Times Square
Times Square, the most bustling square of New York is known for its many Broadway theatres, cinemas and supersigns. It is one of those places that make New York a city that never sleeps.
History
Times SquareAt the end of the 19th century, New York City had expanded up to 42nd street and the area was becoming the center of the city’s social scene. In 1904, the New York Times built the Times Tower on 43rd street just off Broadway to replace the premises in Downtown. The square facing the building was called the Longacre square, but was soon renamed Times Square. The name is now used for the area between 40th and 53rd street and 6th and 9th avenue.
When the New York Times erected a new building on 43rd Street at the turn of the 20th century, the neighborhood took on the name “Times Square.” A decade later, theater, vaudeville and cabaret migrated to the streets nearby, attracting much tourism by the 1920s. But the market crash of 1929 led to a sharp decline in theater attendance, and to the transformation of performance halls into cheap “grinder” houses that screened sexually explicit films. In the early 1980s, the city made major efforts to restore the neighborhood to its former, more wholesome, glory. Now it is the site of the most famous New year’s Eve countdown in the world.
New York Times Headquarters
The inauguration of the New York Times’ new headquarters at 1 Times Square was celebrated with a fireworks display, starting a New Year’s eve tradition which still continues today. The first famous ball-lowering from
Billboardsthe 1 Times Square’s rooftop pole was held on New Year’s Eve 1907.
Theater District
At the start of the first World War, Times square was the center of the Theater district and attracted a large number of visitors. This made the square an ideal place for billboards. In 1917 the first large electric display billboard was installed. 11 Years later, the first running electric sign was let for the first time, to announce Herbert Hoover’s victory in the Presidential elections. The billboards have become such a tourist attraction for the area, that the zoning now requires the buildings to be
Times Square at nightcovered with billboards!
Decline
In the thirties, the Great Depression led to a sharp decline in theater attendance. Many businesses had to close down, and they were quickly replaced by strip teases and and peep shows. The area continued to attract visitors though and after the second World War, the Theater district was booming again. At the end of the sixties, the area started to go downhill and by the mid-seventies, tourists avoided Times square, which had become a seedy, crime-ridden and drug-infested place.
Disneyfication
In the 1980′s redevelopment proposals were submitted, with little result. This changed a decade later, when the Walt Disney Company opened a Disney store on Times Square. This attracted more family-friendly businesses to the area, leading to a so-called ‘Disneyfication’. The area is – like most of New York City – a lot safer now than in the early nineties and is once again a magnet for tourists and a center of New York’s social scene.
