Times Square is located at the intersection of Broadway and 7th Avenue known to be the heart of Manhattan and has become a symbol of this vibrant metropolis. In the 19th Century, it was originally known as Long Acre Square, a hub for the carriage industry, replete with horse tables, an uncanny contrast to the neon lights and billboards today.
Electricity, in the form of theatre advertisements and street lights, transformed public space into a safer, more inviting environment. Times Square uses 161 Megawatts of electricity every year which is twice the amount required to power all of the casinos in Las Vegas.
Despite its iconic and romantic reputation, 42nd Street was anything but that in the 1980s. It was a dirty den of drug dealers and crime including serious felonies of murder or rape. Presently, it is a bustling area with non-stop bright neon lights and a cacophony of sounds, to the TKTS booths, buskers and tourists all round trying to get that perfect shot for the gram.
With an average of 50 million visitors a day, it is surely an iconic area that hosts events. The New Years Eve Countdown with more than a million people packed into Time Square, makes it impossible to even move, making even adults wear diapers to release themselves. The final countdown of the year ends with a whopping one ton of confetti paper that is actually wishes, pouring down on the crowd. I can’t imagine the atmosphere to be simply magical.
The symbolic place of Times Square is no doubt recognisable and is also reproduced in popular culture, street art such as graffiti art and paintings and the vibrant creativity of photos that people take and upload onto their social media pages.
It is truly reflective to be a City that never sleeps when the night is of day-level light from the vibrant billboards and never-ending hustle and bustle of the city.
#ClaudtravelsNYC 