Times Square is the heart of New York City. For many people, it’s also the heart of the world. The end of the Second World War in 1945, for example, was a dramatic event in human history. Our most iconic image of it shows a young American sailor and nurse kissing each other passionately. That photograph was taken in Times Square.
Ever since The New York Times moved to Times Square in 1904, it has been the place where the news is announced. And since 1971 Times Square has also been a centre for financial news. The New York Stock Exchange is downtown on Wall Street, but New York’s – and the world’s – second biggest stock market, NASDAQ (the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is in midtown Manhattan, in Times Square. The latest market news and prices appear on the MarketSite Tower, the NASDAQ building’s massive seven-story
electronic billboard (which is powered by an unbelievable 16 million LEDs).
The Tower has featured in countless films and TV shows and it illuminates Times Square 24 hours a day, helping to make it one of the brightest places on earth. Hundreds of smaller electronic billboards advertise the Square’s other businesses, which include restaurant chains like the Olive Garden, Bubba Gump, the Hard Rock Café and TGI Friday’s and stores like Toys’R’Us, as well as movies, musicals and plays (Times Square, which is cut in two by Broadway, is also the heart of New York’s theatre district).
new year’s eve
Times Square gets even brighter on New Year’s Eve, when a million people gather there and a billion others watch them on television around the world. If you plan to go, remember that the rules are very strict. You have to get into the Square by 6pm and, as you wait for the next six hours to pass, no drinking is allowed!
the Alliance
Today Times Square is vibrant, but that hasn’t always been the case.It was dangerous in the 1970s, but it has bounced back in the last 20 years. Much of the credit must go to the Times Square Alliance (whose president, Tim Tompkins, we interviewed). The Alliance, which was founded in 1992, aims “to improve and promote Times Square, cultivating the creativity and energy that have made the area a centre of entertainment, culture and urban life for over a century.”
Nueva York de la mano de un experto (con audio): Times Square: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5...
