Times Square

Times Square was not originally named Times Square. Until 1904 it was Longacre Square, named for London’s carriage district, because the block was dominated by the stables, blacksmiths, and carriage-makers that serviced Manhattan’s horse-drawn vehicle trade. The New York Times, having built its new headquarters at 42nd and Broadway, lobbied the mayor to rename the area after the paper, and he agreed. When the Times threw an opening party for its new tower in 1904, it launched fireworks from the roof. Four years later, someone suggested dropping a ball instead. The ball drop has happened every year since, including during World War II, when it was done in darkness and silence to observe wartime blackout restrictions.

That is the version of the story that most guides skip.

What Times Square actually is

Geographically, Times Square is an X-shaped intersection where Broadway cuts across Seventh Avenue between 42nd and 47th Streets. The “square” is actually two triangles of pedestrianized asphalt that were reclaimed from vehicle traffic in 2009, when New York City permanently closed Broadway to cars between 42nd and 47th as an experiment that turned out to work. The LED billboards are legally required: unlike the rest of Manhattan, Times Square has a signage requirement mandating high-illumination advertising on all street-level properties in the core zone. The spectacle is, in other words, commercially compelled.

Foot traffic runs around 330,000 people per day and peaks in December. If you have a strong preference for personal space, almost any other part of Manhattan is preferable. If you want to understand what New York City means to people who grew up outside of it, Times Square is the correct answer, exactly as advertised.

Broadway in 2026

The fall 2026 season is one of the stronger recent Broadway lineups. Other Desert Cities opens in October, starring Ed Harris, Allison Janney, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Lily Rabe, directed by Lila Neugebauer. Tom Hiddleston and Hayley Atwell appear in Much Ado About Nothing at the Winter Garden Theatre, opening in November. A Few Good Men returns to Broadway at the Vivian Beaumont, and Dreamgirls is also scheduled for fall 2026.

For discount tickets, the TKTS booth in Times Square (the iconic red steps at 47th and Broadway) sells same-day and next-day tickets at 20 to 50 percent off face value; the queue in the evening before curtain runs longest on weekends. Buying through the TodayTix app achieves similar discounts for some shows without the physical queue. Full-price tickets bought weeks ahead are the most reliable method for specific shows in high demand.

The Museum of Broadway on 45th Street, which opened in 2022, added a new exhibition on Broadway puppetry craft in May 2026. It covers the design and construction of puppets across major productions; it is considerably more interesting than the name suggests and keeps children occupied for a solid 90 minutes.

Where to eat

The Theater District has a reputation for overpriced tourist food that it partly deserves and partly misrepresents. The concentration of pre-theater dining options within a few blocks of the main stage houses is genuine and some of them are good.

Carmine’s on 44th Street is family-style Italian in portions built for sharing: a single pasta dish feeds three to four people. The noise level is considerable and the room is cheerful and unpretentious. Dinner for two runs $60 to $80 for food.

Virgil’s Real BBQ, two blocks north of the 42nd Street subway station, does serviceable Southern barbecue at around $22 per main, which is close to a reasonable price for this neighborhood.

Gui Steakhouse, which opened in the Theater District in February 2025, is a Korean-influenced steakhouse with a weekday lunch special at $23 for three courses and endless fries. Dinner runs $60 per person and up, but the lunch offer is one of the better value propositions in the area.

Ellen’s Stardust Diner, where the servers perform show tunes while delivering burgers, is genuinely what it appears to be: a diner where aspiring Broadway performers work, sing loudly, and give the service their full theatrical commitment. It is either exactly what you want or the last place you want to eat. Budget $25 to $40 per person.

For a meal that escapes the Theater District entirely, Hell’s Kitchen (the neighborhood directly west of Times Square between 9th and 10th Avenues) runs a dense restaurant strip including some of the better Thai and Latin food in Midtown at prices that reflect a local rather than tourist clientele.

Where to stay

The Knickerbocker Hotel at 42nd and Broadway was built in 1906 and restored in 2015. It has a rooftop bar (St. Cloud) with open-air views of Times Square that are worth visiting even if you are not staying there. Rooms run $350 to $600 per night depending on season.

The Renaissance New York Times Square Hotel is large, efficient, and well-positioned for anyone with multiple shows or midtown meetings. Rates in the $300 to $450 range. The citizenM Times Square hotel is a compact, design-forward option at $200 to $300 per night that sacrifices room size for an unusually good common area and bar, a reasonable trade in Manhattan where rooms are small regardless.

For anyone spending more than a few nights in the city, staying slightly outside Times Square, in the Flatiron district, in Chelsea, or in the West Village, is almost always a better experience at comparable or lower prices. The subway gets you to 42nd Street in under 20 minutes from most of Manhattan.

Practical notes

The costumed characters in Times Square (superhero suits, Elmo costumes, the Naked Cowboy, various topless performers in body paint) will offer to pose for photographs and will then request payment after. The transaction is not a scam exactly, but it is rarely the spontaneous free photo opportunity it appears to be. Make your own call accordingly.

Subway access at Times Square is through one of the largest station complexes in the system: the 42nd Street hub serves the 1, 2, 3, 7, A, C, E, N, Q, R, W, and S trains, connecting to most of Manhattan and to all three major airports via transfer. The complexity of the station, spread across several levels with long underground corridors, confuses first-time visitors; allow extra time the first few times you use it.

The best time to photograph Times Square, if that is your goal, is between 3 and 4 a.m. on a weeknight in February. The crowds thin to almost nothing, the signs run all night, and the street is as close to empty as it ever gets. It is cold and slightly surreal, which is probably the most honest version of what Times Square looks like when it is not performing for anyone.