Times Square

Times Square was not always the loudest place on Earth. Until nineteen oh four it was called Longacre Square, a district of stables and carriage makers, which is roughly the Manhattan equivalent of a garage district. It changed name when The New York Times moved its headquarters into a new tower here, and the paper celebrated by throwing a New Year's Eve fireworks party. That party never really stopped.

The famous ball drop began three years later, after the city banned the fireworks. A wood and iron ball covered in a hundred light bulbs was lowered down a flagpole at midnight, and the tradition has run almost every year since. The modern ball is a crystal sphere weighing close to six tonnes, and it stays on the roof all year round, quietly waiting.

The billboards are not decoration. Zoning rules here actually require buildings to carry illuminated signs, one of the very few places in the world where the law demands advertising. That is why the light never dims, and why the square is bright enough at night to read a newspaper in the middle of Broadway.

Underneath the noise, it is also the heart of American theatre. The blocks around you hold dozens of Broadway houses, and the red steps above the ticket booth have become the unofficial grandstand of the city, a place where roughly three hundred thousand people pass by on an ordinary day.

Nearby, walk two blocks to Bryant Park for a quieter green break, look for the art deco spire of the Chrysler Building to the east, or head north into Central Park where the city suddenly goes silent.