
• New York Times Building – 229 West 43rd St. & 8th & 8th Place.

Shopping

• Toys’R’s – flagship store in Times Square with lots of toys and a Ferris wheel.
• MTV Store.
• Sanrio Store.

Frequently asked questions

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