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Twelve ticket windows await the thousands that will purchase tickets daily. |
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Duffy Square and the red-steps that make up the roof of the TKTS booth. |
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Above photos: opposing photos from the top and bottom of the red TKTS steps.
(all photos except where noted: TheHopefulTraveler) |
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Boards lists the shows and discounts available
at the booth. |
Just three years ago the TKTS sales booth was comprised of a
construction trailer disguised by scaffolding and white canvas ribbon
emblazoned with the TKTS logo. Today a glowing red staircase serves as a roof
and gathering place over a space-age style booth shell encased in glass.
The booth's 27 steps sweeps up to 16 feet above 47th Street which offers at the top a panoramic view of Times
Square. To prevent squatting on the steps don’t be surprised to find them
closed in the wee hours of the morning. The steps may also be closed during bad weather. Like amphitheater seats, visitors
seated on the steps have a front row view of bustling Times Square.
These iconic steps seats over 500 people and are illuminated
giving them a ruby glow in evening. Additional engineering embedded the glass
with silver bits that helps to keep pedestrians from slipping even when the
steps are wet. They can be warmed in winter and kept cool during the hot summer
months.
Additional work was completed on Father Duffy Square (the
name of this pedestrian island) which enlarged the space by 115 percent and more
comfortably accommodates the hundreds who line up daily rather than having them
spill onto the roadway.
When the original booth closed for demolition on May 1, 2006,
plans were for a new booth to be completed and open by the end of the year. But with the project going over budget six times (the city of New York picked up $11.5 of the $19 million cost) and the failure of the original glass
manufacturer, ticket buyers had to wait over two years until the new booth was
unveiled in October 2008.
During that two-year time, the booth temporarily relocated
one block south to the New York Marriott Marquis Hotel. Located in a former
street-level retail space mid-block on 47th Street, the line of
ticket buyers snaked into the pedestrian breezeway beneath the hotel that leads
to 46th Street.
DUFFY SQUARE:
The TKTS booth sits on a triangular pedestrian
square named for Reverend Father P. Duffy (1871-1932), a civic and neighborhood
hero in his day, who was chaplain to the 69
th infantry during World
War I and pastor of the Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church. A bronze statue (left) with
a Celtic cross stands in his honor at the foot of the booth’s steps. A second
statue (below) honors George M. Cohan (1878-1942), an American entertainer who wrote,
produced and stared in Broadway musicals. He is also known for composing such
classics as “Give My Regards to Broadway” and “Yankee Doodle Boy.”
(note: George Cohan statue photo by pdj1/flickr)
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