Times Square is a major commercial intersection in Midtown
Manhattan, New York City, United States,
at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets. Times Square, iconified as
"The Crossroads of the World" and the "The Great White Way". is the brightly
illuminated hub of the Broadway theater district, one of the world's
busiest pedestrian intersections, and a major center of the world's entertainment industry, According to Travel +
Leisure magazine's October 2011 survey, Times Square is the
world's most visited tourist attraction, bringing in over 39 million visitors
annually.
Formerly named Longacre
Square, Times Square was renamed in April 1904 after The New York Times moved its
headquarters to the newly erected Times Building, which is now called One Times
Square and is the site of the annual ball drop
on New Year's Eve.
Times Square is the site of the annual New Year's
Eve ball drop. On December 31, 1907, a ball
signifying New Year's Day was first dropped at Times
Square, and the Square has held the main New Year's celebration in New York
City ever since. On that night, hundreds of thousands of people congregate to
watch the Waterford Crystal ball being lowered on a pole
atop the building, marking the start of the new year. It replaced a lavish
fireworks display from the top of the building that was held from 1904 to 1906,
but stopped by city officials because of the danger of fire. Beginning in 1908,
and for more than eighty years thereafter, Times Square sign maker Artkraft
Strauss was responsible for the ball-lowering. During World War II,
a minute of silence, followed by a recording of church bells pealing, replaced
the ball drop because of wartime blackout restrictions. Today, Countdown
Entertainment and One Times Square handle the New Year's Eve event in
conjunction with the Times Square Alliance
In Popular Culture
In popular culture Times Square has been featured countless
times in literature, on television, in films – including the 1980 film Times Square, which featured a punk rock/new wave
soundtrack – in music videos and recently in video games. An immediately
recognizable setting, Times Square has been frequently attacked and destroyed
in a number of movies, including Knowing,
when a solar flare
destroys New York City, Deep Impact, when a tsunami
created from a meteor
impact destroys New York City, Stephen King's The Stand, where the intersection
is overcome by total anarchy, and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
Films have also employed the opposite tactic, depicting the typically bustling
area as eerily still, such as in Vanilla Sky,
as well as the post-apocalyptic I Am Legend, in which Will Smith
and his dog go hunting for deer in the deserted urban canyon. Times Square was
also depicted in the 2011 movie, New Year's Eve.
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