Times Square

This article is about the area in Manhattan. For other uses, see Times Square (disambiguation).

Times Square
Neighborhood
Official logo of Times Square
Looking south (top) and north (bottom) in 2009 and 2013, respectively
Map
Location in New York City
Coordinates: 40°45′27″N 73°59′9″W / 40.75750°N 73.98583°W / 40.75750; -73.98583
Country United States
State New York
CityNew York City
CountyNew York
Community districtManhattan 5[1]
BoundariesBroadway, 7th Avenue, 42nd and 47th Streets
Subway services"1" train​"2" train​"3" train​"7" train"7" express train​​"N" train​"Q" train​"R" train​"W" train42nd Street Shuttle at Times Square–42nd Street
"A" train​"C" train​"E" train at 42nd Street–Port Authority Bus Terminal
Bus routesM7, M20, M42, M50, M104
Historical featuresDuffy Square
George Michael Cohan statue
One Times Square

Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in the Midtown Manhattan section of New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent Duffy Square, Times Square is a bowtie-shaped plaza five blocks long between 42nd and 47th Streets.[2]

Times Square is brightly lit by numerous digital billboards and advertisements as well as businesses offering 24/7 service. One of the world's busiest pedestrian areas,[3] it is also the hub of the Broadway Theater District[4] and a major center of the world's entertainment industry.[5] Times Square is one of the world's most visited tourist attractions, drawing an estimated 50 million visitors annually.[6] Approximately 330,000 people pass through Times Square daily,[7] many of them tourists,[8] while over 460,000 pedestrians walk through Times Square on its busiest days.[2] The Times Square–42nd Street and 42nd Street–Port Authority Bus Terminal stations have consistently ranked as the busiest in the New York City Subway system, transporting more than 200,000 passengers daily.[9]

Formerly known as Longacre Square, Times Square was renamed in 1904 after The New York Times moved its headquarters to the then newly erected Times Building, now One Times Square.[10] It is the site of the annual New Year's Eve ball drop, which began on December 31, 1907, and continues to attract over a million visitors to Times Square every year,[11] in addition to a worldwide audience of one billion or more on various digital media platforms.[12]

Times Square, specifically the intersection of Broadway and 42nd Street, is the eastern terminus of the Lincoln Highway, the first road across the United States for motorized vehicles.[13] Times Square is sometimes referred to as "the Crossroads of the World"[14] and "the heart of the Great White Way".[15][16][17]

  1. ^ "NYC Planning | Community Profiles". communityprofiles.planning.nyc.gov. New York City Department of City Planning. Archived from the original on November 10, 2021. Retrieved March 18, 2019.
  2. ^ a b Noah Remnick and Tatiana Schlossberg (August 24, 2015). "New York Today:Transforming Times Square". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 24, 2015. Retrieved August 24, 2015.
  3. ^ "The Most Jivin' Streetscapes in the World". Luigi Di Serio. 2010. Archived from the original on September 21, 2014. Retrieved January 21, 2012.
  4. ^ "Times Square". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved January 21, 2012.
  5. ^ "New York Architecture Images- Midtown Times Square". 2011 nyc-architecture. Archived from the original on January 25, 2017. Retrieved January 21, 2012.
  6. ^ Ann Shields (November 10, 2014). "The World's 50 Most Visited Tourist Attractions – No. 3: Times Square, New York City – Annual Visitors: 50,000,000". Travel+Leisure. Archived from the original on April 17, 2019. Retrieved May 6, 2015.
  7. ^ Owen, David (January 21, 2013). "The Psychology of Space". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on October 10, 2022. Retrieved February 21, 2022.
  8. ^ Hellman, Peter (May 19, 1997). "Bright Lights, Big Money". New York Magazine. Vol. 30, no. 19. New York Media, LLC. p. 48. ISSN 0028-7369.
  9. ^ "Annual Subway Ridership (2018–2023)". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 2023. Retrieved April 20, 2024.
  10. ^ Times Square History, NYC Tourist. Accessed February 26, 2017. "Times Square is a major commercial intersection in central Manhattan at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue. It acquired its name in 1904 when Albert Ochs, publisher of The New York Times, moved the newspaper's headquarters to a new skyscraper on what was then known as Longacre Square."
  11. ^ Dunlap, David W. "1907-8 | The Times Drops the Ball" Archived December 13, 2021, at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, January 1, 2015. Accessed November 1, 2016. "After two more years of pyrotechnics, The Times found a less flammable way to signal the moment of midnight: an iron-and-wood ball, five feet in diameter, on which 100 25-watt bulbs were mounted. It was to be lowered down a flagstaff at midnight on Dec. 31, 1907."
  12. ^ "Times Square – The Official Website". Times Square District Management Association, Inc. May 10, 2017. Archived from the original on October 23, 2022. Retrieved August 4, 2022.
  13. ^ Chan, Sewell. "A Lincoln Highway Marker in Times Square" Archived November 19, 2021, at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, February 12, 2009. Accessed January 9, 2022. "Nevertheless, Times Square is indeed the eastern terminus of the Lincoln Highway, the nation's first coast-to-coast road, which was formed in 1913, its 3,389 miles stretching from New York City to San Francisco."
  14. ^ Allan Tannenbaum. "New York in the 70s: A Remembrance". The Digital Journalist. Archived from the original on March 20, 2012. Retrieved January 21, 2012.
  15. ^ Federal Writers' Project (1939). New York City Guide. New York: Random House. p. 170. ISBN 978-1-60354-055-1. (Reprinted by Scholarly Press, 1976; often referred to as WPA Guide to New York City.) "The phrase 'Great White Way' is supposed to have been coined in 1901 by O. J. Gude, an advertising man, who is said also to have been the first to see the tremendous possibilities of electric display."
  16. ^ Tell, Darcy. Times Square spectacular: lighting up Broadway Archived December 31, 2022, at the Wayback Machine New York: HarperCollins, 2007
  17. ^ Allen, Irving Lewis. The City in Slang: New York Life and Popular Speech Archived December 31, 2022, at the Wayback Machine. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995. Quote: "By 1910, the blocks of Broadway just above 42nd Street were at the very heart of the Great White Way. The glow of Times Square symbolized the center of New York, if not of the world."