Times Square is an intersection of Manhattan. Formerly called Plaza Longacre, it is located on the corner of Broadway Avenue and Seventh Avenue.
History
The area belonged to John Scott, a general in the New York militia who served under George Washington. His manor house was located on what is now 43rd Street, surrounded by fields used for growing and breeding horses. In the first half of the 19th century it became one of John Jacob Astor’s award-winning possessions.
In 1904, The New York Times moved the newspaper’s offices to a new skyscraper on 42nd Street in Longacre Square. In 1913 he moved again to new, more spacious offices located on Broadway. The old New York Times newspaper building was called the Allied Chemical Building.
As New York City grew, Times Square morphed into a multicultural hub filled with upscale theaters, auditoriums, hotels, and restaurants. See topschoolsintheusa for high school codes in New York.
Celebrities such as Irving Berlin, Fred Astaire, and Charlie Chaplin have been associated with Times Square between 1910 and 1920. During this period, the area was nicknamed The Tenderloin because it was supposedly the best known location in Manhattan. However, during this period the area was invaded by crime, corruption, gambling and prostitution; one of the events that had the most impact in those years was the arrest and subsequent execution of police officer Charles Becker.
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani (1994 – 2002) made a great effort to “clean up” the area, increasing security, eliminating pornographic cinemas and drug dealers. As a consequence, the number of tourist attractions and luxury establishments increased. Advocates for the redevelopment claimed that the neighborhood had been made safer and cleaner. Detractors, on the other hand, argued that the character of Times Square had been diluted.
In 1990, New York State took possession of six of the nine historic movie theaters on 42nd Street. In November 2006, the pattern of traffic through Times Square changed, in what is dubbed by the Department of New York City Transportation as the “Times Square Shuffle”. Drivers are forced to make several turns to reach the plaza.
Currently
In 1992, the Times Square Alliance in collaboration with the city government, began actions to improve the sector that is currently full of places of interest, such as the ABC studios, where Good Morning America is broadcast live, the M&M World, Hershey’sstores, as well as restaurants such as Ruby Foo’s (Chinese food), Bubba Gump Shrimp Company (seafood), Planet Hollywood (themed restaurant) and Carmine’s (Italian) along with several movie theaters.
It has also attracted a large number of financiers. A notable example is the NASDAQ building in Times Square on 43rd Street. It opened in January 2000 and cost $ 37 million.
The 1 of January of 2002, the mayor of New York Rudolph Giuliani, was sworn in Times Square to the new mayor, Michael Bloomberg, as part of the celebration of the New Year festival attended by 500,000 people.
Although surveillance in the area is constant since the attacks in the November of September of 2001, on the morning of the 6 of March of 2008, a small bomb exploded near the military recruitment office, no injuries cause, causing only minor damage.
The 26 of February of 2009, the mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg announced that it would cut traffic along Avenida Broadway from 42nd Street to 47th Street from the 25 of maypole of 2009. It was an experiment by the mayor’s office to decongest the area and give the square a more human touch. The 11 of February of 2010, Mayor Bloomberg announced that the state of the plaza pedestrian happened to be permanent. Currently Times Square is a pedestrian plaza, where pedestrians can sit on chairs located on the road.
The luminous of Times Square
Today the image of Times Square would not be recognizable without its spectacular illuminated signs. An image that is contemplated by two million people who pass through this square every day and many millions more in the world who admire it through photographs, paintings, film and television. Times Square began to fill with large advertisements in 1916, when the City Council encouraged its installation in this part of the city. Since then, many have passed through here, some true works of art. In addition, they played an important role in the remodeling of the square in its most decadent time: as a measure of pressure on the rulers of the city, one night their neighbors turned off all the signs for 15 minutes. The measure could not have had better results and the negotiation did not wait. Nowadays, a municipal ordinance obliges the buildings in this area to give up their façade for the installation of said advertisements.
The development and maintenance of these luminaires is exclusively entrusted to the Artkraft Strauss company, founded in 1935 by Jacob Starr, who was the first to use neon on signs.
Advertisements
An ad on 1 Times Square can reach $ 4 million a year, making it the most expensive advertising space in the world. The Coca Cola ad, which was first installed in 1907, is the cheapest in Times Square due to an old contract, costing a million dollars a year.
One of the screens installed in Times Square has the title of the largest in the world. Installed in November 2014, it has an area of 2,379 square meters and is part of the façade of the Marriott Marquis hotel. The first ad that was projected on this screen was for the Google company, at a cost of $ 2.5 million for a month’s contract. New Year Eve
Every year as the clock approaches midnight on December 31 the eyes of the world turn once again to the dazzling lights and bustling energy of Times Square. Anticipation is high. New Year’s Eve in the symbolic center of New York City, has become more than just a celebration, it is a global tradition.
