Broadway, Times Square & Empire State Explorer

1. 

   Mission 1

   The Crossroads of the World

   Times Square gets its name from the New York Times newspaper, which moved its headquarters to the intersection of Broadway and Seventh Avenue in 1904 and persuaded the city to rename the area. The newspaper celebrated its move by launching a fireworks display from its new tower on New Year's Eve — a tradition that evolved into the Times Square ball drop that has occurred every year since 1907 with only two exceptions, during World War II blackouts in 1942 and 1943 when the crowd observed a moment of silence instead.

2. 

   Mission 2

   What Broadway Actually Is

   Broadway is not a single theater — it is a designation for theaters in Manhattan with 500 or more seats, of which there are currently 41. Broadway Avenue itself is the only major road in Manhattan that does not follow the city's grid — it predates the grid by centuries, originally a Native American trail called the Wiechquaeskeck Trail that ran the length of Manhattan island before Europeans arrived. This is why it cuts diagonally across the city creating the wedge-shaped blocks where Times Square sits.

3. 

   Mission 3

   The TKTS Booth

   The red glass bleacher steps in the center of Times Square are actually the roof of the TKTS booth, a discount theater ticket outlet where same-day Broadway tickets are sold at up to 50 percent off. The booth has operated in Times Square since 1973 and has sold millions of tickets to families who couldn't otherwise afford Broadway prices. The bleachers above it were added in 2008 and instantly became one of the most photographed urban seating areas in the world.

4. 

   Mission 4

   Times Square After Dark

   Times Square is the most brightly lit outdoor space in the world — its digital billboards generate so much light that Times Square registers as daytime on satellite imagery even at midnight. In the 1970s and early 1980s Times Square was one of the most dangerous areas in New York. The transformation from urban blight to global attraction between 1985 and 2000 is considered one of the most dramatic neighborhood turnarounds in American urban history.

5. 

   Mission 5

   Art Deco Rising

   The Empire State Building was designed in the Art Deco style — a visual language of geometric patterns, vertical lines, and decorative metalwork that expressed optimism about technology and modernity. The building's setbacks were required by the 1916 Zoning Resolution. The stainless steel spire was originally designed as a mooring mast for dirigibles — a mode of transportation that became obsolete before the building was even completed.

6. 

   Mission 6

   Built in 410 Days

   The Empire State Building was constructed in 410 days — requiring 60,000 tons of steel, 10 million bricks, and a workforce that peaked at 3,400 workers per day. Construction began in March 1930 and the building opened in May 1931 during the depths of the Great Depression — which is why it sat largely empty for years, nicknamed the Empty State Building by New Yorkers. Seven workers died during construction, an extraordinarily low number given the scale and pace of the project.

7. 

   Mission 7

   The View From the Top

   The observation deck of the Empire State Building on the 86th floor sits 1,050 feet above Fifth Avenue and offers a 360-degree view extending up to 80 miles on a clear day — far enough to see four states simultaneously. The building held the record as the world's tallest structure from 1931 until 1971 when the World Trade Center's North Tower surpassed it — a record of 40 years that no skyscraper has come close to matching since.

8. 

   Mission 8

   Midtown at Your Feet

   Manhattan island is only 2.3 miles wide and 13.4 miles long, and sits on hard metamorphic bedrock called Manhattan schist that is close enough to the surface in Midtown and Lower Manhattan to anchor skyscraper foundations — but dips too deep in between, which is why Midtown and Lower Manhattan have clusters of skyscrapers while the areas in between do not. The two-cluster shape of the Manhattan skyline is a direct expression of the island's underlying geology.

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