13 Facts About NYC’s Times Square Most Tourists Never Know

Times Square, New York City

Times Square’s riot of billboards and Broadway shows are hiding some seriously interesting stories.

Like how it was once New York’s seedy center for peep shows. Or how Times Square wasn’t even Times Square until 1904, when The New York Times moved in and slapped their name on it.

And that’s just the beginning of what most people don’t know about NYC’s neon heart.

Times Square used to be horse country

Before the lights and chaos, this was a quiet spot for breeding horses called Long Acre Square.

The New York Times swooped in back in 1904 and basically bought naming rights when they moved their HQ to the area. The official name change happened on April 8, 1904, with the mayor making it all official.

There’s literally a stream running under your feet

The Minetta Brook used to run out in the open until they paved over it in 1830.

The stream still flows through brick tunnels beneath Manhattan, running 2.1 miles from Madison Square Park area down to the Hudson River.

When it rains hard, you might even spot wet patches on the street.

The billboards put on a free art show at midnight

If you’re in Times Square around midnight, stick around for three minutes more.

That’s when the Midnight Moment happens—all those massive screens sync up to show digital art instead of ads.

The program’s been running since March 2012 and uses 93 screens on 24 different buildings. They’ve featured work from over 150 artists across 50 countries, including big names like Yoko Ono.

There’s an abandoned subway level nobody sees

Transit workers call it the “underbelly.”

It’s part of the original 1904 subway system, stretching about 600 feet with all the original green and white tiles still intact.

During Hurricane Sandy in 2012, 84 MTA workers actually used it as an emergency shelter when flooding trapped them in the station.

If you’re on Track 1 of the 42nd Street Shuttle, look through the ventilation grates and you might catch a glimpse of this hidden underground space.

Someone buried a message till until 6939

In 1939, Westinghouse Electric buried a time capsule under Times Square that’s meant to stay there for 5,000 years.

It’s sitting 50 feet below where you walk at Seventh Avenue and 45th Street. They sealed it up on September 23, 1939, at noon sharp.

The capsule is torpedo-shaped, made from special copper alloy, and packed with everyday items from their time—a woman’s hat, pipe, seeds, a Sears catalog, and even an essay by Albert Einstein.

It was one the red light district of NYC

From the ’60s through the ’80s, this place was packed with over 140 adult establishments—peep shows, adult bookstores, X-rated theaters, you name it.

The cleanup started with a 1995 zoning amendment that banned adult businesses from operating within 500 feet of residential areas, schools, or places of worship.

The last holdout, Show World Center, finally closed in 2018 after 41 years in business.

The New Year’s Eve ball has seriously upgraded

The 1907 original was just a 700-pound wood and iron ball with 100 light bulbs.

Today’s version is a massive 12,000-pound sphere spanning 12 feet across with 2,688 Waterford Crystal triangles lit by 32,256 LEDs.

They installed the current version in 2008, dropping $5.1 million to mark 100 years of the tradition. Waterford changes the crystal designs yearly, and the whole setup sits 470 feet above street level on the 26-story One Times Square building.

It takes six full-time engineers to keep the thing running all year long. Unlike the original, this ball stays up permanently, so you can spot it any day of the year.

The military runs its tiniest recruiting station here

That small triangle in the middle of Times Square is officially called Military Island and houses the smallest standalone military recruiting station in the country.

At just 520 square feet, this little building has been signing people up for military service since 1946. They rebuilt it in 2006 for $3.5 million after the ’50s-era original started falling apart.

Despite its tiny size, around 10,000 potential recruits come through every year.

After a bombing incident in 2008, they added bulletproof glass.

There’s an entire power plant under the pavement

Beneath Times Square lies a massive network of 153 electrical vaults managed by Con Edison, with the biggest one measuring 40 by 60 feet.

The billboards alone use 161 megawatts daily—enough to power 161,000 homes. To keep all that equipment from overheating, they pump 3,700 gallons of water every minute through 12 miles of cooling pipes.

The billboards get tested while the city sleeps

Those massive screens run diagnostic tests between 2 and 5 in the morning, showing color bars, test patterns, and sometimes personal messages from the techs.

Each screen gets checked every 72 hours following a strict protocol established in 2011. The testing includes 27 different color patterns and pixel-by-pixel scans.

Secret tunnels connect buildings underground

Back in the day, you could walk between theaters, hotels, and subway stations without ever going outside.

A network of pedestrian tunnels built between 1927 and 1932 ran throughout Times Square, with the longest stretch covering 1,175 feet between the Paramount Building and Hotel Astor.

The fanciest section, called the Shubert Alley Connection, linked six Broadway theaters with fancy tilework and brass fixtures. While most passages are sealed off now, some remain open for employees or emergency use.

One still-accessible remnant connects the 42nd Street subway to the former Knickerbocker Hotel (now 1466 Broadway), marked by a small brass plaque if you know where to look.

The buildings are greener than you’d think

The TKTS booth with those famous red steps generates its own power from 149 solar panels producing 96 kilowatt-hours daily.

Since implementing an energy reduction plan in 2018, Times Square has cut power use by 22% even while adding 15% more display space.

One Bryant Park building uses a clever ice storage system that freezes 800 tons of water overnight when electricity is cheaper, then uses that ice for cooling during the day.

Old-school pneumatic tubes are still down there

Before email, text, or even reliable phone service, New York used pressurized air tubes to shoot mail around the city at 35 mph.

The system started on October 7, 1897, and grew to 27 miles of tubes connecting 130 buildings.

The main hub sat 22 feet below Times Square, with 24 separate tubes handling 95,000 letters hourly using 1,000 cylindrical carriers, each 21 inches long.

The system ran until December 12, 1953, when the postal service finally pulled the plug after 56 years.

Visiting Times Square in 2025

It’s impossible to miss Times Square, located where Broadway meets Seventh Avenue at 42nd Street.

How to Get There: 

• Subway: Take lines 1, 2, 3, 7, N, Q, R, W, or the S shuttle to the 42nd Street station
• Bus: Hop on the M7, M20, M42, M50, or M104 bus routes
• Citi Bike: Use the 43rd Street docking station, which has 62 docks available