Times Triangle

Times Square is a Triangle!

Look in the photograph to the right.  What do you see?  Do you see a square?  No, you see a triangle.  There’s nothing square about Times Square.  Times Square is a triangle!

Thanks to a plan put in place by the City in 1811, all of the avenues in mid-town Manhattan run parallel in the north-south direction, with one exception. That exception is Broadway.

Broadway is the original avenue in New York. It follows an old Indian trail that runs the entire length of the island. In mid-town Manhattan it doesn’t run parallel as the other avenues do, but at an angle. Every time Broadway crosses at an angle a north-south running avenue, it creates a triangle. The most famous of which is Times Triangle. Here, Broadway crosses 7th Avenue.

Just above Times Square on Broadway is Duffy Square. Duffy Square is a triangle. Just below Times Square on Broadway is Herald Square. Herald Square is a triangle. Below Herald Square on Broadway is Greeley Square. You guessed it, Greeley Square is a triangle.

So, why in New York to do we call triangles squares? Are we geometrically challenged? Is it a mere scheme that helps provide job security and another story for tour guides to tell? Well as a former neighbor of mine up in the Bronx would say, “go figure.”

So at the end of this blog on New York attractions, I would like to offer some encouragement for those from out of town bewildered by the fact that in New York we refer to triangles as squares. When you come to New York and go to visit Columbus Circle, do you know what you will find? Columbus Circle is round! “Go figure.”