50 Fun Facts About Times Square

Times Square lies in which part of Manhattan?

Times Square is in Midtown Manhattan, centred where Broadway crosses Seventh Avenue around 42nd Street, a few blocks west of Grand Central Terminal and Bryant Park.

Before 1904 the plaza was named after a London carriage-trade street. What was it called?

Longacre Square took its name from Long Acre in London; William Henry Vanderbilt ran the American Horse Exchange there.

Which New York Times publisher persuaded the mayor to rename the square and build a subway station in 1904?

Adolph S. Ochs, publisher of The New York Times, persuaded Mayor George B. McClellan Jr. to rename Longacre Square as Times Square in April 1904 as the paper moved into its new tower on the old Pabst Hotel site.

Roughly how many people pass through Times Square on an ordinary day?

Roughly 330,000 people pass through Times Square on an ordinary day; on the busiest days the count tops 460,000, and the area draws about 50 million visitors a year.

Times Square is not a square at all; its shape is usually compared to what?

Times Square's shape is usually compared to a bowtie: Broadway's diagonal crossing Seventh Avenue forms two triangles that meet at 45th Street, the northern one officially named Duffy Square.

Times Square's northern triangle honours Father Francis P. Duffy, who was what in WWI?

He was chaplain of New York's 'Fighting 69th' regiment; his statue by Charles Keck was dedicated in 1937.

Which showman, sometimes called 'the man who owned Broadway', has a statue in Duffy Square?

George M. Cohan's bronze statue by Georg Lober was unveiled in Duffy Square in 1959; it shares the plaza with the TKTS booth, which has sold same-day discount theatre tickets there since June 1973.

The TKTS booth, rebuilt in 2008, is topped by red steps that are notable for being made of what?

It was the largest load-bearing glass structure in the world when it opened, with a wedge of bleacher-style stairs for sitting.

Times Square is the eastern terminus of which pioneering coast-to-coast road?

The Lincoln Highway, dedicated in 1913 as America's first coast-to-coast road, started at Times Square and ran about 3,389 miles through 13 states to Lincoln Park in San Francisco.

Which German director said a visit to Times Square inspired his 1927 film Metropolis?

Fritz Lang arrived in New York in October 1924 and said the lit-up skyline and Times Square's electric signs shaped the look of Metropolis, released in 1927.

Which gum brand's early Times Square sign, renting for $9,000 monthly, was called the world's biggest?

The Wrigley's Spearmint sign on Broadway, a block-long electric display of marching spearmen figures, was billed as the largest electric sign in the world and cost about $9,000 a month to rent.

Why did Broadway's earliest electric signs, source of the 'Great White Way' name, use white lights?

Early sign makers used white bulbs because coloured ones burned out too fast; the blaze of white light along Broadway earned it the 'Great White Way' nickname by the early 1900s.

What did the New York Times' first New Year's Eve party at its tower in 1904 feature, before the ball drop?

The 1904 party ended with fireworks fired from the Times Tower; after the city banned fireworks over the crowd, Ochs staged the first ball drop for the 1907-08 celebration instead.

The first Times Square ball, dropped on 31 December 1907, was lit by how many bulbs?

The first ball carried 100 25-watt bulbs on a 700-pound iron-and-wood sphere built by young immigrant metalworker Jacob Starr, whose later firm Artkraft Strauss lowered the ball for most of the century.

The ball drop was borrowed from a 'time ball' near Trinity Church on the tower of which company?

Ochs borrowed the idea from the time ball atop the Western Union Telegraph Building on lower Broadway, dropped at noon daily from 1877 so ships and citizens could set their clocks.

The ball drop has been skipped only twice, in 1942 and 1943, for what reason?

Crowds instead observed a minute of silence at midnight, followed by chimes played from sound trucks.

Which manufacturer began supplying the crystal panels on the ball's outer surface in 2000?

Waterford Crystal has made the ball's panels since the millennium ball unveiled for 31 December 1999, a six-foot sphere faced with 504 crystal triangles and lit by halogen bulbs.

The 12-foot Times Square ball introduced for 2008-09 weighed roughly how much?

The ball introduced for 2008-09 weighed 11,875 pounds: a 12-foot geodesic sphere of 2,688 Waterford crystal triangles lit by 32,256 LEDs.

Which host fronted the top-rated Times Square New Year's Eve show until he died in 2012?

Dick Clark fronted New Year's Rockin' Eve from its 1972 debut until his death in April 2012; after his 2004 stroke he shared hosting with Ryan Seacrest, who then took over.

How much biodegradable confetti is dropped on the Times Square crowd at midnight each New Year?

About 3,000 pounds of confetti, some 1.5 tons of biodegradable tissue paper, is released by hand from rooftops around Times Square at midnight, much of it printed with wishes written by visitors.

One Times Square, the old Times Tower, is how many storeys tall?

One Times Square has 25 storeys and rises 363 feet; The New York Times moved out to West 43rd Street in 1913 and sold the building in 1961.

The 'zipper' news ticker on One Times Square first lit up in November 1928 with a headline about what?

It used 14,800 bulbs driven by a chain conveyor of movable-type letter frames inside the building.

Which company bought the Times Tower in 1963 and stripped it to its steel frame, cladding it in marble?

Allied Chemical bought the tower in 1963 and spent about $10 million stripping it to the steel frame and recladding it in marble as the Allied Chemical Tower, a makeover critic Ada Louise Huxtable deplored.

Which financial firm, mocked for paying $27.5 million for One Times Square in 1995, made it a billboard frame?

Lehman Brothers paid $27.5 million in 1995 for a tower too small for offices, let the last tenants leave in 1996 and sold the signage-wrapped building to Jamestown in 1997 for about $110 million.

Which pharmacy chain leased the entire One Times Square building in 2007 for $4 million a year?

Walgreens leased the whole building in 2007 at about $4 million a year, opened a flagship store there in 2008, and had left by 2022 as a $500 million renovation added an observation deck.

Times Square's record two-million crowd in August 1945 was celebrating what?

The crowd marked Victory over Japan: the zipper flashed 'OFFICIAL *** TRUMAN ANNOUNCES JAPANESE SURRENDER' at 7:03 pm on 14 August 1945 and revellers packed the square into the next day.

Which magazine published Eisenstaedt's photo of a sailor kissing a woman in Times Square on V-J Day?

He shot it on a Leica IIIa; a 2012 book concluded the woman was dental hygienist Greta Zimmer Friedman, not a nurse.

Victor Jorgensen's rival Navy photo of the V-J Day kiss is free to use because it is what?

Victor Jorgensen shot the kiss as a Navy photojournalist on duty, so as a US government work his image is in the public domain; it ran in The New York Times the next day.

A 1981 Rolling Stone article called 42nd Street in Times Square what?

Rolling Stone in 1981 branded 42nd Street 'the sleaziest block in America'; The New York Times had already called it 'the worst block in town' in 1960, when grindhouses and sex shops lined it.

Which 1969 film's portrait of Times Square as gritty and desperate came to symbolise the area's decline?

Midnight Cowboy (1969) showed Times Square's hustlers and flophouses through Joe Buck and Ratso Rizzo; Taxi Driver in 1976 doubled down on the same seedy image.

Which corporation's restoration of the New Amsterdam Theatre kick-started the 1990s clean-up of 42nd Street?

Disney's mid-1990s restoration of the New Amsterdam Theatre anchored the 42nd Street redevelopment; the city evicted pornographic theatres and brought in Madame Tussauds and AMC, and critics called the result 'Disneyfied'.

Which Disney musical opened at the restored New Amsterdam Theatre in November 1997?

The Lion King opened at the New Amsterdam on 13 November 1997 and moved to the Minskoff Theatre in 2006 to make way for Mary Poppins; Aladdin opened in the house in 2014.

From 1913 to 1927 the New Amsterdam Theatre was home to which famous revue?

Producer Florenz Ziegfeld kept an office in the building and ran a second theatre on its roof.

Which German media giant's 1992 purchase of empty 1540 Broadway is credited with sparking Times Square's revival?

Bertelsmann bought the unfinished, empty 1540 Broadway in 1992 for about $119 million as its US headquarters; Morgan Stanley followed with 1585 Broadway in 1993 and 750 Seventh Avenue in 1994.

Under 1987 zoning rules, big new buildings in Times Square are required to include what?

The city wanted to make sure the area would never go dark at nightfall; developers also had to set aside space for entertainment uses.

Which mayor announced in 2009 that Broadway through Times Square would become pedestrian plazas?

Michael Bloomberg's 2009 'Green Light for Midtown' experiment closed Broadway to cars between 42nd and 47th Streets; the first seating was cheap lawn chairs, the plazas were made permanent in 2010 and rebuilt in granite by Snøhetta.

The Naked Cowboy, a Times Square fixture since the late 1990s, performs in only boots, a hat and what?

Robert Burck of Cincinnati performs in white briefs, cowboy boots and a hat; he holds trademarks on the act and sued Mars in 2008 over a guitar-playing blue M&M dressed like him.

In 2010 the Naked Cowboy held a Times Square press conference to announce he was running for what?

Robert Burck announced a 2012 US presidential run at an October 2010 Times Square press conference, pitching himself as a Tea Party-style candidate; the year before he had briefly campaigned for New York mayor.

The failed car bombing of Times Square on 1 May 2010 was foiled after street vendors noticed what?

Faisal Shahzad, who trained with the Pakistani Taliban, was arrested two days later and sentenced to life.

Times Square–42nd Street opened in 1904 as one of how many original subway stations?

Times Square–42nd Street was one of the 28 stations on the first IRT line, opened on 27 October 1904; the complex became the busiest in the system, handling about 65 million passengers in 2019.

Which subway shuttle links Times Square directly to Grand Central?

The 42nd Street Shuttle, the S train, runs under 42nd Street between Times Square and Grand Central; its tracks were part of the city's first subway line, opened in 1904.

The curved seven-storey NASDAQ sign at 43rd Street wraps the corner of which tower?

The NASDAQ MarketSite's cylindrical LED sign, about seven storeys tall, wraps the 43rd Street corner of 4 Times Square, the Condé Nast Building opened in 1999, with the MarketSite studio at its base.

Which ABC programme began broadcasting live from Times Square Studios in 1999?

Good Morning America moved into the glass-fronted Times Square Studios at 1500 Broadway in September 1999; the building has also housed ESPN and other Disney-ABC productions.

In which 2007 film does Will Smith hunt deer through a deserted Times Square?

In I Am Legend, Will Smith's Robert Neville stalks deer through an empty Times Square; Vanilla Sky used the same eerily vacant trick, while Godzilla, Deep Impact and Knowing preferred to destroy it.

Vanderbilt's American Horse Exchange on Times Square became which theatre in 1911?

The Shuberts converted Vanderbilt's American Horse Exchange at Broadway and 50th Street into the Winter Garden Theatre, which opened in March 1911 and later housed Cats and Mamma Mia!.

Broadway theatre officially comprises how many professional houses of 500 or more seats?

The Broadway League counts 41 professional houses of 500 or more seats as Broadway theatres; only a handful are on Broadway itself, and most line the cross streets between 41st and 53rd.

Which cigar manufacturer and impresario built the Olympia, the first theatre on the square?

Oscar Hammerstein I, who made his first fortune from cigar-making machinery, opened the Olympia on Broadway between 44th and 45th Streets in 1895, the first theatre in what was then Longacre Square.

Which militia general who served under Washington owned the Times Square land around the Revolution?

John Morin Scott, a New York militia general under Washington, kept a manor house at what is now 43rd Street; John Jacob Astor later made a second fortune selling off the lots as the city spread uptown.

Which hotel opened in 1985 on the site of the demolished Helen Hayes and Morosco theatres?

The New York Marriott Marquis, designed by John Portman around a soaring atrium, opened in 1985 on Broadway between 45th and 46th Streets after the Helen Hayes, Morosco and Bijou theatres were razed in 1982.

Which news agency built 3 Times Square at Seventh Avenue and 42nd Street, opening in 2001?

Reuters built 3 Times Square with the Rudin family as its American headquarters, a 30-storey tower by Fox & Fowle that opened in 2001; Douglas Durst had developed 4 Times Square across the way after buying that site in 1996.