View source for Times Square

{{short description|Intersection and area in Manhattan, New York}}
{{about|the area in Manhattan|other uses|Times Square (disambiguation)}}
{{Use American English|date=May 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2024}}
{{Infobox settlement
| name               = Times Square
| image_skyline      = New york times square-terabass.jpg
| imagesize          = 300px
| image_blank_emblem = 1 times square night 2013.jpg
| blank_emblem_type  = Looking south (top) and north (bottom) in 2009 and 2013, respectively
| blank_emblem_size  = 300px
| image_map          = {{maplink|frame=y|plain=yes|frame-align=center|frame-lat=40.757|frame-long=-73.986|zoom=12|type=point|coord={{coord|40.7575|-73.9858}}}}
| map_caption        = Location in New York City
| coordinates        = {{Coord|dim:200_region:US-NY_type:landmark|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
| settlement_type    = [[list of neighborhoods in Manhattan|Neighborhood]]
| subdivision_type   = Country
| subdivision_name   = {{flag|United States}}
| subdivision_type1  = [[U.S. state|State]]
| subdivision_name1  = {{flagcountry|New York (state)}}
| subdivision_type2  = City
| subdivision_name2  = {{Flagcountry|New York City}}
| subdivision_type3  = [[County (United States)|County]]
| subdivision_name3  = [[Manhattan|New York]]
| subdivision_type4  = [[Community boards of Manhattan|Community district]]
| subdivision_name4  = [[Manhattan Community Board 5|Manhattan 5]]<ref name="NYCPlanning">{{cite web |title=NYC Planning {{!}} Community Profiles |url=https://communityprofiles.planning.nyc.gov/manhattan/5 |website=communityprofiles.planning.nyc.gov |publisher=New York City Department of City Planning |access-date=March 18, 2019 |archive-date=November 10, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211110230951/https://communityprofiles.planning.nyc.gov/manhattan/5 |url-status=live }}</ref>
| blank_name_sec1    = [[List of numbered streets in Manhattan|Boundaries]]
| blank_info_sec1    = [[Broadway (Manhattan)|Broadway]], [[Seventh Avenue (Manhattan)|7th Avenue]], [[List of numbered streets in Manhattan|42nd and 47th Streets]]
| blank2_name_sec1   = [[New York City Subway|Subway services]]
| blank2_info_sec1   = {{NYCS Times Square | time=bullets }} at {{stn|Times Square–42nd Street}}<br />{{NYCS Eighth south | time=bullets }} at {{stn|42nd Street–Port Authority Bus Terminal}}
| blank3_name_sec1   = [[New York City Bus|Bus routes]]
| blank3_info_sec1   = {{NYC bus link|M7|M20|M42|M50|M104}}
| blank4_name_sec1   = Historical features
| blank4_info_sec1   = [[Duffy Square]]<br />[[Statue of George M. Cohan|George Michael Cohan statue]]<br />[[One Times Square]]
}}

'''Times Square''' is one of the world's busiest [[pedestrian intersections]],<ref name=TimesSquareWorldsBusiestPedestrianIntersections>{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140921173328/http://www.diserio.com/streetscapes.html |archive-date=September 21, 2014 |url=http://www.diserio.com/streetscapes.html |title=The Most Jivin' Streetscapes in the World |publisher=Luigi Di Serio|access-date=May 23, 2026}}</ref> [[tourist destinations]], and entertainment hubs. Known for its relentless street energy, Times Square is formed by the junction of [[Broadway (Manhattan)|Broadway]], [[Seventh Avenue (Manhattan)|Seventh Avenue]], and [[42nd Street (Manhattan)|42nd Street]] in [[Midtown Manhattan|Midtown]] [[Manhattan]], New York City. Together with adjacent [[Duffy Square]], Times Square is a [[bowtie]]-shaped plaza five blocks long between 42nd and [[47th Street (Manhattan)|47th Streets]].<ref name="TransformingTimesSquare">{{Cite news |author1=Noah Remnick |author2=Tatiana Schlossberg |date=August 24, 2015 |title=New York Today:Transforming Times Square |work=The New York Times |url=http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/08/24/new-york-today-change-with-the-times/ |access-date=August 24, 2015 |archive-date=August 24, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150824145141/http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/08/24/new-york-today-change-with-the-times/ |url-status=live }}</ref>  As a major epicenter of the world's [[entertainment industry]] and as the physical hub of the [[Theater District, Manhattan|Theater District]],<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/596253/Times-Square |title=Times Square |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=January 21, 2012}}</ref> where most [[Broadway theatre|Broadway theaters]] are located, Times Square is brightly and incessantly illuminated by numerous [[digital billboard]]s and advertisements as well as businesses offering [[24/7 service]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nyc-architecture.com/MID/MID-TimesSquare3.htm |title=New York Architecture Images- Midtown Times Square |publisher=2011 nyc-architecture |access-date=January 21, 2012 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170125164419/http://www.nyc-architecture.com/MID/MID-TimesSquare3.htm |archive-date=January 25, 2017}}</ref> 

Times Square is one of the world's most visited tourist attractions, drawing an estimated 50 million visitors annually.<ref>{{cite web |title=The World's 50 Most Visited Tourist Attractions – No. 3: Times Square, New York City – Annual Visitors: 50,000,000 |author=Ann Shields |publisher=Travel+Leisure |url=http://www.travelandleisure.com/slideshows/worlds-most-visited-tourist-attractions/2 |date=November 10, 2014 |access-date=May 6, 2015 |archive-date=April 17, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190417131907/https://www.travelandleisure.com/slideshows/worlds-most-visited-tourist-attractions |url-status=live }}</ref> Approximately 330,000 people pass through Times Square daily,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/01/21/the-psychology-of-space |title=The Psychology of Space |author=Owen, David |newspaper=[[The New Yorker]] |date=January 21, 2013 |access-date=February 21, 2022 |archive-date=October 10, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221010053300/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/01/21/the-psychology-of-space |url-status=live }}</ref> many of them tourists,<ref name="hellman">{{cite magazine |last1=Hellman |first1=Peter |title=Bright Lights, Big Money |journal=New York Magazine |publisher=New York Media, LLC. |date=May 19, 1997 |volume=30 |issue=19 |page=48 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oOgCAAAAMBAJ&q=One+Times+Square&pg=PA48 |issn=0028-7369}}</ref> while over 460,000 pedestrians walk through Times Square on its busiest days.<ref name="TransformingTimesSquare"/> The {{stn|Times Square–42nd Street}} and {{stn|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.<ref>{{NYCS const|riderref}}</ref> The Times Square [[Neighborhoods in New York City|neighborhood]] takes its name after the intersection.

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]].<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20130707121939/http://www.nyctourist.com/times-square-history.php 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."</ref> It is the site of the annual New Year's Eve [[Times Square Ball|ball drop]], which began on December 31, 1907, and continues to attract over a million visitors to Times Square every year,<ref>[[David W. Dunlap|Dunlap, David W.]] [https://www.nytimes.com/times-insider/2015/01/01/1907-8-the-times-drops-the-ball/ "1907-8 {{!}} The Times Drops the Ball"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211213114814/https://www.nytimes.com/times-insider/2015/01/01/1907-8-the-times-drops-the-ball/ |date=December 13, 2021 }}, ''[[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."</ref> in addition to a worldwide audience of one billion or more on various [[digital media]] platforms.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.timessquarenyc.org/times-square-new-years-eve/nye-history-times-square-ball |title=Times Square – The Official Website |date=May 10, 2017 |publisher=Times Square District Management Association, Inc |accessdate=August 4, 2022 |archive-date=October 23, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221023043602/https://www.timessquarenyc.org/times-square-new-years-eve/nye-history-times-square-ball |url-status=live }}</ref>

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.<ref>Chan, Sewell. [https://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/12/a-lincoln-highway-marker-in-times-square/ "A Lincoln Highway Marker in Times Square"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211119103629/https://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/12/a-lincoln-highway-marker-in-times-square/ |date=November 19, 2021 }}, ''[[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."</ref> Times Square is sometimes referred to as "the Crossroads of the World",<ref>{{cite web |author=Allan Tannenbaum |title=New York in the 70s: A Remembrance |url=http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0402/at_intro.html |access-date=January 21, 2012 |publisher=The Digital Journalist |archive-date=March 20, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320194616/http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0402/at_intro.html |url-status=live }}</ref> "the Center of the Universe",<ref name=TimesSquareCenterOfTheUniverse>{{cite web|url=https://www.russellsage.org/publications/inventing-times-square-0|title=Inventing Times Square Commerce and Culture at the Crossroads of the World|author=William R. Taylor|publisher=Russell Sage Foundation|access-date=June 8, 2025|quote=Times Square as the "center of the universe" had its darker sides as well, for it was the testing ground for a new morality.|archive-date=July 11, 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250711184753/https://www.russellsage.org/publications/inventing-times-square-0|url-status=dead}}</ref> and "the heart of [[Broadway (Manhattan)#Great White Way|the Great White Way]]".<ref>{{cite fednyc|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=SLdPtTqjPiMC 170]}} "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."</ref><ref>Tell, Darcy. [https://books.google.com/books?id=NwaLWFSG3rcC&dq=%22Times+Square%22+%22Great+White+Way%22&pg=PA41 ''Times Square spectacular: lighting up Broadway''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221231030141/https://books.google.com/books?id=NwaLWFSG3rcC&pg=PA41&dq=%22Times+Square%22+%22Great+White+Way%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=yHUaT4SVM6qZ0QHKpYS1Cw&ved=0CFEQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=%22Times%20Square%22%20%22Great%20White%20Way%22&f=false|date=December 31, 2022}} New York: HarperCollins, 2007</ref><ref>Allen, Irving Lewis. [https://books.google.com/books?id=j41z0yeKbeIC&pg=PA59E ''The City in Slang: New York Life and Popular Speech''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221231030133/https://books.google.com/books?id=j41z0yeKbeIC&pg=PA59e|date=December 31, 2022}}. 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."</ref>

==Geography==
Times Square functions as a [[town square]], but is not geometrically a [[square]]. It is closer in shape to a bowtie, with two triangles emanating roughly north and south from 45th Street,<ref>[http://blogs.cuit.columbia.edu/urbanmagazine/2011/05/09/times-square-is-not-a-square/ "Times Square is not a square,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220608195818/https://blogs.cuit.columbia.edu/urbanmagazine/2011/05/09/times-square-is-not-a-square/ |date=June 8, 2022 }} ''Urban Magazine'' (May 9, 2011).</ref> where [[Seventh Avenue (Manhattan)|Seventh Avenue]] intersects [[Broadway (Manhattan)|Broadway]]. Broadway similarly intersects other north–south avenues at [[Union Square (Manhattan)|Union Square]], [[Madison Square and Madison Square Park|Madison Square]], [[Herald Square]], and [[Verdi Square]], none of which are squares.<ref name="nyt-2012-01-03">{{Cite news |last=Kimmelman |first=Michael |date=January 3, 2012 |title=The Grid at 200: Lines That Shaped Manhattan |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/03/arts/design/manhattan-street-grid-at-museum-of-city-of-new-york.html |access-date=March 21, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220321170020/https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/03/arts/design/manhattan-street-grid-at-museum-of-city-of-new-york.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The area is bounded by West [[42nd Street (Manhattan)|42nd Street]], West [[47th Street (Manhattan)|47th Street]], 7th Avenue, and Broadway. Broadway runs diagonally, crossing through the horizontal and vertical [[street grid]] of Manhattan laid down by the [[Commissioners' Plan of 1811]], and that intersection creates the "bowtie" shape of Times Square.<ref>[[Witold Rybczynski|Rybczynski, Witold]]. ''City Life: Urban Expectations in a New World'' New York: Scribner, 1995. p.27. {{ISBN|0-684-81302-5}}. Quote: "...despite its name [Times Square] is really a street intersection, not a square."</ref><ref>Dunlap, David W. [https://www.nytimes.com/1990/06/10/realestate/commercial-property-times-square-novelty-north-duffy-sq-butler-every-floor-hotel.html "COMMERCIAL PROPERTY: Times Square Novelty; North of Duffy Sq., a Butler-on-Every-Floor Hotel"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211213110311/https://www.nytimes.com/1990/06/10/realestate/commercial-property-times-square-novelty-north-duffy-sq-butler-every-floor-hotel.html |date=December 13, 2021 }}, ''[[The New York Times]]'', June 10, 1990. Accessed February 26, 2017. "With its hot nightclubs, dazzling signs and sprawling showrooms, the block at the northern end of the 'bowtie' formed by Broadway and Seventh Avenue was always an important part of old Times Square."</ref>

Times Square is the official name of the southern triangle, below 45th Street.<ref>[http://maps.nyc.gov/doitt/nycitymap/?z=9&p=988269,215380&c=GISBasic&s=a:TIMES+SQUARE,MANHATTAN "Times Square"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220110191358/http://maps.nyc.gov/doitt/nycitymap/?z=9&p=988269,215380&c=GISBasic&s=a:TIMES+SQUARE,MANHATTAN |date=January 10, 2022 }} New York City Geographic Information Service map</ref> The northern triangle is officially known as [[Duffy Square]]<ref>[https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/father-duffy-square/history Father Duffy Square] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170112183051/https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/father-duffy-square/history |date=January 12, 2017 }}, [[New York City Department of Parks and Recreation]]. Accessed January 10, 2017. "Dominated in 1909 by a temporary eight-ton, fifty-foot statue by Leo Lentelli entitled Purity (Defeat of Slander), today this square—so central to the theater district—is defined by statues of George M. Cohan and Father Duffy, as well as a large public viewing grandstand along the north side."</ref> and was dedicated in June 1939 to honor World War I chaplain Father [[Francis P. Duffy]] of the [[69th New York Infantry Regiment]].<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1939/06/13/archives/duffy-sq-signs-to-be-put-up-today-area-surrounding-statue-of.html "Duffy Sq. Signs To Be Put Up Today; Area Surrounding Statue of Chaplain of Old 69th to Be Separate From Times Sq."], ''[[The New York Times]]'', June 13, 1939. Accessed January 2, 2024. "A new honor will be accorded today to the Rev. Francis P. Duffy, famed chaplain of the 'fighting Sixty-ninth,' when that section of Times Square immediately surrounding his statue between Forty-sixth and Forty-seventh Streets will be designated as Duffy Square by a change of street signs... The change to Duffy Square was authorized March 29, when Mayor La Guardia signed the local law passed by the City Council."</ref> A statue by [[Charles Keck]] was dedicated in May 1937 as a memorial to Duffy.<ref>[https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/father-duffy-square/monuments/416 Father Duffy Square], [[New York City Department of Parks and Recreation]]. Accessed January 2, 2024. "At the apex of the triangle defining the north end of Times Square, the massive statue of Father Francis Patrick Duffy (1871–1932) by Charles Keck (1875–1951) has stood sentinel since it was unveiled May 2, 1937."</ref> There is also [[Statue of George M. Cohan|a statue]] of composer and entertainer [[George M. Cohan]],<ref>[https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/father-duffy-square/monuments/282 Father Duffy Square: George M. Cohan], [[New York City Department of Parks and Recreation]]. Accessed January 2, 2024. "This bronze statue depicts the American composer, playwright, actor, and producer George M. Cohan (1878–1942).  The statue was designed by Georg John Lober (1892–1961) and dedicated in 1959."</ref><ref>Harris, Stephen L. ''Duffy's War: Fr. Francis Duffy, Wild Bill Donovan, and the Irish Fighting 69th in World War I'', Potomac Books, 2006</ref> and the [[TKTS]] discount ticket booth for same-day Broadway and off-Broadway theaters that has been at the site since June 1973.<ref>[https://www.timessquarenyc.org/locations/tkts-times-square TKTS Times Square] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240102155535/https://www.timessquarenyc.org/locations/tkts-times-square |date=January 2, 2024 }}, TimesSquareNYC.org. Accessed January 2, 2024. "Buy discounted tickets "under the red steps" in Father Duffy Square at Broadway and 47th St. TDF is a not-for-profit organization that has been dedicated to bringing the power of the performing arts to everyone since 1968."</ref><ref>[https://www.tdf.org/about-us/media-center/tkts-turns-50-in-times-square/ "TKTS® Turns 50 in Times Square"], [[Theatre Development Fund]], press release dated June 8, 2023. Accessed January 2, 2024. "'TDF approached me and my business partner John Schiff to design a temporary structure around a trailer for $5,000,' said Bob Mayers, partner at Mayers & Schiff, the architectural firm hired to design the original half-price ticket booth in Duffy Square in 1973.... Operated by TDF, a not-for-profit service organization for the performing arts, TKTS Times Square opened for business on June 25, 1973, and quickly became a mecca for theatregoers from all over the world."</ref>

==History==
[[File:Longacre Square, New York City, 1898.jpg|thumb|right|Broadway at 42nd Street in 1898]]
[[File:Crowd awaits news of Dempsey - Carpentier.JPG|thumb|right|A crowd outside One Times Square follows the progress of the [[Jack Dempsey vs. Georges Carpentier]] boxing fight in 1921.]]

===Early history===
When [[Manhattan Island]] was first settled by the [[Dutch colonization of the Americas|Dutch colonists]], three small streams united near what is now the intersection of [[10th Avenue (Manhattan)|10th Avenue]] and [[40th Street (Manhattan)|40th Street]]. These three streams formed the "Great Kill" (Dutch: ''Grote Kil''). From there the Great Kill wound through the low-lying Reed Valley, known for fish and waterfowl,<ref>[[Gerard T. Koeppel]], ''Water for Gotham: A History'', 2001:10.</ref> and emptied into a deep bay in the [[Hudson River]] at the present 42nd Street.<ref>Sanderson, Eric W. ''Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City'', 2009: Appendix A p 253; refs. G.E. Hill and G.E. Waring Jr, "Old wells and water-courses on the isle of Manhattan", in ''Historic New York'', M.W. Goodwin, A.C. Royce, and R. Putnam, 1897; and others.</ref> The name was retained in a tiny hamlet, Great Kill, that became a center for carriage-making, as the upland to the south and east became known as Longacre.<ref>Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace, ''Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898'', 1999, p.721.</ref>

Before and after the [[American Revolution]], the area belonged to [[John Morin Scott]], a general of the [[New York militia]], in which he served under [[George Washington]]. Scott's [[manor house]] was at what is currently 43rd Street, surrounded by countryside used for farming and breeding horses. In the first half of the 19th century, it became one of the prized 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 [[Upper Manhattan|uptown]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Ulam |first=Alex |date=June 2, 2008 |title=John Jacob Astor: The making of a hardnosed speculator &#124; The Real Deal &#124; New York Real Estate News |url=http://therealdeal.com/newyork/articles/john-jacob-astor-the-making-of-a-hardnosed-speculator |url-status=dead |access-date=April 21, 2010 |publisher=The Real Deal |archive-date=February 15, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100215005443/http://therealdeal.com/newyork/articles/john-jacob-astor-the-making-of-a-hardnosed-speculator }}</ref>{{New archival link needed|date=April 2026}}

By 1872, the area had become the center of New York's horse carriage industry. The locality had not previously been given a name, and city authorities called it Longacre Square after [[Long Acre]] in London, where the horse and carriage trade was centered in that city.<ref>Kelly, Frank Bergen. [https://books.google.com/books?id=v4cGmMe6_okC&dq=longacre+bloomingdale&pg=PA121 ''Historical Guide to the City of New York''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221231030143/https://books.google.com/books?id=v4cGmMe6_okC&pg=PA121&dq=longacre+bloomingdale&hl=en&sa=X&ei=HYbeT-XVGuTX6gGy1vmFCw&ved=0CEAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=longacre%20bloomingdale&f=false |date=December 31, 2022 }} New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co., 1909</ref> [[William Henry Vanderbilt]] owned and ran the American Horse Exchange there. In 1910, it became the Winter Garden Theatre.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Stavrou |first=Gene |title=Where was the American Horse Exchange? – TreebaseNYC |url=http://www.treebase.com/loc.cfm?ItemID=D39EADCA-15C5-FC25-8CAB29E09D06B414#.VqZDtVmilhU |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160203173744/http://www.treebase.com/loc.cfm?ItemID=D39EADCA-15C5-FC25-8CAB29E09D06B414 |archive-date=February 3, 2016 |access-date=January 25, 2016 |website=www.treebase.com}}</ref>

As more profitable commerce and industrialization of [[Lower Manhattan]] pushed homes, theaters, and [[prostitution]] northward from the [[Tenderloin, Manhattan|Tenderloin District]], Longacre Square became nicknamed the ''Thieves Lair'' for its increasingly prominent reputation as a low entertainment district. The first theater on the square, the [[Olympia Theatre (New York City)|Olympia]], was built by cigar manufacturer and [[impresario]] [[Oscar Hammerstein I]].<ref>Dunning, Jennifer. [https://www.nytimes.com/1979/07/13/archives/a-walking-tour-of-the-past-and-present-on-broadway-a-walk-westward.html "A Walking Tour of the Past and Present on Broadway"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180811173916/https://www.nytimes.com/1979/07/13/archives/a-walking-tour-of-the-past-and-present-on-broadway-a-walk-westward.html |date=August 11, 2018 }}, ''[[The New York Times]]'', July 13, 1979. Accessed November 1, 2016. "The old stock and repertory company system made way for the Broadway hit and greater profits for the theater manager and owner, which, in turn, led to the rise of such theatrical entrepreneurs as Oscar Hammerstein, who struck out into the wilds of 44th and 45th Streets in 1895 to build his huge Olympia Theater in the 'Thieves Lair' area of Broadway."</ref> According to ''Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898'', "By the early 1890s this once sparsely settled stretch of Broadway was ablaze with electric light and thronged by crowds of middle- and upper-class theatre, restaurant and cafe patrons."<ref>Burrows and Wallace 1999:1149.</ref>

===1900s–1930s===
In 1904, ''[[The New York Times|New York Times]]'' publisher [[Adolph Ochs|Adolph S. Ochs]] moved the newspaper's operations to a new skyscraper on 42nd Street at Longacre Square, on the site of the former [[Pabst Hotel]], which had existed on the site for less than a decade since it opened in November 1899.<ref>[[Christopher Gray (architectural historian)|Gray, Christopher.]] [https://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/01/realestate/a-small-hotel-a-mock-battleship-and-the-titanic.html "Streetscapes: A Small Hotel, a Mock Battleship and the Titanic"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161103234706/http://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/01/realestate/a-small-hotel-a-mock-battleship-and-the-titanic.html |date=November 3, 2016 }}, ''[[The New York Times]]'', December 1, 1996. Accessed November 1, 2016. "Q The Pabst Hotel was on the site of the old New York Times Tower, at the northwest corner of 42d and Broadway. Was it owned and operated by Pabst Brewing? . . . David Steigerwald, Fanwood, N.J.A Yes. The Pabst opened in November 1899, in the middle of the first wave of theater construction to arrive in the area, then known as Longacre Square."</ref> Ochs persuaded Mayor [[George B. McClellan Jr.]] to construct a [[Times Square – 42nd Street (New York City Subway)|subway station]] there, and the area was renamed "Times Square" on April 8, 1904.<ref name="NYT20040408">[[James Barron (journalist)|Barron, James]]. [https://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/08/nyregion/100-years-ago-an-intersection-s-new-name-times-square.html?_r=0 "100 Years Ago, an Intersection's New Name: Times Square"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170909125612/http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/08/nyregion/100-years-ago-an-intersection-s-new-name-times-square.html?_r=0 |date=September 9, 2017 }}, ''[[The New York Times]]'', April 8, 2004. Accessed May 26, 2017.</ref> Just three weeks later, the first electrified advertisement appeared on the side of a bank at the corner of 46th Street and Broadway.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM7J68_Times_Square_New_York_New_York |title=Times Square – New York, New York – Scenic at Night on |publisher=Waymarking.com |access-date=April 21, 2010 |archive-date=June 6, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606134320/http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM7J68_Times_Square_New_York_New_York |url-status=live }}</ref> The north end later became Duffy Square, and the former Horse Exchange became the [[Winter Garden Theatre]], constructed in 1911.<ref>[http://forgotten-ny.com/2016/02/winter-garden-theatre-district/ WINTER GARDEN, Theatre District] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170120184114/http://forgotten-ny.com/2016/02/winter-garden-theatre-district/ |date=January 20, 2017 }}, Forgotten New York, February 2, 2016. Accessed May 26, 2017.</ref>

''The New York Times'' moved to more spacious offices one block west of the square in 1913 and sold the building in 1961.<ref name="NYT20040408"/> The old Times Building was later named the [[Allied Corp.|Allied Chemical]] Building in 1963.<ref>Ennis, Thomas W. [https://www.nytimes.com/1963/04/17/archives/old-times-tower-to-get-new-face-26story-building-will-be-stripped.html "OLD TIMES TOWER TO GET NEW FACE"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220221235213/https://www.nytimes.com/1963/04/17/archives/old-times-tower-to-get-new-face-26story-building-will-be-stripped.html |date=February 21, 2022 }}, ''[[The New York Times]]'', April 17, 1963. Accessed February 21, 2022.</ref> Now known simply as [[One Times Square]], it is famed for the [[Times Square Ball |Times Square Ball drop]] on its roof every New Year's Eve.

In 1913, the [[Lincoln Highway Association]], headed by entrepreneur [[Carl G. Fisher]], chose the intersection of 42nd Street and Broadway (at the southeast corner of Times Square) to be the Eastern Terminus of the [[Lincoln Highway]]. This was the first road across the United States, which originally ran {{cvt|3389|mi|km}} coast to coast through 13 states to its western terminus in [[Lincoln Park (San Francisco)|Lincoln Park]] in San Francisco.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=18026 |title=The Lincoln Highway Marker |publisher=Hmdb.org |access-date=April 21, 2010 |archive-date=March 8, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120308143326/http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=18026 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Pollak, Michael. [https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/10/nyregion/a-highways-starting-line-and-a-flemish-firehouse.html "A Highway's Starting Line, and a Flemish Firehouse"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170308234042/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/10/nyregion/a-highways-starting-line-and-a-flemish-firehouse.html |date=March 8, 2017 }}, ''[[The New York Times]]'', July 8, 2016. Accessed November 1, 2016. "The sign, which has been restored to the northeast corner of 42nd Street and Broadway, is quite authentic. It was placed there on Feb. 12, 2009, the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth, to mark the Lincoln Highway, which was created in 1913 and was the nation's first coast-to-coast road."</ref>

Times Square grew dramatically after [[World War I]].<ref name="leach339">Leach, William R. ''[[Land of Desire|Land of Desire: Merchants, Power, and the Rise of a New American Culture]]'', p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=VHZ6UAudSiUC&pg=339 339], [[Knopf Doubleday]] Publishing Group, 2011, {{ISBN|9780307761149}}. Accessed May 26, 2017.</ref> It became a cultural hub full of theaters, [[music hall]]s, and upscale hotels.<ref name=leach339 />

{{Blockquote|Times Square quickly became New York's [[agora]], a place to gather to await great tidings and to celebrate them, whether a World Series or a presidential election.|[[James Traub]]|''The Devil's Playground: A Century of Pleasure and Profit in Times Square''|}}

[[Advertising]] also grew significantly in the 1920s, growing from $25&nbsp;million to $85&nbsp;million over the decade.<ref>Leach (1993), [https://books.google.com/books?id=VHZ6UAudSiUC&pg=340 p.340]</ref> For example, the [[Wrigley Company|Wrigley]] Spearmint Gum sign, possibly the biggest electric sign "in the world," cost $9,000 per month to rent.<ref>Leach (1993), [https://books.google.com/books?id=VHZ6UAudSiUC&pg=341 p.341]</ref> Some contemporary critics, such as [[Thorstein Veblen]]<ref name="leach345">Leach (1993), [https://books.google.com/books?id=VHZ6UAudSiUC&pg=345 p.345]</ref> and [[G. K. Chesterton]],<ref name="leach346">Leach (1993), [https://books.google.com/books?id=VHZ6UAudSiUC&pg=346 p.346]</ref> disliked the advertising at Times Square. [[Fritz Lang]], after seeing Times Square in 1923, used it as inspiration for his dark industrial film ''[[Metropolis (1927 film)|Metropolis]]''.<ref name=leach345 />

Entertainment icons such as [[Irving Berlin]], [[Charlie Chaplin]], and [[Fred Astaire]] were closely associated with Times Square in the 1910s, 1920s, and 1930s. However, it was also during this period that the area began to be 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]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/gangsters_outlaws/cops_others/becker/2.html |title=Killer Cop: Charles Becker – Crime Library on |publisher=TruTV |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131212212812/http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/gangsters_outlaws/cops_others/becker/2.html |archive-date=December 12, 2013 |access-date=April 21, 2010}}</ref>

=== 1930s–1950s ===
[[File:V-J Day in New York City. Crowds gather in Times Square to celebrate the surrender of Japan. - NARA - 531350.tif|thumb|right|Crowds celebrating in Times Square on [[V-J Day]] (August 15, 1945)]]
{{Listen
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The general atmosphere of Times Square changed with the onset of the [[Great Depression]] in the early 1930s. City residents moved uptown to cheaper neighborhoods, and many popular theaters closed, replaced by saloons, brothels, "burlesque halls, vaudeville stages, and dime houses".<ref>{{cite web |last=Macbeth |first=VR |url=http://timessquare.com/NYC__/Times_Square_History/The_Great_White_Way/ |url-status=dead |title=The Great White Way |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110504160457/http://timessquare.com/NYC__/Times_Square_History/The_Great_White_Way/ |archive-date=May 4, 2011 |website=Timessquare.com |date=May 1, 2012}}</ref> The area acquired a reputation as a dangerous and seedy neighborhood in the following decades.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.timessquarenyc.org/visitor-tips/history/index.aspx |title=From Dazzling to Dirty and Back Again: A Brief History of Times Square |website=History of Times Square |date=May 17, 2017 |publisher=Times Square District Management Association |access-date=July 23, 2021 |url-status=live |archive-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924073054/http://www.timessquarenyc.org/visitor-tips/history/index.aspx }}</ref>

Nevertheless, Times Square continued to be the site of the annual [[Times Square Ball|ball drop on New Year's Eve]]. The ball drop was placed on hiatus for New Year's Eve in 1942 and 1943 due to lighting restrictions during [[World War II]], replaced by a moment of silence that was observed at midnight in Times Square, accompanied by the sound of chimes played from sound trucks.<ref>Moench, Mallory. [https://time.com/6551253/new-years-eve-times-square-ball-drop-facts/ "10 Surprising Facts About the Times Square New Year's Eve Ball Drop"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240102184945/https://time.com/6551253/new-years-eve-times-square-ball-drop-facts/ |date=January 2, 2024 }}, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'', December 31, 2023. Accessed January 2, 2024. "The ball went out of commission for two years, in 1942 and 1943, during World War II, Times Square's website said. Crowds still gathered for a minute of silence followed by chimes ringing from trucks parked at the Times Tower."</ref>

On May 8, 1945, a massive crowd celebrated [[Victory in Europe Day]] in Times Square;<ref>{{cite web |url=http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/WW2Timeline/qt/v-eday.html |title=V-E Day |access-date=May 9, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080515065523/http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/WW2Timeline/qt/v-eday.html |archive-date=May 15, 2008 |publisher=University of San Diego}}</ref> and on August 15, 1945, the largest crowd in the history of Times Square gathered to celebrate [[Victory over Japan Day]], reaching an estimated two million.<ref name="life1945082721">{{cite news |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e0gEAAAAMBAJ&q=life%20magazine%20aug%2027%201945&pg=PA21 |title=Victory Celebrations |magazine=Life |date=August 27, 1945 |access-date=November 25, 2011 |page=21}}</ref> The victory itself was announced by a headline on the "zipper" [[news ticker]] at [[One Times Square]], which read "OFFICIAL ***TRUMAN ANNOUNCES JAPANESE SURRENDER ***".<ref>[https://www.nyhistory.org/blogs/no-matter-the-reason-celebration-in-times-square "No Matter The Reason, Celebration In Times Square"], [[New-York Historical Society]], December 27, 2012. Accessed January 2, 2024. "On August 14, 1945 at 7:03&nbsp;pm the Times Tower zipper delivered the news: 'Official—Truman Announces Japanese Surrender.' The excited crowd, already 500,000 strong, soared to 2 million by 10 pm."</ref>

=== 1960s–1990s ===

==== Decline ====
{{multiple image
| align             = right
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| image1            = Camel Cigaretts Sign -- Times Square 1965.jpg
| caption1          = Camel Cigarettes sign, 1965. Below and near the letters "Cam" is smoke from a disintegrating smoke ring.
| image2            = Times Square -- February 1965.jpg
| caption2          = Times Square, 1965; the ''My Fair Lady'' marquee is at center.
| alt1              =
}}

From the 1960s to the early 1990s, the seediness of the area, especially due to its [[go-go bar]]s, [[sex shop]]s, [[peep show]]s, and adult theaters, became an infamous symbol of the city's decline.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/207131/new_york_guide/times_square_new_york_city.html |title=Times Square New York City |publisher=Streetdirectory.com |access-date=April 21, 2010 |archive-date=March 14, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314035521/http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/207131/new_york_guide/times_square_new_york_city.html |url-status=live }}</ref> As early as 1960, 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues was described by ''[[The New York Times]]'' as "the 'worst' [block] in town".<ref name="bracker">{{Cite news |last=Bracker |first=Milton |date=March 14, 1960 |title=Life on W. 42d St. A Study in Decay |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1960/03/14/archives/life-on-w-42d-st-a-study-in-decay-life-on-w-42d-st-a-study-in-decay.html |access-date=April 8, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=April 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408003559/https://www.nytimes.com/1960/03/14/archives/life-on-w-42d-st-a-study-in-decay-life-on-w-42d-st-a-study-in-decay.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Later that decade, Times Square was depicted in ''[[Midnight Cowboy]]'' as gritty, depraved, and desperate.<ref>Bailey, Jason. [https://www.flavorwire.com/607844/10-great-accidental-documentaries-of-new-york-citys-sketchiest-era "10 Great 'Accidental Documentaries' of New York City's Sketchiest Era"], ''[[Flavorwire]]'', July 5, 2017. Accessed January 2, 2024. "''Midnight Cowboy'' – It's become a cliché of New York attitude, but nicely captures the defiance of city-dwellers in this period – and is one of many achingly accurate period touches in Cowboy, one of the first wide releases to capture the rot of the city in general and its once-glam Times Square district in particular."</ref> Conditions only worsened in the 1970s and 1980s, as did the [[Crime in New York City|crime]] in the rest of the city, with a 1981 article in ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' magazine calling 42nd Street in Times Square the "sleaziest block in America".<ref>Chakraborty, Deblina. [https://www.cnn.com/2016/04/18/us/80s-times-square-then-and-now/index.html "When Times Square was sleazy"], ''[[CNN]]'', April 18, 2016. Accessed January 2, 2024. "The sex market and drug trade thrived in the area, and homeless encampments dotted its streets. Many local theaters – once legitimate operations showcasing the performances of renowned actors like Lionel Barrymore – had become home to peep shows and porn movies.... In 1981, Rolling Stone magazine called West 42nd Street, located in the heart of Times Square, the 'sleaziest block in America.'"</ref> In the mid-1980s, the area bounded by 40th and 50th Streets and Seventh and Ninth Avenues saw over 15,000 crime complaints per year.<ref>{{Cite news |date=May 31, 1984 |title=Sex Business in Times Square Said to Decrease |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/05/31/nyregion/sex-business-in-times-square-said-to-decrease.html |access-date=April 8, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=April 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408004601/https://www.nytimes.com/1984/05/31/nyregion/sex-business-in-times-square-said-to-decrease.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The block of 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues had 2,300 crimes per year in 1984, of which 20% were felonies.<ref name="Farley 2018">{{cite web |last=Farley |first=David |title=The curious history of Times Square – and why you should visit, despite the chaos |website=The Telegraph |date=June 25, 2018 |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/north-america/united-states/new-york/articles/times-square-history/ |access-date=April 8, 2022 |archive-date=April 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408003559/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/north-america/united-states/new-york/articles/times-square-history/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Stern 2015">{{cite web |last=Stern |first=William J. |title=The Unexpected Lessons of Times Square's Comeback |website=City Journal |date=December 23, 2015 |url=https://www.city-journal.org/html/unexpected-lessons-times-square%E2%80%99s-comeback-12235.html |access-date=April 8, 2022 |archive-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630162120/https://www.city-journal.org/html/unexpected-lessons-times-square%E2%80%99s-comeback-12235.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Times Square was known in the 1970s-80s as the most notorious area for prostitution. In this era, formerly elegant movie theaters began to show [[X rating|x-rated films]], and [[peep show]]s hustlers were common.<ref>Traub, James. ''The Devil's Playground: A Century of Pleasure and Profit in Times Square'', New York: Random House, 2004. {{ISBN|0375759786}}.</ref> In 1984, the area was so derelict and dilapidated, that the entire Times Square area paid the city only $6&nbsp;million in property taxes (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|6|1984|fmt=c|r=1}}&nbsp;million in {{Inflation/year|US}}).<ref>Stern, William J. [https://ij.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/stern-perspective2.pdf ''Perspectives on Eminent Domain Abuse: The Truth About Times Square''], [[Institute for Justice]], April 2009. Accessed January 2, 2024. "In 1984, the entire 13-acre area identified in our eventual redevelopment plan employed only 3,000 people in legal businesses and paid the city only $6 million in property taxes —less than what a medium-size office building in Manhattan typically produced in tax revenue."</ref>

==== 1980s building boom ====
[[File:New York-Manhattan-50-Times Square-1982-gje.jpg|thumb|Times Square in 1982]]
In the 1980s, a commercial building boom began in the western parts of Midtown as part of a long-term [[development plan]] developed under mayors [[Ed Koch]] and [[David Dinkins]]. These included office buildings such as [[1540 Broadway]], [[1585 Broadway]], and [[750 Seventh Avenue]], as well as hotels such as the [[Millennium Times Square New York|Macklowe Hotel]], [[New York Marriott Marquis|Marriott Marquis]], [[Crowne Plaza Times Square Manhattan|Crowne Plaza]], and DoubleTree Suites.<ref name="nyt-1986-11-01">{{Cite news |last=Gottlieb |first=Martin |date=November 1, 1986 |title=Surge of Times Sq. Projects Raises Questions on Effects |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/11/01/nyregion/surge-of-times-sq-projects-raises-questions-on-effects.html |url-status=live |access-date=February 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220210171139/https://www.nytimes.com/1986/11/01/nyregion/surge-of-times-sq-projects-raises-questions-on-effects.html |archive-date=February 10, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> By 1986, [[New York City Planning Commission]] (CPC) was considering enacting regulations that would have forced new buildings along Times Square to include bright signage as well as deep [[Setback (architecture)|setbacks]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Oser |first=Alan S. |date=December 14, 1986 |title=Perspectives: Great White Way; Planning for a Brighter Times Sq. |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/14/realestate/perspectives-great-white-way-planning-for-a-brighter-times-sq.html |url-status=live |access-date=February 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220214185322/https://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/14/realestate/perspectives-great-white-way-planning-for-a-brighter-times-sq.html |archive-date=February 14, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The CPC adopted a planning regulation in 1987, which required large new developments in Times Square to set aside about 5&nbsp;percent of their space for "entertainment uses".<ref name="nyt-1987-09-03">{{Cite news |last=Dunlap |first=David W. |date=September 3, 1987 |title=New Rule for Times Sq. Space  |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/09/03/nyregion/new-rule-for-times-sq-space.html |url-status=live |access-date=February 10, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220210171136/https://www.nytimes.com/1987/09/03/nyregion/new-rule-for-times-sq-space.html |archive-date=February 10, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>{{efn|Any development under {{cvt|60000|ft2}} was exempt from the rule; for larger buildings, the first {{cvt|50,000|ft2}} of a development was exempt from the bonus calculation. For example, in a building with {{cvt|500000|ft2}}, the bonus calculation was derived from 5&nbsp;percent of {{cvt|450000|ft2}}, so the space to be set aside for entertainment uses was {{cvt|22500|ft2}}.<ref name="nyt-1987-09-03" />}} The regulation also required new buildings on Times Square to include large, bright signs.<ref name="nyt-1987-09-03" /> The buildings at 1540 Broadway, 1585 Broadway, and 750 Seventh Avenue were completed at the beginning of the [[early 1990s recession]], when 14.5&nbsp;percent of Manhattan office space was vacant.<ref name="p236695270">{{Cite magazine |last1=Light |first1=Larry |last2=Meehan |first2=John |date=July 2, 1990 |title=Finance: real estate: the walls keep closing in on New York developers |issue=3167 |page=72 |id={{ProQuest|236695270}}|magazine=Bloomberg Businessweek}}</ref> Furthermore, some {{cvt|9|e6ft2|m2}} of office space in the western section of Midtown had been developed in the 1980s, of which only half had been leased.<ref>{{harvnb|Stern|Fishman|Tilove|2006|ps=.|p=663}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Lueck |first=Thomas J. |date=March 4, 1990 |title=Battling for Tenants in a Slow Market |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/04/realestate/battling-for-tenants-in-a-slow-market.html |url-status=live |access-date=February 11, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220211013942/https://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/04/realestate/battling-for-tenants-in-a-slow-market.html |archive-date=February 11, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Consequently, 1540 Broadway was completely empty, while 1585 Broadway and 750 Seventh Avenue had one tenant each, despite the buildings having over {{cvt|2|e6ft2}} of office space between them.<ref name="p236695270" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Dunlap |first=David W. |date=August 26, 1990 |title=Commercial Property: Vacancy Rates; Black Monday's Fallout: An Emptiness Downtown |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/08/26/realestate/commercial-property-vacancy-rates-black-monday-s-fallout-an-emptiness-downtown.html |url-status=live |access-date=February 10, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210821004118/https://www.nytimes.com/1990/08/26/realestate/commercial-property-vacancy-rates-black-monday-s-fallout-an-emptiness-downtown.html |archive-date=August 21, 2021 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Entertainment conglomerate [[Bertelsmann]] bought 1540 Broadway in 1992,<ref name="nyt-1992-03-04">{{Cite news |last=Bartlett |first=Sarah |date=March 4, 1992 |title=Media Group Makes a Deal For Building |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/04/nyregion/media-group-makes-a-deal-for-building.html |url-status=live |access-date=February 10, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191217211641/https://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/04/nyregion/media-group-makes-a-deal-for-building.html |archive-date=December 17, 2019 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name="n94674085">{{Cite news |last=Henry |first=David |date=March 4, 1992 |title=A New Player on Times Square |pages=52, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94674154/ 55] |work=Newsday |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94674085/a-new-player-on-times-squaredavid-henry/ |url-status=live |access-date=February 10, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220210211322/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94674085/a-new-player-on-times-squaredavid-henry/ |archive-date=February 10, 2022 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref> spurring a revival of Times Square in the early 1990s.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Gelbtuch |first=Howard |date=February 19, 1996 |title=The ground floor: The times they are a changin' in Times Square and early investors get bargains |volume=76 |issue=8 |page=48.1 |id={{ProQuest|200987811}}|magazine=Barron's}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last=Grant |first=Peter |date=September 6, 1993 |title=Times Square's time has come |volume=9 |issue=36 |page=11 |id={{ProQuest|219117979}}|magazine=Crain's New York Business}}</ref> This was hastened when financial firm [[Morgan Stanley]] bought 1585 Broadway in 1993,<ref name="nyt-1993-08-12">{{Cite news |last=Pinder |first=Jeanne B. |date=August 12, 1993 |title=Midtown Building Is Sold for Lofty $176 Million |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/08/12/nyregion/midtown-building-is-sold-for-lofty-176-million.html |url-status=live |access-date=February 15, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220215061915/https://www.nytimes.com/1993/08/12/nyregion/midtown-building-is-sold-for-lofty-176-million.html |archive-date=February 15, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> followed by 750 Seventh Avenue in 1994.<ref name="p219127068">{{cite magazine |last=Grant |first=Peter |date=May 9, 1994 |title=IBM gets record price for NY headquarters |volume=10 |issue=19 |page=1 |id={{ProQuest|219127068}}|magazine=Crain's New York Business}}</ref>

==== 42nd Street Redevelopment, further revitalization ====
[[File:42nd Street in New York.jpg|thumb|The [[wikt:New York minute|pace]], extensive [[Times Square–42nd Street station|transit connectivity]], and [[42nd Street (musical)|theatrical tradition]] of [[42nd Street (Manhattan)|42nd Street]], between [[Seventh Avenue (Manhattan)|Seventh]] and [[Eighth Avenue (Manhattan)|Eighth Avenues]], have made this one of the best known streets in the Times Square neighborhood and the [[Broadway theatre|Broadway Theater]] [[Theater District, Manhattan|District]].]]
The [[Empire State Development Corporation]] (ESDC), an agency of the New York state government, had proposed redeveloping the area around a portion of West 42nd Street in 1981.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lueck |first=Thomas J. |date=February 14, 1988 |title=The Region: Redevelopment; Times Square Plan Takes A Shaky Step Forward |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/02/14/weekinreview/the-region-redevelopment-times-square-plan-takes-a-shaky-step-forward.html |url-status=live |access-date=September 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210917225606/https://www.nytimes.com/1988/02/14/weekinreview/the-region-redevelopment-times-square-plan-takes-a-shaky-step-forward.html |archive-date=September 17, 2021 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Four towers designed by [[Philip Johnson]] and [[John Burgee]] were to be built around 42nd Street's intersections with [[Broadway (Manhattan)|Broadway]] and Seventh Avenue.<ref name="Stephens p. 92">{{cite magazine |last=Stephens |first=Suzanne |date=Mar 2000 |title=Four Times Square |url=https://usmodernist.org/AR/AR-2000-03.pdf |url-status=live |volume=188 |pages=92 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210929213251/https://usmodernist.org/AR/AR-2000-03.pdf |archive-date=September 29, 2021 |access-date=October 1, 2021 |journal=Architectural Record}}</ref><ref name="nyt19920803">{{Cite news |last=Dunlap |first=David W. |date=August 3, 1992 |title=Long Delay Likely in Rebuilding Plan for Times Square |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/08/03/nyregion/long-delay-likely-in-rebuilding-plan-for-times-square.html |url-status=live |access-date=September 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210917183927/https://www.nytimes.com/1992/08/03/nyregion/long-delay-likely-in-rebuilding-plan-for-times-square.html |archive-date=September 17, 2021 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> These towers would have been redeveloped by George Klein of Park Tower Realty, though the [[Prudential Insurance Company of America]] joined the project in 1986.<ref>{{harvnb|Stern|Fishman|Tilove|2006|ps=.|pp=690–691}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=October 8, 1986 |title=Metro Datelines; Times Sq. Gets New Partner |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/10/08/nyregion/metro-datelines-times-sq-gets-new-partner.html |url-status=live |access-date=September 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210917185159/https://www.nytimes.com/1986/10/08/nyregion/metro-datelines-times-sq-gets-new-partner.html |archive-date=September 17, 2021 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Polsky |first=Carol |date=October 8, 1986 |title=Prudential Company Joins Times Square |pages=20 |work=Newsday |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85494241/prudential-company-joins-times/ |url-status=live |access-date=September 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210917183921/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85494241/prudential-company-joins-times/ |archive-date=September 17, 2021 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref> Furthermore, as part of the West Midtown special zoning district created in 1982, the New York City government had allowed new buildings in Times Square to be developed with an increased floor area ratio. To ensure the area would not be darkened at nightfall, the city passed zoning regulations that encouraged developers to add large, bright signs on their buildings.<ref name="Stephens p. 92" /><ref>{{harvnb|Stern|Fishman|Tilove|2006|ps=.|p=645}}</ref>

In 1990, the [[New York (state)|State of New York]] took possession of six of the nine historic theaters on 42nd Street, and the [[New 42nd Street]] [[non-profit organization]] was appointed to oversee their restoration and maintenance. The theaters underwent renovation for Broadway shows, conversion for commercial purposes, or demolition.<ref name="nyt20150107" /> Opposition to the towers on Times Square, along with Prudential and Park Tower's inability to secure tenants for the proposed buildings,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Dunlap |first=David W. |date=November 9, 1991 |title=Times Square Redevelopers Seek Delay in Project |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/09/nyregion/times-square-redevelopers-seek-delay-in-project.html |url-status=live |access-date=September 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210917183929/https://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/09/nyregion/times-square-redevelopers-seek-delay-in-project.html |archive-date=September 17, 2021 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> led government officials to allow Prudential and Park Tower to postpone the project in 1992.<ref name="nyt19920803" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Henry |first=David |date=August 4, 1992 |title=Remodeling Times Square, Part IV |pages=27 |work=Newsday |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85494516/remodeling-times-square-part-ivdavid/ |url-status=live |access-date=September 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210917183923/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85494516/remodeling-times-square-part-ivdavid/ |archive-date=September 17, 2021 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref> By then, Prudential had spent $300&nbsp;million on condemning the sites through [[eminent domain]].<ref name="nyt19951121">{{Cite news |last=Pulley |first=Brett |date=November 21, 1995 |title=Key Developer Seeks a Role In Times Sq. |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/11/21/nyregion/key-developer-seeks-a-role-in-times-sq.html |url-status=live |access-date=September 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210917185157/https://www.nytimes.com/1995/11/21/nyregion/key-developer-seeks-a-role-in-times-sq.html |archive-date=September 17, 2021 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The partners retained the right to develop the sites in the future,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Dunlap |first=David W. |date=September 16, 1993 |title=Choreographing Times Sq. Into 21st Century |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/09/16/nyregion/choreographing-times-sq-into-21st-century.html |url-status=live |access-date=September 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210917183925/https://www.nytimes.com/1993/09/16/nyregion/choreographing-times-sq-into-21st-century.html |archive-date=September 17, 2021 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and the ESDC's zoning guidelines remained in effect.<ref name="Stephens p. 92" /> In exchange for being permitted to delay construction of the sites until 2002, Prudential and Park Tower were compelled to add stores and install large signage on the existing buildings.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Bagli |first1=Charles V. |last2=Kennedy |first2=Randy |date=April 5, 1998 |title=Disney Wished Upon Times Sq. And Rescued a Stalled Dream |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/05/nyregion/disney-wished-upon-times-sq-and-rescued-a-stalled-dream.html |url-status=live |access-date=September 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210925215237/https://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/05/nyregion/disney-wished-upon-times-sq-and-rescued-a-stalled-dream.html |archive-date=September 25, 2021 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.timessquarenyc.org/about_us/info_center.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100304132155/http://www.timessquarenyc.org/about_us/info_center.html |url-status=dead |title=Times Square Alliance |archive-date=March 4, 2010}}</ref> In 1998, the alliance opened a tourist information center in the former [[Embassy Theatre (New York City)|Embassy Theatre]] at 1560 Broadway;<ref>{{cite web |date=December 30, 1997 |title=Times Square BID Unveils New Visitors Center; Opens to Public Sept. 2 |url=http://www.playbill.com/article/times-square-bid-unveils-new-visitors-center-opens-to-public-sept-2-com-77157 |access-date=January 2, 2022 |website=Playbill |archive-date=January 2, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220102220731/https://www.playbill.com/article/times-square-bid-unveils-new-visitors-center-opens-to-public-sept-2-com-77157 |url-status=live }}</ref> the information center operated until 2014.<ref>{{cite web |date=August 26, 1925 |title=Embassy 1 Theatre in New York, NY |url=http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/7212 |access-date=January 2, 2022 |website=Cinema Treasures |archive-date=January 2, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220102220725/http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/7212 |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:0480New York City Madame Tussauds crop.jpg|thumb|left|[[Madame Tussauds New York|Madame Tussauds Wax Museum]] and [[Ripley's Believe It or Not!]] Odditorium are two of the newer attractions on the redeveloped [[42nd Street (Manhattan)|42nd Street]].]]
In the mid-1990s, Mayor [[Rudolph Giuliani]] led an effort to clean up the area, an effort that is described by Steve Macek in ''Urban Nightmares: The Media, the Right, and the Moral Panic Over the City'': Security was increased, pornographic theaters were closed, and "undesirable" low-rent residents were pressured to relocate, and then more tourist-friendly attractions and upscale establishments were opened. Advocates of the [[remodeling]] claim that the neighborhood is safer and cleaner. Detractors have countered that the changes have homogenized or [[Disneyfication|"Disneyfied"]] the character of Times Square and have unfairly targeted lower-income New Yorkers from nearby neighborhoods such as [[Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan|Hell's Kitchen]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Macek |first=Steve |title=Urban Nightmares: The Media, the Right, And the Moral Panic Over the City |location=Minneapolis |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |date=2006 |isbn=9780816643608 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NzfLbx1rkxoC&pg=PA111 |page=111}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Rofes |first=Eric E. |url=http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/glq/summary/v007/7.1rofes.html |title=Imperial New York: Destruction and Disneyfication under Emperor Giuliani. Review of ''Times Square Red, Times Square Blue''. Samuel R. Delany. New York: New York University Press, 1999 |journal=GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies |volume=7 |issue=1 |year=2001 |pages=101–09 |doi=10.1215/10642684-7-1-101 |s2cid=144081737 |access-date=April 30, 2014 |archive-date=February 4, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160204114119/http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/glq/summary/v007/7.1rofes.html |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref> The changes were shaped in large part by the actions of [[The Walt Disney Company]], which bought and restored the [[New Amsterdam Theatre]] after several attempts at redevelopment had failed. As part of a contract with Disney, officials from the city and state evicted the pornographic theaters and contracted with [[Madame Tussauds]] and [[AMC Theatres]] to move onto 42nd Street. This spurred the construction of new office towers, hotels, and tourist attractions in the area.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/05/nyregion/disney-wished-upon-times-sq-and-rescued-a-stalled-dream.html |title=Disney Wished Upon Times Sq. and Rescued a Stalled Dream |last1=Bagli |first1=Charles V. |date=April 5, 1998 |work=The New York Times |access-date=May 15, 2017 |last2=Kennedy |first2=Randy |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=September 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210925215237/https://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/05/nyregion/disney-wished-upon-times-sq-and-rescued-a-stalled-dream.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Prudential and Klein dissolved their partnership for the four office-building sites at Times Square's southern end in 1996.<ref name="Stern (2006) p. 719">{{harvnb|Stern|Fishman|Tilove|2006|ps=.|p=719}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Bagli |first=Charles V. |date=March 31, 1998 |title=2 Developers Bid Top Dollar For What's Left in Times Sq. |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/31/nyregion/2-developers-bid-top-dollar-for-what-s-left-in-times-sq.html |url-status=live |access-date=September 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210927195035/https://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/31/nyregion/2-developers-bid-top-dollar-for-what-s-left-in-times-sq.html |archive-date=September 27, 2021 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The same year, [[Douglas Durst]] acquired the site at the northeast corner of Broadway and 42nd Street,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lueck |first=Thomas J. |date=April 12, 1996 |title=Developer Buys the Rights to Build a Times Square Tower |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/04/12/nyregion/developer-buys-the-rights-to-build-a-times-square-tower.html |url-status=live |access-date=September 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210917183921/https://www.nytimes.com/1996/04/12/nyregion/developer-buys-the-rights-to-build-a-times-square-tower.html |archive-date=September 17, 2021 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and he developed [[4 Times Square]] there.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lueck |first=Thomas J. |date=May 8, 1996 |title=Conde Nast Is to Move to a New Times Square Tower, Officials Say |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/08/nyregion/conde-nast-is-to-move-to-a-new-times-square-tower-officials-say.html |url-status=live |access-date=September 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210918004524/https://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/08/nyregion/conde-nast-is-to-move-to-a-new-times-square-tower-officials-say.html |archive-date=September 18, 2021 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The northwest corner of Seventh Avenue and 42nd Street was taken by [[Reuters]], which enlisted [[Rudin Management]] as its development partner and built [[3 Times Square]] on that corner;<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bagli |first=Charles V. |date=September 6, 1997 |title=Reuters to Build 32-Story Headquarters in Times Sq. |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/09/06/nyregion/reuters-to-build-32-story-headquarters-in-times-sq.html |url-status=live |access-date=September 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210925223209/https://www.nytimes.com/1997/09/06/nyregion/reuters-to-build-32-story-headquarters-in-times-sq.html |archive-date=September 25, 2021 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Grant |first=Peter |date=September 8, 1997 |title=Reuters' new tower will get Rudin byline |pages=27 |work=New York Daily News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85975925/reuters-new-tower-will-get-rudin/ |url-status=live |access-date=September 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210925223210/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85975925/reuters-new-tower-will-get-rudin/ |archive-date=September 25, 2021 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref> that building opened in 2001.<ref name="n86065892">{{Cite news |date=June 5, 2001 |title=Reuters Opens New HQ in Heart of City |pages=47 |work=Newsday |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/86065892/reuters-opens-new-hq-in-heart-of-city/ |url-status=live |access-date=September 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210927162939/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/86065892/reuters-opens-new-hq-in-heart-of-city/ |archive-date=September 27, 2021 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref> In 1998, a joint venture of Klein, [[The Blackstone Group]], and [[Boston Properties]] won the right to acquire the sites at the southwest and southeast corners of 42nd Street and Seventh Avenue for $330&nbsp;million.<ref name="p398611537">{{cite news |date=April 1, 1998 |title=Blackstone Partnership To Buy Times Square Sites |page=C22 |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |issn=0099-9660 |id={{ProQuest|398611537}}}}</ref><ref name="n86125629">{{Cite news |last=Standora |first=Leo |date=March 31, 1998 |title=Last 2 major Times Sq. sites go in 300M deal |pages=6 |work=New York Daily News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/86125629/last-2-major-times-sq-sites-go-in-300m/ |url-status=live |access-date=September 28, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210928144646/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/86125629/last-2-major-times-sq-sites-go-in-300m/ |archive-date=September 28, 2021 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref> [[5 Times Square]] was completed on the southwest-corner site in 2002,<ref>{{cite magazine |date=Feb 2003 |title=Leasing |volume=58 |page=22 |id={{ProQuest|216569107}}|magazine=Real Estate Forum|number=2}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last=Boss |first=Shira J. |date=June 24, 2002 |title=Moving industry packs punch |volume=18 |issue=25 |page=1 |id={{ProQuest|219202175}}|magazine=Crain's New York Business}}</ref> and [[Times Square Tower]] opened on the southeast-corner site in 2004.<ref name="nyt20040701">{{Cite news |last=Elliott |first=Stuart |date=July 1, 2004 |title=The Media Business: Advertising; Target is putting its bull's-eyes on Times Square Tower. |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/01/business/media-business-advertising-target-putting-its-bull-s-eyes-times-square-tower.html |url-status=live |access-date=September 29, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210929161750/https://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/01/business/media-business-advertising-target-putting-its-bull-s-eyes-times-square-tower.html |archive-date=September 29, 2021 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>{{clear left}}

==== Effects ====
Times Square now boasts attractions such as [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]'s [[Times Square Studios]], where ''[[Good Morning America]]'' is broadcast live; competing [[The Hershey Company|Hershey's]] and [[M&M's]] stores across the street from each other, and multiple multiplex movie theaters. Additionally, the area contains restaurants such as the [[Bubba Gump Shrimp Company]], a [[seafood]] establishment; [[Planet Hollywood|Planet Hollywood Restaurant and Bar]], a [[theme restaurant]]; and Carmine's, serving [[Italian cuisine]]. It has also attracted several large financial, publishing, and media firms to set up headquarters in the area. A larger presence of police has improved the safety of the area.<ref name="nyt20150107" />

The theaters of Broadway and the huge number of animated [[neon sign|neon]] and [[LED]] signs have been one of New York's iconic images as well as a symbol of the intensely urban aspects of Manhattan. Since 1987 such signage has been mandated by [[zoning ordinance]]s that require building owners to display illuminated signs, the only district in New York City with this requirement.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://zr.planning.nyc.gov/article-viii/chapter-1/81-732 |title=Zoning Resolution 81–732 |publisher=City of New York |access-date=October 8, 2021 |archive-date=October 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211008165616/https://zr.planning.nyc.gov/article-viii/chapter-1/81-732 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Oser |first=Alan S. |title=Great White Way; Planning for a Brighter Times Sq. |work=The New York Times |date=December 14, 1986 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/14/realestate/perspectives-great-white-way-planning-for-a-brighter-times-sq.html |access-date=August 22, 2009 |archive-date=February 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220214185322/https://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/14/realestate/perspectives-great-white-way-planning-for-a-brighter-times-sq.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The neighborhood has a minimum limit for lighting instead of the standard maximum limit.<ref>[http://www.archdaily.com/241079/architect-robert-a-m-stern-presence-of-the-past/ "Architect Robert A.M. Stern: Presence of the Past" (PBS video)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150320233706/http://www.archdaily.com/241079/architect-robert-a-m-stern-presence-of-the-past/ |date=March 20, 2015 }} on the Arch Daily website</ref> The density of illuminated signs in Times Square rivals that in [[Las Vegas]]. Officially, signs in Times Square are called "spectaculars", and the largest of them are called "[[jumbotron]]s". This signage ordinance was implemented in accordance with guidelines set in a revitalization program that New York Governor [[Mario Cuomo]] implemented in 1993.<ref name="nyt20150107">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/08/nyregion/mario-cuomo-42nd-street-times-square.html?_r=0 |title=With a Friendlier 42nd Street, Mario Cuomo Left His Mark on Times Square |work=The New York Times |date=January 7, 2015 |access-date=January 8, 2015 |author=David W. Dunlap |archive-date=January 8, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150108194223/http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/08/nyregion/mario-cuomo-42nd-street-times-square.html?_r=0 |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Naked Cowboy in Times Square.jpg|thumb|right|upright|The "[[Naked Cowboy]]" has been a fixture on Times Square for decades.]]

Notable signage includes the [[Toshiba]] billboard directly under the NYE ball drop, the curved seven-story [[NASDAQ]] sign at the [[NASDAQ MarketSite]] at [[4 Times Square]] on 43rd Street, and the curved [[Coca-Cola sign]] located underneath another large LED display owned and operated by [[Samsung]]. Both the Coca-Cola sign and Samsung LED displays were built by LED display manufacturer [[Daktronics]]. Times Square's first environmentally friendly billboard powered by wind and solar energy was first lit on December 4, 2008.<ref>{{cite news |last=Collins |first=Glenn |title=In Times Square, a Company's Name in (Wind- and Solar-Powered) Lights |work=The New York Times |date=November 14, 2008 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/15/nyregion/15billboard.html |access-date=August 22, 2009 |archive-date=July 1, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170701103659/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/15/nyregion/15billboard.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The new [[20 Times Square]] development hosts the largest LED signage in Times Square at 18,000 square feet.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://commercialobserver.com/2014/05/ian-schrager-taps-cbre-for-20-times-square-retail/ |title=Ian Schrager Taps CBRE for 20 Times Square Retail |last=Barbarino |first=Al |publisher=Commercial Observer |access-date=June 11, 2014 |archive-date=June 6, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140606205819/http://commercialobserver.com/2014/05/ian-schrager-taps-cbre-for-20-times-square-retail/ |url-status=live }} (May 21, 2014)</ref> The display is 1,000 square feet larger than the Times Square [[Walgreens]] display and one of the largest [[List of largest video screens|video-capable screens]] in the world.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/24/nyregion/24sign.html |title=How to Stand Out in Times Square? Build a Bigger and Brighter Billboard |last=Collins |first=Glenn |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=January 14, 2013 |date=May 24, 2008 |archive-date=December 25, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131225104531/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/24/nyregion/24sign.html?hp&_r=0 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===2000s–present===
In 2002, New York City mayor [[Rudy Giuliani]] administered the oath of office to the city's next mayor, [[Michael Bloomberg]], at Times Square after midnight on January 1 as part of the 2001–02 New Year's celebration. Approximately 500,000 revelers attended. Security was high following the [[September 11 terrorist attacks]] in 2001, with more than 7,000 [[New York City Police Department|New York City police officers]] on duty in the Square, twice the number for an ordinary year.<ref>{{cite web |date=January 1, 2002 |title=Text of Bloomberg's Inaugural Address |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/01/nyregion/text-of-bloombergs-inaugural-address.html |access-date=April 21, 2010 |work=[[The New York Times]] |archive-date=February 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220221193730/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/01/nyregion/text-of-bloombergs-inaugural-address.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:TKTS 47 st jeh.JPG|thumb|left|Looking southeast at [[TKTS]] ticket booth in December 2008 at <br/>Times Square]]

Times Square started hosting other major annual events in the 2000s. Since 2002, the summer solstice has been marked by "Mind over Madness", a mass yoga event involving up to 15,000 people. Tim Tompkins, a co-founder of the event, said part of its appeal was "finding stillness and calm amid the city rush on the longest day of the year".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23009362 |title=Times Square takes yoga time-out on summer solstice at BBC News |work=BBC News |access-date=October 4, 2014 |date=June 21, 2013 |archive-date=December 29, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131229235602/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23009362 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.timessquarenyc.org/events/solstice-in-times-square/index.aspx |title=Solstice in Times Square: Athleta Mind Over Madness Yoga |access-date=October 4, 2014 |archive-date=October 6, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006111054/http://www.timessquarenyc.org/events/solstice-in-times-square/index.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref> Architect [[Mark Foster Gage]] proposed and designed the original Times Square Valentine's Day heart in 2009. Since then, designing the heart has become an annual competition.<ref name="LeeSquare">{{cite news |last1=Lee |first1=Jennifer |title=The Pulsing Heart of Times Square |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage-9901EFD81F39F933A25751C0A96F9C8B63.html |access-date=March 19, 2019 |newspaper=New York Times |date=February 10, 2009 |archive-date=April 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401070059/https://archive.nytimes.com/query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage-9901EFD81F39F933A25751C0A96F9C8B63.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="JohnsonValentines">{{cite news |last1=Johnson |first1=Sara |title=6 Years of Times Square Valentines |url=https://www.architectmagazine.com/design/6-years-of-times-square-valentines_o |access-date=March 19, 2019 |publisher=Architect |date=February 13, 2014 |archive-date=April 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401081740/https://www.architectmagazine.com/design/6-years-of-times-square-valentines_o |url-status=live }}</ref>

In February 2011, Times Square became smoke-free as New York extended the outdoors [[List of smoking bans in the United States|smoking ban]] to the area. The measure imposed a $50 fine for any person caught smoking within the area.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/feb/03/new-york-smoking-ban-outdoors |title=Times Square becomes smoke free as New York extends ban outdoors |date=February 3, 2011 |work=Guardian |access-date=February 3, 2011 |location=London |first=Ed |last=Pilkington |archive-date=September 21, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921061919/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/feb/03/new-york-smoking-ban-outdoors |url-status=live }}</ref> From January 29 to February 1, 2014, a "Super Bowl Boulevard" was held on Broadway, especially in Times Square, between 34th and 47th Streets, as part of [[Super Bowl XLVIII]]. The boulevard contained activities such as autographs, a {{cvt|60|ft|m}}-high [[toboggan run]], and photographs with the [[Vince Lombardi Trophy]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Times Square Alliance : Super Bowl Boulevard |url=http://www.timessquarenyc.org/events/super-bowl-boulevard/index.aspx#.UucD6mQo5QI |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110030926/http://www.timessquarenyc.org/events/super-bowl-boulevard/index.aspx |archive-date=November 10, 2013 |access-date=January 28, 2014 |publisher=Times Square Alliance}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ny1.com/content/news/202560/finishing-touches-being-put-on-super-bowl-boulevard |title=Finishing Touches Being Put on Super Bowl Boulevard |publisher=NY1 |access-date=January 28, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140129222852/http://www.ny1.com/content/news/202560/finishing-touches-being-put-on-super-bowl-boulevard |archive-date=January 29, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.myfoxny.com/story/24552380/super-bowl-blvd-starting-to-take-shape |title=Super Bowl Blvd. starting to take shape |publisher=WNYW |access-date=January 28, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140129031048/http://www.myfoxny.com/story/24552380/super-bowl-blvd-starting-to-take-shape |archive-date=January 29, 2014}}</ref> The area was under increased security and witnessed over 400,000 people during the period.<ref>{{cite news |last=Celona |first=Larry |url=https://nypost.com/2014/01/27/nypd-plans-high-security-on-super-bowl-boulevard/ |title=NYPD plans high security on Super Bowl Boulevard |work=New York Post |date=January 27, 2014 |access-date=January 28, 2014 |archive-date=January 27, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140127132813/http://nypost.com/2014/01/27/nypd-plans-high-security-on-super-bowl-boulevard/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In October 2022, casino operator [[Caesars Entertainment]] and commercial property developer [[SL Green]] submitted a joint proposal to open a [[casino]] at [[1515 Broadway]], along Times Square.<ref name="Brachfeld 2022">{{cite web |last=Brachfeld |first=Ben |date=October 20, 2022 |title=Real estate and gaming giants eye new casino in Times Square |url=https://www.amny.com/business/times-square-casino-plans/ |access-date=October 30, 2022 |website=amNewYork |archive-date=October 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221030002022/https://www.amny.com/business/times-square-casino-plans/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="nyt-2022-10-19">{{Cite news |last1=Rubinstein |first1=Dana |last2=Hong |first2=Nicole |last3=Paulson |first3=Michael |date=October 19, 2022 |title=Times Square May Get One of the Few Spectacles It Lacks: A Casino |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/19/nyregion/casino-times-square.html |access-date=October 30, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=October 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221021150544/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/19/nyregion/casino-times-square.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The community advisory committee rejected the proposal in September of 2025, therefore ending the prospects of a [[casino hotel]] in Times Square.<ref>{{cite web |last=Huston |first=Caitlin |date=September 17, 2025 |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/nyc-times-square-casino-proposal-denied-1236373490/ |title=Times Square Casino Proposal, Backed By Caesars and Jay-Z, Denied By Advisory Committee |website=Hollywood Reporter |access-date=September 17, 2025}}</ref>

====Pedestrian plaza====
{{multiple image
| align             = right
| direction         = vertical
| total_width       = 250
| header            = Pedestrian plaza
| image1            = Tsq green chairs jeh.jpg
| caption1          = Pilot program (2009)
| image2            = NYC 07 2012 Times Square 4002.jpg
| caption2          = Temporary conversion (2012)
| image3            = Times Sq Feb 2017 4.jpg
| caption3          = Permanent reconstruction (2017)
}}

On February 26, 2009, Mayor [[Michael Bloomberg]] announced that traffic lanes along [[Broadway (Manhattan)|Broadway]] from [[42nd Street (Manhattan)|42nd Street]] to 47th Street would be de-mapped starting Memorial Day 2009 and transformed into pedestrian plazas as a trial until at least the end of the year. The same was done in [[Herald Square]] from 33rd to 35th Street. The results were to be closely monitored to determine if the project was successful and should be extended.<ref>{{cite news |last=Seifman |first=David |title=Broadway Cars Can Take A Walk |work=New York Post |date=February 26, 2009 |url=https://nypost.com/2009/02/26/broadway-cars-can-take-a-walk/ |access-date=February 21, 2022 |archive-date=February 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220221221002/https://nypost.com/2009/02/26/broadway-cars-can-take-a-walk/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Bloomberg also stated that he believed the street shutdown would make New York more livable by reducing pollution, cutting down on pedestrian-vehicle accidents, and helping traffic flow more smoothly through the Midtown street grid.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Vanderford |first1=Richard |last2=Goldsmith |first2=Samuel |date=May 25, 2009 |title=Walk, bike or sit, car-free, in Times Square and Herald Square |work=New York Daily News |url=https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/walk-bike-sit-car-free-times-square-herald-square-article-1.374694 |access-date=February 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090526140720/http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/05/25/2009-05-25_broadway_stroll_walk_bike_or_sit_and_check_email_carfree_in_times__herald_sqs.html |archive-date=May 26, 2009}}</ref>

The pedestrian plaza project was originally opposed by local businesses, who thought that closing the street to cars would hurt business.<ref>[https://nextcity.org/urbanist-news/citing-livability-and-mobility-bloomberg-declares-broadway-plazas-a-success Citing "Livability and Mobility," Bloomberg Declares Broadway Plazas a Success] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220409222140/https://nextcity.org/urbanist-news/citing-livability-and-mobility-bloomberg-declares-broadway-plazas-a-success |date=April 9, 2022 }}. Next City Retrieved on February 21, 2022.</ref> The original seats put out for pedestrians were inexpensive multicolored plastic lawn chairs, a source of amusement to many New Yorkers; they lasted from the onset of the plaza transformation until August 14, 2009, when they were ceremoniously bundled together in an installation christened ''Now You See It, Now You Don't'' by the artist Jason Peters, and shortly afterward were replaced by sturdier metal furniture.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nyclovesnyc.blogspot.com/2009/08/jason-peters-now-you-see-it-now-you.html |title=Jason Peters' ''Now You See It, Now You Don't'' – Lawn Chair Sculpture |author=Noel Y.C. |date=August 16, 2009 |publisher=NYC ♥ NYC |access-date=February 21, 2022 |archive-date=March 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220330073638/https://nyclovesnyc.blogspot.com/2009/08/jason-peters-now-you-see-it-now-you.html |url-status=live }}. See also: [//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/NowYouSeeIt-TimesSq2009.JPG Media:NowYouSeeIt-TimesSq2009.JPG].</ref> Although the plaza had mixed results on traffic in the area, injuries to motorists and pedestrians decreased, fewer pedestrians were walking in the road, and the number of pedestrians in Times Square increased.<ref>[http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/about/broadway.shtml#greenlight Nyc Dot] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150216052229/http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/about/broadway.shtml#greenlight |date=February 16, 2015 }}. Nyc.gov. Retrieved on August 17, 2013.</ref> On February 11, 2010, Bloomberg announced that the pedestrian plazas would become permanent.<ref>{{cite web |date=March 30, 2010 |title=Pedestrian Plaza To Remain Permanent Fixture of Times Square |url=http://www.ny1.com/5-manhattan-news-content/top_stories/113521/pedestrian-plaza-to-remain-permanent-fixture-of-times-square |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100214105806/http://www.ny1.com/5-manhattan-news-content/top_stories/113521/pedestrian-plaza-to-remain-permanent-fixture-of-times-square |archive-date=February 14, 2010 |access-date=April 21, 2010 |publisher=NY1.com}}</ref>

The city started rebuilding the plaza in 2010, hiring the design and landscaping firm [[Snøhetta (company)|Snøhetta]] to permanently replace Broadway's roadway with custom-made granite pavers and benches.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Times Square Reconstruction |url=http://snohetta.com/project/9-times-square-reconstruction |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131208162724/http://snohetta.com/project/9-times-square-reconstruction |archive-date=December 8, 2013 |access-date=December 29, 2016 |publisher=[[Snøhetta (company)|Snøhetta]]}}</ref> By December 2013, the first phase of the Times Square pedestrian plaza had been completed at the southern end of the square in time for the Times Square Ball drop on New Year's Eve.<ref name="ArchDaily-2014">{{Cite news |url=http://www.archdaily.com/465343/nyc-s-times-square-becomes-permanently-pedestrian/ |title=Snohetta Makes Times Square Permanently Pedestrian |date=January 9, 2014 |newspaper=ArchDaily |access-date=December 29, 2016 |archive-date=February 18, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150218204947/http://www.archdaily.com/465343/nyc-s-times-square-becomes-permanently-pedestrian/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The project was originally intended to be completed by the end of 2015.<ref name="ArchDaily-2014" /> The entire project was finally completed just before New Year's Eve 2016.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://abc7ny.com/news/times-square-reconstruction-finished-just-before-new-years-eve/1676304/ |title=Times Square reconstruction finished just before New Year's Eve |last=Evans |first=Dave |date=December 28, 2016 |newspaper=ABC7 New York |access-date=December 29, 2016 |archive-date=October 19, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019231335/https://abc7ny.com/news/times-square-reconstruction-finished-just-before-new-years-eve/1676304/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Some safety [[Bollard (traffic)|bollards]] were also installed as part of the renovation to prevent [[Vehicle-ramming attack|vehicular attacks]] or [[Traffic collision|collisions]] on the sidewalk.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/05/18/what-stopped-car-times-square-closer-look-bollards/101851466/ |title=What stopped the car in Times Square? A closer look at bollards |last=Blumenthal |first=Eli |date=May 18, 2017 |work=USA TODAY |access-date=May 20, 2017 |archive-date=August 19, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220819062055/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/05/18/what-stopped-car-times-square-closer-look-bollards/101851466/ |url-status=live }}</ref> After [[2017 Times Square car attack|a 2017 vehicle-ramming attack]], there were calls to install more bollards along Times Square.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-new-york-crash-times-square-idUSKCN18F2KM |title=Times Square mayhem raises question about recent redesign |date=May 19, 2017 |work=Reuters |access-date=May 20, 2017 |archive-date=May 9, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220509133009/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-new-york-crash-times-square-idUSKCN18F2KM |url-status=live }}</ref>

Times Square's pedestrian plaza is frequented by [[Toplessness|topless]] women (with painted breasts) called "[[desnuda]]s", as well as [[costumed characters]], who typically [[Begging|panhandle]] for tips.<ref>{{Cite magazine |url=http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/being-a-times-square-elmo |title=Being a Times Square Elmo |last=Blitzer |first=Jonathan |date=June 26, 2014 |magazine=The New Yorker |access-date=May 15, 2017}}</ref> The pedestrian plaza became a source of controversy in the summer of 2015 because of a large number of complaints about the topless women and panhandling characters.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/24/nyregion/debating-value-of-pedestrian-plazas-beyond-new-york-city.html |title=Debating Value of Pedestrian Plazas Beyond New York City |last=Dunlap |first=David W. |date=August 23, 2015 |website=The New York Times |access-date=August 24, 2015 |archive-date=August 19, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220819062050/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/24/nyregion/debating-value-of-pedestrian-plazas-beyond-new-york-city.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Although neither of these activities are illegal, opponents believed that the panhandlers' presence was detrimental to the [[quality of life]] in the area.<ref name="Barkan 2015"/> There were calls from Police Commissioner Bratton and Mayor [[Bill de Blasio]] to remove the plaza, although Manhattan Borough President [[Gale Brewer]] opposed the proposal.<ref name="Barkan 2015">{{cite web |last=Barkan |first=Ross |title=Manhattan Beep Calls Plan to Tear Up Times Square Pedestrian Plaza 'Preposterous' |website=Observer |date=August 24, 2015 |url=http://observer.com/2015/08/manhattan-beep-calls-plan-to-tear-up-times-square-pedestrian-plaza-preposterous/ |access-date=August 24, 2015 |archive-date=August 19, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220819062055/https://observer.com/2015/08/manhattan-beep-calls-plan-to-tear-up-times-square-pedestrian-plaza-preposterous/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In June 2016, work started on "pedestrian flow zones" where no one was allowed to loiter, as well as "activity zones" where costumed characters were allowed to perform.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/times-square-pedestrian-flow-zones-new-york-city/2030947/ |title=Elvis, Elmo Bummed by City's New Times Square Flow Zones |newspaper=NBC New York |access-date=February 21, 2022 |archive-date=March 9, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220309003457/https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/times-square-pedestrian-flow-zones-new-york-city/2030947/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Incidents ===
There have been several incidents in Times Square:
* On the morning of March 6, 2008, [[2008 Times Square bombing|a small bomb]] caused minor damage, but there were no reported injuries.<ref>[https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7280963.stm BBC News]  March 6, 2008</ref>
* On May 1, 2010, Times Square was evacuated from 43rd to 46th Streets following [[2010 Times Square car bombing attempt|the discovery of a car bomb]]. It was found to be a failed bombing.<ref name="nytimes1">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/nyregion/02timessquare.html |title=Police Find Car Bomb in Times Square |author1=Baker, Al |date=May 1, 2010 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |author2=Rashbaum, William K. |access-date=February 20, 2017 |archive-date=May 8, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100508032023/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/nyregion/02timessquare.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
* On May 18, 2017, [[2017 Times Square car attack|a vehicle-ramming attack]] at Times Square killed one person and injured 22 others.<ref name="CNN1">{{cite web |url=http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/18/us/new-york-times-square-car-pedestrians/ |title=Times Square car incident: 1 dead, 22 injured; driver in custody |last1=Sanchez |first1=Ray |date=May 18, 2017 |publisher=[[CNN]] |access-date=May 18, 2017 |archive-date=May 18, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170518174219/http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/18/us/new-york-times-square-car-pedestrians/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="NYT1">{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/18/nyregion/times-square-crash.html |title=One Dead and 22 Injured as Car Rams into Pedestrians in Times Square |last1=Rosenberg |first1=Eli |last2=Rashbaum |first2=William K. |date=May 18, 2017 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=May 18, 2017 |archive-date=May 18, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170518173322/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/18/nyregion/times-square-crash.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
* On August 7, 2019, shortly after two consecutive [[mass shooting]]s in [[2019 El Paso Walmart shooting|El Paso, Texas]], and [[2019 Dayton shooting|Dayton, Ohio]], a [[Back-fire|backfiring]] motorcycle resulted in a [[stampede]] due to the sound being mistaken for gunfire; the stampede injured at least twelve people.<ref>{{Cite magazine |url=https://time.com/5646051/broadway-times-square-shooting-panic-stampede/ |title=Mistaking Motorcycles Backfiring as Gunshots, Crowds Flee Times Square Causing Stampede, Injuries |last=Gajanan |first=Mahita |date=August 7, 2019 |magazine=Time |access-date=August 9, 2019 |archive-date=January 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125145234/https://time.com/5646051/broadway-times-square-shooting-panic-stampede/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* On May 8, 2021, a dispute between a group of men led to a shooting in which three bystanders were wounded, including a four-year-old girl.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/08/us/new-york-times-square-shooting-3-injured/index.html |title=Two women and a 4-year-old girl wounded in Times Square shooting, NYPD says |last1=Ly |first1=Laura |last2=Waldrop |first2=Theresa |last3=Snyder |first3=Alec |date=May 9, 2021 |website=CNN |access-date=May 9, 2021 |archive-date=May 9, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210509052200/https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/08/us/new-york-times-square-shooting-3-injured/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
* On June 27, 2021, a dispute between a group of street vendors led to a shooting in which a 21-year-old bystander was wounded.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Watkins |first1=Ali |last2=Wong |first2=Ashley |date=June 28, 2021 |title=Police Officers Will 'Flood' Times Square After Another Bystander Is Shot |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/28/nyregion/times-square-shooting.html |access-date=July 1, 2021 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=February 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230210131231/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/28/nyregion/times-square-shooting.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |first1=Ben |last1=Chapman |first2=Katie |last2=Honan |date=June 28, 2021 |title=NYPD Adds Patrols in Times Square After Tourist Is Shot |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/nypd-adds-patrols-in-times-square-after-tourist-is-shot-11624910488 |access-date=July 1, 2021 |issn=0099-9660 |archive-date=February 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230210131230/https://www.wsj.com/articles/nypd-adds-patrols-in-times-square-after-tourist-is-shot-11624910488 |url-status=live }}</ref>
* On December 31, 2022, a 19-year-old man from Maine injured three officers with the [[New York City Police Department]] in a machete attack that occurred during [[New Year's Eve]] celebrations in Times Square.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/nypd-officers-injured-machete-attack-times-square-new-years-eve-rcna63855|title=3 officers injured in New Year's Eve machete attack near Times Square, officials say|publisher=NBC News|last1=Aggarwal|first1=Mithil|last2=Winter|first2=Tom|last3=Dienst|first3=Jonathan|last4=Miller|first4=Myles|access-date=January 1, 2023|archive-date=January 1, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230101180826/https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/nypd-officers-injured-machete-attack-times-square-new-years-eve-rcna63855|url-status=live}}</ref>
* On February 8, 2024, a teenager shot and injured a Brazilian tourist, and he shot at a police officer and security guard after being confronted for [[shoplifting]].<ref name="Guardian">{{cite news |title=Teen arrested in connection to Times Square shooting that injured tourist |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/10/teen-arrested-times-square-shooting |access-date=February 10, 2024 |agency=[[The Guardian]] |date=February 10, 2024}}</ref> The shooter, a Venezuelan migrant, fled the area but was apprehended just outside the city.<ref name="Fahy">{{cite news |last1=Fahy |first1=Claire |title=15-Year-Old Is Arrested in Shooting of a Tourist in Times Square |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/09/nyregion/times-square-shooting-nyc.html |access-date=February 10, 2024 |agency=[[The New York Times]] |date=February 9, 2024}}</ref>
* On August 9, 2025, at 1:30 a.m., a shooting occurred at the intersection of West 44th Street and Seventh Ave., wounding three; the attack occurred outside a [[Raising Cane's]] restaurant, and was possibly a verbal altercation escalating to gunshots. A teenager was among those wounded; no injuries were life-threatening, although they ranged from serious to lesser serious wounds. A 17-year-old was arrested and faces charges of attempted murder.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3eznd9npqko.amp|title=Three wounded in Times Square, NYC shooting|date=August 9, 2025 |publisher=[[BBC News]]}}</ref>

==Number of visitors==
Times Square is the most visited place globally with 360,000 pedestrian visitors a day, amounting to over 131 million a year.<ref name="TS ped counts">{{cite web |url=http://www.timessquarenyc.org/do-business-here/market-facts/pedestrian-counts/index.aspx |title=Times Square Pedestrian Counts, Times Square Alliance |access-date=October 4, 2014 |archive-date=October 6, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006070418/http://www.timessquarenyc.org/do-business-here/market-facts/pedestrian-counts/index.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref> {{As of|2013}}, it had a greater attendance than each of the [[Disney theme parks]] worldwide, with 128,794,000 visitors between March 2012 and February 2013, versus 126,479,000 for the [[Walt Disney World]] theme parks in [[Bay Lake, Florida]], in 2012.<ref name="TS ped counts"/><ref>[http://www.aecom.com/deployedfiles/Internet/Capabilities/Economics/_documents/2012%20Theme%20Index%20Combined_1-2_online.pdf Global Attractions Attendance Report, TEA/AECOM]{{Dead link|date=June 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, Published June 10, 2013.</ref> Even excluding residents from the visitor count, Times Square is the world's second most visited tourist attraction, behind the [[Las Vegas Strip]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/most-visited-attractions_n_4858066 |title=The World's 50 Most Visited Tourist Attractions |newspaper=[[HuffPost]] |date=February 26, 2014 |access-date=February 21, 2022 |archive-date=February 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220221192228/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/most-visited-attractions_n_4858066 |url-status=live }}</ref> The high level of pedestrian traffic has resulted in $4.8&nbsp;billion in annual retail, entertainment, and hotel sales,<ref name="TS Economics">[https://web.archive.org/web/20120517033129/http://www.timessquarenyc.org/do-business-here/market-facts/economic-impact/index.aspx Times Square Economic Impact Update, Times Square Alliance / HRA], March 2012</ref> with 22 cents out of every dollar spent by visitors in New York City being spent within Times Square.<ref name="TS Economics"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nycgo.com/assets/files/pdf/New_York_City_Tourism_A_Model_for_Success_NYC_and_Company_2013.pdf |title=New York City Tourism: A Model for Success, NYC and Company, 2013 |access-date=May 16, 2014 |archive-date=August 22, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140822211629/http://www.nycgo.com/assets/files/pdf/New_York_City_Tourism_A_Model_for_Success_NYC_and_Company_2013.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

===New Year's Eve celebrations===
{{See also|Times Square Ball}}
[[File:Times Square ball.jpg|thumb|right|The Times Square Ball in 2007]]

Times Square is the site of the annual New Year's Eve ball drop. About one million revelers crowd Times Square for the New Year's Eve celebrations, more than twice the usual number of visitors the area usually receives daily.<ref>{{cite web |title=Times Square Alliance – New Year's Eve |url=http://www.timessquarenyc.org/nye/nye.html |url-status=dead |access-date=April 21, 2010 |website=Timessquarenyc.org |archive-date=October 16, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111016154025/http://www.timessquarenyc.org/nye/nye.html }}</ref>{{New archival link needed|date=April 2026}} However, for the millennium celebration on December 31, 1999, published reports stated approximately two million people overflowed Times Square, flowing from Sixth Avenue to Eighth Avenue and back on Broadway and Seventh Avenue to 59th Street, making it the largest gathering in Times Square since August 1945 during [[Victory over Japan Day|celebrations marking the end of World War II]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://timessquare.nyctourist.com/ |title=Times Square New York City, New York City Times Square |publisher=Timessquare.nyctourist.com |access-date=April 21, 2010 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100217043448/http://timessquare.nyctourist.com/ |archive-date=February 17, 2010}}</ref>

On December 31, 1907, a ball signifying New Year's Day was first dropped at Times Square,<ref name=TSLNY /> and the Square has held the main New Year's celebration in New York City ever since. On that night, hundreds of thousands of people congregate to watch the [[Waterford Crystal]] ball being lowered on a pole atop the building, marking the start of the new year. It replaced a lavish fireworks display from the top of the building that was held from 1904 to 1906 but stopped by city officials because of the danger of fire. 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 Year's Eve event in conjunction with the Times Square Alliance.<ref name=TSLNY /> A new energy-efficient LED ball debuted for the arrival of 2008, which was the centennial of the Times Square ball drop. The 2008–09 ball is larger and has become a permanent installation as a year-round attraction, being used for celebrations on days such as [[Valentine's Day]] and [[Halloween]].<ref name="TSLNY">{{cite web |url=http://www.timessquarenyc.org/nye/nye_ball.html |title=Times Square Alliance – New Year's Eve – About The Ball |publisher=Timessquarenyc.org |date=November 11, 2008 |access-date=April 21, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111011053316/http://www.timessquarenyc.org/nye/nye_ball.html |archive-date=October 11, 2011}}</ref>

The New Year's Eve celebrations are usually overseen by thousands of police officers. Aluminum barriers are erected to accommodate spectators; for the 2020 celebration, attended by a million people, barriers were erected from 38th to 59th Street and from Sixth to Eighth Avenue.<ref name=nyt20201230/> Typically, the celebrations create large amounts of waste. The waste includes the 3,000 pounds of biodegradable [[confetti]] dropped at midnight, a tradition of which started in 1992.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Mestel |first=Spenser |date=December 28, 2018 |title=How to Dump 3,000 Pounds of Confetti on Times Square |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/28/nyregion/how-to-dump-3000-pounds-of-confetti-on-times-square.html |access-date=February 6, 2024 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> The [[New York City Department of Sanitation]] estimated that by 8 a.m. on New Year's Day 2014, it had cleared over {{cvt|50|ST|LT t}} of trash from the New Year's celebration, using 190 workers from their crews and the Times Square Alliance.<ref>{{cite news |title=Crews Clean Up Times Square After New Year's Celebration |url=http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2014/01/01/after-party-in-times-square-comes-the-cleanup/ |access-date=December 30, 2014 |publisher=CBS New York |date=January 1, 2014 |archive-date=December 31, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141231002506/http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2014/01/01/after-party-in-times-square-comes-the-cleanup/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Impact of COVID-19===
[[File:Times Square - 49874280633.jpg|thumb|An empty Times Square in May 2020]]
The onset of the [[COVID-19 pandemic in New York City]] during 2020 reduced the number of people traveling to Times Square. About 108,000 pedestrians visited Times Square each day in late 2020 compared to the 380,000 before the pandemic. From March to October 2020, 26 of the area's 46 hotels closed, as well as 39 of 151 stores and 84 of 162 restaurants.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kilgannon |first=Corey |date=December 1, 2020 |title=Without Crowds, Is Times Square Really Times Square? Take a Look |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/01/nyregion/times-square-nyc-coronavirus.html |access-date=July 1, 2021 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=August 19, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220819060221/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/01/nyregion/times-square-nyc-coronavirus.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Times Square was closed to the public for New Year's Day 2021 and observers were dispersed into enclosures measuring {{cvt|8|by|8|ft}}.<ref name=nyt20201230>{{Cite news |last=Gold |first=Michael |date=December 30, 2020 |title=No Crowds, but Times Square Ball Drop Is Still Happening. Here's How. |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/30/nyregion/times-square-ball-new-years.html |access-date=March 27, 2021 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=April 23, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220423190155/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/30/nyregion/times-square-ball-new-years.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |first1=Dan |last1=Fastenberg |last2=Allen |first2=Jonathan |date=December 31, 2020 |title=After a year like no other, New York's Times Square empties out on New Year's Eve |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-new-year-usa-idUSKBN2951MU |access-date=March 27, 2021 |archive-date=August 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220826042232/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-new-year-usa-idUSKBN2951MU |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Notable landmarks==
{{multiple image
| align             = right
| direction         = horizontal
| total_width       = 350
| image1            = Paramount Building Jorge Eduardo Rubies.jpg
| caption1          = The Paramount Building at [[1501 Broadway]], which once housed the [[Paramount Theatre (New York City)|Paramount Theatre]]
| image2            = One Astor Plaza May 2010.JPG
| caption2          = [[One Astor Plaza]] (1515 Broadway) is the headquarters of [[Paramount Global]]. It replaced the [[Astor Hotel]] in 1972, when Times Square redevelopment plans allowed oversized office towers if they included new theaters.<ref name=aia4>{{cite AIA4}}</ref>
}}

Times Square is a busy intersection of art and commerce, where scores of advertisements – electric, neon and illuminated signs and "zipper" news crawls – vie for viewers' attention. Notable examples include:
<!--PLEASE BE SURE TO ALPHABETIZE ENTRIES AND/OR PUT THEM IN NUMERICAL ORDER IF APPLICABLE. THANK YOU.-->
* [[Coca-Cola sign]]
* [[Disney Store#New York City flagship|Disney Store Times Square]]
* [[Fashion One]]
* [[FashionTV]]
* [[Forever 21]] (formerly [[Virgin Megastores]])
* [[Hard Rock Cafe|Hard Rock Cafe New York]]
* [[M&M's World]]
* [[Hershey's Chocolate World]]
* [[Planet Hollywood]]
* [[Palladium Times Square]]
* [[Revlon]]
* [[Times Square Studios]] – used primarily for selected [[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] and [[ESPN]] programs, such as ''[[Good Morning America]]''
* [[TKTS]] – the [[Theatre Development Fund]]'s reduced-price ticket booth has, since 2008, been backed by a red, sloped, triangular set of bleacher-like stairs, which is frequented by residents and tourists.
* ''[[Times Square (Neuhaus)|Times Square]]'' – a permanently installed [[sound art]] piece by [[Max Neuhaus]] between 45th and 46th Streets.
{{col-begin}}{{col-break}}

'''Major buildings on or near Times Square'''
* [[One Astor Plaza|1 Astor Plaza]] (home of [[Fashion One]], [[Revlon]] and [[MTV]]'s New York studios)
* [[745 Seventh Avenue]]
* [[750 Seventh Avenue]]
* [[1500 Broadway]]
* 1530 Broadway, the Bowtie Building
* [[1540 Broadway]], the Bertelsmann Building
* [[1552 Broadway]], the I. Miller Building
* [[1560 Broadway]], the Actors' Equity Building, including the former [[Embassy Theatre (New York City)|Embassy Theatre]]
* [[1585 Broadway]], the Morgan Stanley Building
* [[Axa Equitable Center]]
* [[Bank of America Tower (Manhattan)|Bank of America Tower]]
* [[Brill Building]]
* [[Bush Tower]]
* [[Church of Saint Mary the Virgin (Times Square, New York)|Church of Saint Mary the Virgin]]
* [[The New York Times Building]]
* [[Palace Theatre (New York City)|Palace Theatre]]
{{col-break}}

'''"Numbered" Times Square buildings'''
* [[One Times Square]] – The former New York Times Tower (1904)<ref>{{cite web |title=One Times Square |publisher=[[Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat]] |work=CTBUH Skyscraper Database |url=http://www.skyscrapercenter.com/building.php?building_id=15984 |date=2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161117010454/http://www.skyscrapercenter.com/building/1-times-square/15984 |archive-date=November 17, 2016}}</ref>
* [[Renaissance Hotels|2 Times Square]] – Renaissance Hotel Times Square (1992)
* [[3 Times Square]] – Thomson Reuters Building (1998–2001)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wirednewyork.com/skyscrapers/3xsq/ |title=The Reuters Building |publisher=Wired New York |access-date=April 21, 2010 |archive-date=December 2, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101202021637/http://wirednewyork.com/skyscrapers/3xsq/ |url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[4 Times Square]] – Condé Nast Building (1996–1999)<ref>{{cite web |title=4 Times Square – The Skyscraper Center |url=https://www.skyscrapercenter.com/building/4-times-square/907 |access-date=September 18, 2021 |website=Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat |archive-date=June 12, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200612184951/https://www.skyscrapercenter.com/building/4-times-square/907 |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[5 Times Square]] – Ernst & Young Building (1999–2002)<ref>{{cite web |date=April 7, 2016 |title=5 Times Square – The Skyscraper Center |url=http://skyscrapercenter.info/building/5-times-square/2541 |access-date=September 28, 2021 |website=The Skyscraper Center |archive-date=September 28, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210928144640/http://skyscrapercenter.info/building/5-times-square/2541 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* [[6 Times Square]] – The Knickerbocker Hotel (1901–1906)
* [[7 Times Square]] – Times Square Tower (2002–2004)
* [[11 Times Square]] – Times Square Plaza (2007–2010)
* [[20 Times Square]] – 701 7th Avenue (2019)

'''Hotels'''
* [[Hotel Carter (Manhattan)|Hotel Carter]]
* [[Crowne Plaza Hotel, Times Square|Crowne Plaza Times Square]]
* [[Doubletree Guest Suites]]
* [[Hotel Edison]]
* [[The Knickerbocker Hotel]] (6 Times Square)<ref>{{cite news |title=What's in an Address? Sometimes, a Better Image: Office Buildings Take On Street Names, Numbers With Greater Appeal |first=Sheila |last=Muto |date=September 5, 2001 |page=B14 |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |issn=0099-9660 |id={{ProQuest|2074372587}}}}</ref>
* [[Millennium Broadway]]
* [[New York Marriott Marquis]]
* [[Renaissance Hotels|Renaissance Hotel Times Square]] (2 Times Square)
* [[Sheraton New York]]
* [[Marriott International|Times Square Edition]]
* [[W Times Square]]
* [[Hilton Times Square]]
{{col-break}}

'''Corporate presence'''<br />
The following companies have corporate presences in the area:
* [[Bain & Company]]
* [[Barclays Capital]] (formerly [[Lehman Brothers]])
* [[Bertelsmann]]
* [[BMO Capital Markets]]
* [[Condé Nast Publications]]
* [[Diamond Management & Technology Consultants]]
* [[Ernst & Young]]
* [[Fashion One]]
* [[FashionTV]]
* [[Instinet]]
* [[King & Spalding]]
* [[Morgan Stanley]]
* [[O'Melveny & Myers]]
* [[Paramount Global]]
* [[Refinitiv]]
* [[Revlon]]
* [[Six Flags|Six Flags Inc.]]
* [[Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom]]
* [[The New York Times Company]]
* [[Thomson Reuters]]
{{col-end}}

Contemporary artists regularly perform on Times Square. Examples include ''test pattern [times square]'' by [[Ryoji Ikeda]]<ref name="Fact Magazine 2021">{{cite web |title=Ryoji Ikeda Presents: test pattern |website=Fact Magazine |date=May 4, 2021 |url=https://www.factmag.com/2021/05/04/ryoji-ikeda-presents-test-pattern/ |access-date=April 30, 2022 |archive-date=April 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220430164721/https://www.factmag.com/2021/05/04/ryoji-ikeda-presents-test-pattern/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and ''Continuum'' by [[Krista Kim]].<ref name="The Architect's Newspaper 2022">{{cite web |title=Daily digest: Nick Cave will project onto theMART, waves of soothing color in Times Square, and more |website=The Architect's Newspaper |date=February 25, 2022 |url=https://www.archpaper.com/2022/02/daily-digest-nick-cave-will-project-onto-themart-waves-of-soothing-color-times-square/ |access-date=April 30, 2022 |archive-date=May 13, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220513092558/https://www.archpaper.com/2022/02/daily-digest-nick-cave-will-project-onto-themart-waves-of-soothing-color-times-square/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==In popular culture==
[[File:Times Square looking north from 44th Street.jpeg|thumb|right|Times Square looking north from 44th Street]]
An immediately recognizable location, Times Square has been featured countless times in literature, films, video games, music videos, and on television.

The seediness of the area was featured prominently in such films as ''[[Midnight Cowboy]]'' (1969),<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.onthesetofnewyork.com/midnightcowboy.html |title=Midnight Cowboy Film Locations |work=On the Set of New York |access-date=February 14, 2015 |archive-date=January 7, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150107120337/http://onthesetofnewyork.com/midnightcowboy.html |url-status=live }}</ref> ''[[Born to Win]]'' (1971),<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/13/nyregion/times-square-at-100-it-oughta-be-in-pictures.html |title=Times Square at 100; It Outta Be in Pictures |work=The New York Times |date=June 13, 2004 |access-date=December 24, 2019 |last1=Tucker |first1=Ken |archive-date=December 25, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191225002853/https://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/13/nyregion/times-square-at-100-it-oughta-be-in-pictures.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and ''[[Taxi Driver]]'' (1976).<ref>Nigro, Carmen. [http://www.nypl.org/blog/2015/01/12/changing-times-square "The Changing Face of Times Square,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160610172758/http://www.nypl.org/blog/2015/01/12/changing-times-square |date=June 10, 2016 }} New York Public Library: Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy (January 12, 2015).</ref> The area was shown in the 1980 film ''[[Times Square (1980 film)|Times Square]]'', which featured a [[punk rock]]/[[new wave music|new wave]] soundtrack.<ref>[[Roger Ebert|Ebert, Roger]] (November 17, 1980). [http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/times-square-1980 "''Times Square''"]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161006154413/http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/times-square-1980 |date=October 6, 2016 }}. ''RogerEbert.com''. Accessed October 5, 2016. "The story involves two teen-age runaway girls, an all-night disk jockey and the inhabitants of the Times Square jungle of New York."</ref> It was also depicted in the 2011 movie ''[[New Year's Eve (2011 film)|New Year's Eve]]''.<ref>Ebert, Roger (December 7, 2011). [http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/new-years-eve-2011 "''New Year's Eve''"]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161007171315/http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/new-years-eve-2011 |date=October 7, 2016 }}. ''[[RogerEbert.com]]''. Accessed October 5, 2016. "What sins did poor Hilary Swank commit, that after winning two Oscars, she has to play the role of the woman in charge of the New Year's Eve ball in Times Square?"</ref> The area also appeared on ''[[The Amazing Race (American TV series)|The Amazing Race]]'' as the starting location in a race around the world in the first episode of the show's [[The Amazing Race 25|25th season]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cbs.com/shows/amazing_race/news/1002571/ |title=The Next Season of Amazing Race |publisher=[[CBS]] |date=June 1, 2014 |access-date=January 8, 2020 |archive-date=November 11, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111230158/https://www.cbs.com/shows/amazing_race/news/1002571/ |url-status=live }}</ref> as well as on the [[HaMerotz LaMillion 6|sixth season]] of the [[HaMerotz LaMillion|Israeli edition of ''The Amazing Race'']] with teams finishing their second leg in Times Square.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.omritv.co.il/archives/37049 |script-title=he:בלעדי! משתתפי "המירוץ למיליון" נחתו בניו יורק הישר לטיימס סקוור |language=he |trans-title=Exclusive! "Race for a Million" landed in New York straight to Times Square |work=Omritv |last=Hayun |first=Omri |date=May 17, 2017 |access-date=January 8, 2020 |archive-date=August 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803164905/https://www.omritv.co.il/archives/37049 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Times Square has been fictionally attacked and destroyed in several movies, including ''[[Knowing (film)|Knowing]]'', when a [[solar flare]] destroys New York City;<ref name="PopPlaces">Knight, Gladys L. [https://books.google.com/books?id=kheDBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA870 ''Pop Culture Places: An Encyclopedia of Places in American Popular Culture''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221231030131/https://books.google.com/books?id=kheDBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA870 |date=December 31, 2022 }}, p. 870. Accessed October 5, 2016. "In ''Knowing'' (2009), the area is one of several iconic places ravaged by a solar flare."</ref> ''[[Deep Impact (film)|Deep Impact]]'', when a [[tsunami]] created from a [[meteor]] impact destroys New York City; the 1998 film ''[[Godzilla (1998 film)|Godzilla]]'', where Godzilla is chased through Times Square; the ''[[Ghostbusters]]'' movies; Stephen King's ''[[The Stand (1994 miniseries)|The Stand]]'', where the intersection is overcome by total anarchy; ''[[Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen]]'', ''[[Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (film)|Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs]]'', and ''[[2012 (film)|2012]]''. It was also seen in the festival battle scene in the 2002 film ''[[Spider-Man (2002 film)|Spider-Man]]'', and a stand-off in the later film ''[[The Amazing Spider-Man 2]]''.<ref>Giardina, Carolyn. [https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/amazing-spider-man-2-an-700743/ "''Amazing Spider-Man 2'': An Exclusive Look at the Times Square Battle (Photos)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220221192228/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/amazing-spider-man-2-an-700743/ |date=February 21, 2022 }}, ''[[The Hollywood Reporter]]'', May 2, 2014. Accessed February 21, 2022. "Some of the most complicated visual effects work in Sony's ''The Amazing Spider-Man 2'' can be seen in the action sequence set in Times Square, according to the film's VFX supervisor, Sony Pictures Imageworks.' Jerome Chen."</ref>

Films and TV shows have also employed the opposite tactic, depicting the typically bustling area as eerily still, such as in ''[[Vanilla Sky]],''<ref>[http://www.theuncool.com/press/vanilla-sky-entertainment-tonight/ Vanilla Sky – Entertainment Tonight] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161027073604/http://www.theuncool.com/press/vanilla-sky-entertainment-tonight/ |date=October 27, 2016 }}, The Uncool. Accessed October 5, 2016. "New York has never shut down Times Square for anything, much less a film crew.... But with the help of the New York Mayor's office, the city's film commission and the New York police Department, the ''Vanilla Sky'' crew actually pulled off a total Times Square closure, arranging to clear the entire area for 90 minutes on a Sunday morning in November of 2000."</ref> as well as the post-apocalyptic ''[[I Am Legend (film)|I Am Legend]]'', in which [[Will Smith]] and his dog go hunting for deer in the deserted urban canyon.<ref name=PopPlaces/> In the pilot episode of the TV series ''[[Blindspot (TV series)|Blindspot]]'', Times Square is completely emptied due to an abandoned bag being suspected to be a bomb.<ref>Raferty, Liz. [http://www.tvguide.com/news/blindspot-opening-scene-times-square-jaimie-alexander/ "How the Creators of ''Blindspot'' 'Shut Down Times Square' for That Crazy Opening Scene"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011182457/http://www.tvguide.com/news/blindspot-opening-scene-times-square-jaimie-alexander/ |date=October 11, 2016 }}, ''[[TV Guide]]'', September 21, 2015. Accessed October 5. 2016. "Fast-forward five years, and Gero's vision has come to life in the form of ''Blindspot'', NBC's new drama about a Jane Doe (Jaimie Alexander) who's discovered in a duffel bag in the middle of an evacuated Times Square, covered in tattoos and with no memory of how she got there, who she is, or what's going on in the world around her."</ref>

Times Square also has featured prominently in video games. For instance, in ''[[Grand Theft Auto IV]]'', a recreation of the Times Square area referred to in-game as "Star Junction", is included in the game's fictional "[[Liberty City (Grand Theft Auto)|Liberty City]]" setting.<ref name=PopPlaces/> Times Square is also shown in ''[[Battlefield 3]]'', where the final fight with the main antagonist takes place, where the player must stop him from detonating a nuclear bomb in the square; and ''[[Crysis 2]]'', in which player must fight off attacking alien forces to assist U.S. Marines in evacuating the area.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQSq4SkN47k |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/kQSq4SkN47k |archive-date=December 11, 2021 |title=Crysis 2 – Mission 14 Power Out – Walkthrough |website=YouTube |date=October 22, 2012 |access-date=July 23, 2021 |url-status=live}}{{cbignore}}</ref> ''[[Gran Turismo 4]]'' also features Times Square both as a photo spot and as a part of the New York city circuit which also includes [[Central Park]].
{{wide image|Times Square Panorama.jpg|900px|The northern part of Times Square in 2004 before reconstruction, with Two Times Square in the center}}

==See also==
{{Portal|New York City}}
* [[Good Riddance Day]], an unofficial holiday celebrated at Times Square since 2007<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20111031080704/http://www.timessquarenyc.org/events/new-years-eve/good-riddance-day/index.aspx Good Riddance Day], Times Square Alliance. Accessed January 10, 2017. "Good Riddance Day is inspired by a Latin American tradition in which New Year's revelers stuffed dolls with objects representing bad memories before setting them on fire."</ref>
* [[Midtown Community Court]], a branch of the [[New York City Criminal Court]] that primarily focuses on quality of life around Times Square<ref>[http://www.courtinnovation.org/project/midtown-community-court Midtown Community Court] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170110235732/http://www.courtinnovation.org/project/midtown-community-court |date=January 10, 2017 }}, [[Center for Court Innovation]]. Accessed January 10, 2017.</ref>
* [[Naked Cowboy]], New York City street performer and prominent fixture of Times Square<ref>Cowan, Alison Leigh. [https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/05/nyregion/05naked.html?_r=0 "Naked Cowboy Drops Out: No Singing Mayor in Briefs"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160417140514/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/05/nyregion/05naked.html?_r=0 |date=April 17, 2016 }}, 
''[[The New York Times]]'', September 4, 2009. Accessed January 10, 2017. "Running for mayor of New York City must have struck Robert Burck, the so-called Naked Cowboy of Times Square, as a good idea back in July."</ref>
* [[Piccadilly Circus]]
* [[Lincoln Highway]], the terminus of which was in Times Square
* [[Tourism in New York City]]

==References==
===Notes===
{{notelist}}

===Citations===
{{reflist}}

===Bibliography===
* Brown, H. (1922) ''Valentine's Manual of Old New York''. Valentine.
* Fazio, W. (2000) ''Times Square'', Children's Press. {{ISBN|0-516-26530-X}}
* Friedman, J. (1993) ''Tales of Times Square'' Feral House. {{ISBN|0-922915-17-2}}
* {{cite book |last=Leach |first=William |title=Land of Desire |year=1993 |publisher=Pantheon Books |location=New York |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VHZ6UAudSiUC |isbn=978-0307761149}}
* {{Stern: New York|edition=2000}}
* Taylor, W. (1996) ''Inventing Times Square'', Johns Hopkins U. Press. {{ISBN|0-8018-5337-0}}
* [[James Traub|Traub, James]] (2004) ''The Devil's Playground: A Century of Pleasure and Profit in Times Square'' New York: Random House. {{ISBN|0-375-50788-4}}

==External links==
{{Sister project links|wikt=no|v=no|b=no|q=no|s=no|voy=Manhattan/Times Square|d=Q11259}}
<!-- Please do not add a link to another "photographs of Times Square" Let them release to the commons if they'd like -->
* [http://www.earthcam.com/usa/newyork/timessquare/ Times Square live camera]
* [http://www.timessquarenyc.org/ The Times Square Alliance] and [https://archive.today/20141112052927/http://www.timessquarenyc.org/events/index.aspx%23.VGLwLH3LfK4 Events Listing]
* [http://www.orangeadnan.com/download/ts360panorama/ Times Square 360 panorama] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180320213327/http://www.orangeadnan.com/download/ts360panorama/ |date=March 20, 2018 }}
* [https://www.nypl.org/blog/2015/01/12/changing-times-square "The Changing Face of Times Square"] at the New York Public Library website
* [http://timessquareartscenter.com/ Times Square Arts Center] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190627203538/http://timessquareartscenter.com/ |date=June 27, 2019 }}
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20170125164419/http://www.nyc-architecture.com/MID/MID-TimesSquare3.htm NYC-Architecture.com]}}
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20190919042004/https://www.nyctourist.com/ New York City Tourist]}}

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[[Category:Times Square| ]]
[[Category:Pedestrian malls in the United States]]
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