Every day, hundreds of thousands of people visit Times Square to experience one of the city's most recognizable areas. And for the last 10 years, they have been able to experience it in a very different way thanks to the pedestrian plazas that now fill the space between Broadway and Seventh Avenue between 47th and 42nd Streets.
The transformation was born out of the Times Square Alliance, led by people like President Tim Tompkins, Vice President Tom Harris, and Vice President of Policy Planning and Research Ellen Goldstein and, later, programming manager Sophie Aung.
Those four recently took Playbill on a tour of the plazas, and explained the thinking behind them and how they have transformed one of the world's most famous squares.
Take a look at our gallery below to learn more about how one of America’s busiest intersections, known as the Crossroads of the World, was transformed into a safe and arts-mind space in New York City.
This old photo of Times Square shows just how little space existed for pedestrians. “We were thinking, ‘How can we make this a destination?’” says Ellen Goldstein, Times Square Alliance Vice President of Policy Planning and Research. “What we had in those days was two giant avenues with cars coming down and very little space for people.”
Times Square in 2019—with noticeably more room for pedestrians to look around, take pictures, and experience the views.
The transformation began with the now-famous red stairs over the TKTS booth. The design was selected because it provided a platform for tourists to see Times Square from a new vantage point. It’s a way to “take in the second best show on Broadway,” said Times Square Alliance Vice President Tom Harris.
The next challenge was creating more space for people throughout the square's five blocks. What started as an experiment over Memorial Day weekend in 2009 would change the history of Times Square forever. With the help of the New York City Department of Transportation, the Alliance closed down Broadway from 47th to 42nd streets, opening up a swath of concrete for people to roam.
Marc J. Franklin
Those early days had a bit of a DIY feel. At first, Harris thought his boss was joking when he said “go buy 500 beach chairs,” but Times Square Alliance President Tim Tompkins was serious. The VP made several calls to friends in Brooklyn with connections to hardware stores and finally managed to deliver on the request. “They called a supplier in upstate New York that delivered a tractor trailer full of beach chair, and then everyone made fun of us,” said Harris.
No one’s laughing now—those chairs highlighted an important part of the Times Square experience. Art installations like the ones shown here help everyone look up at the famous video screens and billboards. “We don't need a lot going on down here,” said Goldstein of the lack of green space and abundance of chairs.
Looking up from chairs around Times Square, visitors will see famous sights like the window-studded electronic billboard on the outside of the Nasdaq building.
In the ’70s, Times Square was notorious for its seedy stores, muggings, and traffic congestion. Now, the area is one of the safest in all of New York City. “We wanted it to feel urban and refer to the past in an authentic way. That’s how we came up with the idea for the grey pavers with the little metal reflective pucks in them, evocative of the gritty past,” said Goldstein. The concrete motif is a part of the basic design of the plaza, found throughout.
The plazas, designed by Snøhetta, offer places to sit and experience local art while soaking in the billboards, video screens, posters, and people walking by.
Each block is a little different, too. Moving south from Duffy Square, which hosts the red stairs and TKTS booth, designs and purpose shift. “Not only should each block be a little bit different, but within each block you should be able to have smaller, more intimate spaces where you could have different things going on,” said Goldstein.
This seating nook with an American motif is just one example of the many intimate spaces Goldstein refers to.
At 43rd Street is the Broadway Buskers stage, which Programming Manager Sophie Aung came up with during a job interview. The popular event (held every Tuesday in summertime) came about because the Alliance “wanted to create regular programming on the plaza to activate all the amazing pedestrian space,” says Aung.
Stage favorites like Ethan Slater (SpongeBob SquarePants) and Alice Ripley (Next to Normal) are just two of the many who have offered free concerts in the middle of Times Square. Aung has also created a weekly coloring event to help locals and tourists alike relax in the busy setting.
Harris says that the Alliance partners with Urban Space to curate the market stalls offering food. “They’re all local New York–based vendors to give newcomers a chance to experience what locals can eat on a regular basis.”
Stores like New York City stalwart The Strand now have outposts in Times Square thanks to the pedestrianized space with other businesses on the plaza, like Broadway Up Close Walking Tours.
While the Alliance doesn’t have a say in what goes into the buildings lining the plaza, the non-profit does provide data to help real estate investors make decisions. “We let the market decide,” said Goldstein. “Our goal is to facilitate to encourage people to want to do business here, and what we can provide to make that possible.”
As the Alliance aims to deliver the beating heart of Broadway even deeper into the 21st century, perhaps no greater example is the people counting system on the sign infrastructure. “There are no pictures,” explains Goldstein. “We don't record anything, it's like a laser line.” The data is useful because it helps advocate for more public space.
To make sure the numbers weren’t off, they even employed people to use a handheld ticker. The results were the same, and so the system stayed.
Marc J. Franklin
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