Facts of Times Square, the Prestigious Advertising Spot in the US

VIVA – Times Square is a square in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. It is formed by the intersection of Seventh Avenue, 42nd Street, and Broadway. Times Square is known as “The Crossroads of the World”, “The Center of the Universe”, and the “Heart of the World”. Why not? Times Square is a place the features of advertisements and promotions from top brands across the country.

Not only that, Times Square is also a place where the artist's photos are clearly displayed there. There are so many Indonesian artists whose photos have been posted there, such as Lyodra Ginting, Nadin Amizah, Denny Sumargo, Raisa, Enzy Storia, Weird Genius, Rich Brian, Maudy Ayunda, and others.

Here are interesting facts about Times Square, New York.

1. Most Visited Tourist Places in the World

Times Square is one of the most visited tourist attractions in the world with around 50 million visitors annually. About 330,000 people pass through Times Square every day, many of them tourists, while more than 460,000 pedestrians walk through Times Square on its busiest days.

2. Unique Location Form

Times Square is one of the busiest pedestrian areas in the world, it is also the center of the Broadway Theater District and a major center of the world's entertainment industry. Times Square is geometrically not a square. The shape is more like a bow tie, with two triangles.

The southern triangle of Times Square has no specific name, but the northern triangle is officially Duffy Square. It was dedicated in 1937 to World War I chaplain Pastor Francis P. Duffy of New York City's 69th US Infantry Regiment and is a memorial site to him.

3. Ever a Forbidden Activist Center

Known from the start as Longacre Square, it had a bad reputation as a center of illicit activity in the 1890s, although by the early 19th century it had become a commercial and residential area.

The square was renamed in 1904 for The New York Times, which opened its new office in the Times Tower on the square (though it would be larger in 1913). Eventually, the square became a gathering place for New Yorkers to celebrate the arrival of the new year.

4. Prestigious Place in America

In 1907, the Times began lowering large glass balls onto the flagpole at midnight on New Year's Eve to mark the occasion. Over the years, increasingly sophisticated technology was used to drop the ball in the square as tradition came to include live television broadcasts sharing the experience with tens of millions of people across the United States.

From its inception, Times Square became the leading American venue for advancements in big, bright electrical signage and advertising, especially after the introduction of neon signs in the 1920. Among the square's most famous signs are those depicting a large coffee cup, from which real steam rises, and a smoking man, blowing out a ring of steam-generated smoke.

5. Once Called as a Dangerous Environment

The general mood of Times Square changed with the onset of the Great Depression in the early 1930s. City dwellers moved downtown to cheaper neighborhoods, and many popular theaters closed, replaced by salons, brothels, "burlesque halls, vaudeville stages, and dime houses".

The area gained a reputation as a dangerous and slum neighborhood in the following decades. From the 1960s to the early 1990s, the slums, especially for their go-go bars, sex shops, and adult theatres, became a well-known symbol of the city's decline.

Time Square's rise in the 1990s, with the introduction of large tourist-friendly shops, theaters, and restaurants, is often credited with advocacy by Mayor Rudy Giuliani and investment in the area by Disney companies.

6. Drastic Change of Times Square

Times Square now offers attractions like ABC's Times Square Studios, where Good Morning America is broadcast live, competing Hershey and M&M stores across the street from each other, and multiple multiplex theaters. In addition, the area has restaurants such as Ruby Foo's, a Chinese restaurant, the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, a seafood restaurant.

Not only that, but there is also a Planet Hollywood Restaurant and Bar, a themed restaurant and Carmine's, which serves Italian cuisine.

It has also attracted several major financial, publishing, and media companies to set up headquarters in the area. A greater police presence has increased the security of the area.

7. Amazing New Year Celebration

About a million revelers thronged Times Square for New Year's Eve celebrations, more than double the number of visitors the area normally receives on a daily basis.

However, for the millennium celebrations on December 31, 1999, published reports stated that approximately two million people flooded into 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 then. In August 1945 when the celebrations marked the end of World War II.