Times Square

Times Square, New York

synonym

Times Square (New York Times Square) generally refers to New York Times Square

Times Square, known as "the crossroads of the world", is a prosperous block in Manhattan, New York City. Times Square was originally named laneck square, but later changed its name to Times Square because of the headquarters building set up by the New York Times in the early days.

Because of its high popularity, many famous cities in the world have shopping malls or buildings, which are called "Times Square". The name of times square is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Nearly 40 shopping malls and theaters gather near Times Square, which is a prosperous entertainment and shopping center. The theater on Broadway, a large number of dazzling neon tube ads, and TV style billboards have become symbols of New York and reflect the strong urban characteristics of Manhattan. Approaching the times square, we are surrounded by colorful neon lights and street artists. News, songs, MVS and TV programs are broadcast at any time, which is enough to shock everyone's eyes. Times Square is the only area in New York City that is required by the planning law to hang a billboard.

Many news media around the world, including ABC, have studios and news centers in Times Square. Therefore, when many foreign media talk about the news about the United States, they always like to cut the lens to the Times Square studio, with the prosperous scenery as the background, which also weakens certain politicization.

Historical evolution

nineteenth century

In 1883, the Metropolitan Opera House of New York moved to Broadway and 40th street, which led to the vigorous development of theaters and restaurants. In 1920, the rise of film art painted a rainbow scene here. Then after the collapse of the stock market in 1929, it fell into the abyss of depression. It was not until the 1980s that the glory of Broadway gradually recovered. This triangle area has once again become the focus of New York's entertainment industry Point. Adolf aux, publisher of the New York Times, moved the newspaper's headquarters to a new building on 42nd Street, then known as laneck square. Before, it was a distribution center for horse dealers, blacksmiths and stables. Of course, there were many thieves. Oakes successfully lobbied George McClellan, the then mayor, to set up a subway station in the area, and officially renamed Langeck square as times square on April 8, 1904. Just three weeks later, the first advertisement appeared on the outer wall of a bank on 46th street and Broadway.

Twentieth Century

With the advent of the great depression in the 1930s, the atmosphere of the square changed. Times Square is full of pornographic venues, cinemas showing sex movies all night, and shops selling cheap tourist souvenirs. "Boys and dolls," a collection of stories by Damon Runyon, a media man, reflects the transformation. For decades, Times Square was seen by many as a dangerous area. Times square then became a symbol of danger and corruption in New York City from the 1960s to the 1990s. There are many dark and influential films, such as midnight cowboy and taxi driver, many of which are set in Times Square. The bad cinemas in the district are even more leisurely to show low-grade films.

By the mid-1990s, Mayor Rudy Giuliani (who was in office from 1994 to 2002) had been cleaning up the area, including closing down pornographic places, strengthening law and order, and opening more tourist attractions. The local government once issued an executive order to expel the numerous pornographic shops near West 42nd Street. As a result, many sites were forced to close down, or moved to industrial areas such as Brooklyn or queens, and replaced by more advanced business activities. The theater on Broadway, a large number of dazzling neon tube ads, and TV style billboards have become symbols of New York and reflect the strong urban characteristics of Manhattan. Times Square is the only area in the city where the owners are required by the planning law to "have to" hang a bright billboard. The density of times square billboards is comparable to that of Las Vegas.

twenty-first century

On April 7, 2004, "Times Square" ushered in her Centennial birthday. At the opening ceremony of the centennial celebration, New York's billionaire Mayor Bob once said with pride, "when you talk to anyone in the country or the world about what New York is, you can say Broadway and Times Square are New York." As a matter of fact, it has long been said that less than New York can't be regarded as having been to the United States, and times square can't be regarded as having been to New York. Nowadays, times square has become a hot spot for tourists, including the live broadcast of ABC's Good Morning America, Toys R US and Hershey's chocolate shop, Chinese food "Fu", seafood shop Bubba Gump shrimp company, and restaurants such as carmine's, as well as several multi courtyard cinemas. Times square has also attracted a number of large-scale financial, publishing and media enterprises to set up headquarters in the area. A large number of police officers stationed in the area have improved the law and order. The New Times Square is undoubtedly safer and more acceptable. However, some people say that the area has lost its original light and become a "Disneyland" square.

On November 19, 2014, the largest and most expensive billboard in North America "lights up" in Times Square, New York, and officially takes up its post. This high pixel electronic billboard covers an area of about 2320 square meters. It is eight stories high. It spans a whole block in width and is as long as a football field. This huge electronic billboard has 24 million pixels, which is the highest pixel of its kind in the world. According to the company in charge of billboard advertising sales, many customers are interested in booking the billboard. The advertising rights in January 2015 have been sold to an advertiser. But the New York Times estimates that it will cost more than $2.5 million to rent the billboard for four weeks.

Square layout

Business and entertainment district

According to a report released by the Times Square Alliance, the wealth created by the famous Times Square in New York City Center is comparable to that of medium-sized cities such as Pittsburgh, Austin and Portland in the United States. Even in the shadow of the financial crisis, it still reached $110 billion in 2011. Although it covers only 0.1% of the urban area of New York City, the times square block brings together 11% of the economic activities of New York City, and 10% of New Yorkers work here.

The times square block directly or indirectly created about 385000 jobs for New York. Since 2007, the area of business office buildings in this block has increased by 33%, and the accommodation has generated US $4.8 billion of consumer spending. A total of US $4.6 billion of taxes have been paid to the national and municipal governments throughout the year, of which US $2.1 billion of taxes paid to New York City is enough to pay 46% of the budget of the New York police department %。 Times Square is also one of the attractions attracting the most tourists in New York City. There are 17000 hotel rooms for tourists, accounting for 21% of the total number of rooms in New York City. In 2011, the hotel revenue of the block was 1.8 billion US dollars. In addition, Times Square is close to the Broadway block, so its entertainment consumption is also valuable.

Crazy triangle

Times Square is located in the North Midtown of Manhattan, New York, with a history of 101 years. Its center is located in a triangle of wealth and art at the intersection of Broadway, Seventh Avenue and West 46th street.

The semi cylindrical huge ads of NASDAQ constantly change the hot and cold faces of black, blue and red. It seems to be announcing the unpredictable situation of the stock market in the world's financial center! The commercial and financial atmosphere of advertising and high-tech artistic means are perfectly integrated here. It's more than it's meant to be.

Main activities

Thanksgiving Day Parades

In 1926, New York held its first parade. People dressed up as clowns, cowboys, knights and so on, walk from West 145th street in Manhattan to West 34th Street, where Times Square is located. The parade included floats and professional bands, as well as 25 borrowed animals from the Central Park Zoo. The huge and interesting parade attracted a large number of people to watch along the street, causing an unprecedented sensation. Since then, New York has decided to continue this activity. The next year, giant balloons replaced animals in the parade. Since then, the balloon has become one of the highlights of the Thanksgiving parade in New York.

On November 26, 2012, a Thanksgiving parade passes through Times Square in New York. Millions of local residents and tourists took part in the annual carnival. On Thanksgiving Day, it lasts about three hours. At 9 am on the 26th, a procession of more than 10000 people started from the intersection of West 77th street and Central Park West Avenue. The parade also included 40 cartoon nitrogen balloons, 27 floats, more than 800 clowns and more than 1600 cheerleaders. They walked through the streets of Manhattan in New York. Tens of millions of people watched the parade on TV. On that day, people saw many cartoon stars in the procession, such as Snoopy, SpongeBob, Hulk, Smurfs, Dumbo, Pikachu and so on.

Chinese PinYin : Shi Dai Guang Chang