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Subscribe to RSSAllison Hagendorf, the official host of Times Square New Year’s Eve, throws confetti from an office building onto Times Square Saturday as part of a test in preparation for Monday night’s festivities.
Keith Bedford / Reuters
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The countdown begins: 13 days until 2013
Andrew Burton / Reuters
The seven-foot-tall number "13," to be used atop One Times Square, arrives outside the Times Square Museum and Visitor Center in New York, on Dec 19. The numbers will be on display at the Museum until December 26th, at which point they will be installed atop One Times Square.
Andrew Burton / Reuters
The seven-foot-tall number "13," to be used atop One Times Square, is seen on display in the Times Square Museum and Visitor Center in New York, on Dec. 19.
Serenity in the city: Yoga take over Times Square for summer solstice
Emmanuel Dunand / AFP - Getty Images
Participants take part in a mass yoga class to mark the summer solstice on Times Square in New York, June 20. Yogis gathered on Times Square to celebrate the longest day of the year during the event which features four free mass yoga session at the heart of Manhattan.
Mark Lennihan / AP
Ten-month-old Leo Erichsen is held up by his mother, Tatjana Eres of Denmark, as she joins thousands of yoga enthusiasts for a class in New York's Times Square to mark the summer solstice, Wednesday, June 20. Temperatures are expected to be near 100 degrees (37C) Wednesday.
Shannon Stapleton / Reuters
People practice yoga on the morning of the summer solstice in New York's Times Square June 20. The "Solstice in Times Square" event on Wednesday brought out hundreds of participants to celebrate the year's longest day.
Shannon Stapleton / Reuters
People practice yoga on the morning of the summer solstice in New York's Times Square June 20.
A massive yoga classes was held in Times Square to mark the summer solstice. TODAY.com's Dara Brown reports.
Times Square's original 'naked' cowboy in the 1950s
Amateur photographer Frank Larson captured New York City in the 50s. His thousands of negatives had been stashed away in an attic since his death in 1964. But recently, a grandson discovered them.
You have to wonder if the 'naked cowboy' who currently hangs out in Times Square got the idea from this man who was photographed in the 1950s by amateur photographer Frank Larson. See more of his images of New York from that era in the slideshow above.
Flashmob 'Soul Train' line honors Don Cornelius in New York's Times Square
Tina Fineberg / AP
Participants of a "Soul Train" flash mob make their way along the line during a tribute to "Soul Train" creator Don Cornelius, Feb. 4, in New York's Times Square.
AP reports:
Jon Quick said 'Soul Train' inspired him to become a professional DJ.
He wore an afro wig and held up a speaker blaring disco music on Saturday as dancers bounced along Broadway near 46th Street.
Full story: Cornelius remembered in NYC as inspiring, generous
Tina Fineberg / AP
Participants of a "Soul Train" flash mob make their way along the line, Feb. 4.
Tina Fineberg / AP
"Soul Train" line flash mob participants dance, Feb. 4.
Tina Fineberg / AP
Michael Kohen, center, dances his way down the line as he takes part in a "Soul Train" line flash mob, Feb. 4.
New York rings in 2012, sweeps out 2011
Mary Altaffer / AP
Confetti flies over New York's Times Square as the clock strikes midnight during the New Year's Eve celebration as seen from the balcony of the Marriott Marquis hotel, Saturday, Dec. 31.
See the slideshow of how 2012 was welcomed throughout the world.
Mary Altaffer / AP
A member of the clean up crew clears confetti from Broadway after the New Year's Eve celebration as seen from the balcony of the Marriott Marquis hotel in New York's Times Square, Jan. 1, 2012.
New Year's eve ball drop tradition started in New York in 1907
Mary Altaffer / AP
Landmark Signs workers install 288 sparkling new Waterford Crystal triangles featuring this year's "Let There Be Friendship" design on the Times Square New Year's Eve Ball, Dec. 27, 2011 in New York. The crystals, designed and crafted by Waterford artisans, feature a pattern that represents friends holding hands around the world.
When I was a a college student, I fought the crowds in Times Square to watch the ball drop. Trust me, once was enough.
AP reports: The ball drop tradition dates back only to the early 1900s, when New York Times owner Alfred Ochs, whose offices were in Times Square, convinced the city to let him throw a grand party. The first 400-pound iron and wood orb featured 100 bulbs and was lowered down a flagpole. Now it’s an 11,875-pound, 12-foot geodesic globe encrusted with 2,688 Waterford crystals.
Roughly a million people flock to see that Times Square ball in person, and millions more tune in around the world. There’s a shared quality to the scenes of fireworks, noisemakers, and partygoers in public squares and crowded bars that flash across TV screens as time zone after time zone counts down.
Related: history of the New York Times Square ball.
New crystals have been added to the New Year's Eve ball ahead of the 2012 countdown. Msnbc.com's Richard Lui reports.
Justin Lane / EPA
People are reflected in a puddle as they walk past a neon American flag in Times Square in New York, New York, USA, on Dec. 6, 2011.
Lucas Jackson / Reuters
Tourists sit in the art installation "Meeting Bowls" by the Spanish collaborative mmmm in Times Square in New York August 17.
Tourists hang out inside 'bowls' at Times Square in New York
Editor's note: Picture taken with fish-eye lens.
Check out other recent sights from Times Square in New York.
More information about the Meeting Bowls from mmmm.
Andrew Gombert / EPA
An unidentified man (top) is seen atop a traffic light pole in Times Square, New York, June 28. Traffic in Times Square was shut down for 2 hours as police negotiated to get the man down.
Man faces charges for pole stunt
You never know what you're going to find in Times Square.
As WNBC reported:
An aspiring rapper climbed a light pole in the heart of Times Square on Tuesday morning and spent nearly an hour in a standoff with police.
Law enforcement sources tell NBC New York it is the same man who jumped a barricade on the plaza in Rockefeller Center and briefly disrupted the "Today" show, shouting that he was "God's gift to music" while the hosts were live on the air.
In the latest incident, the man climbed a traffic pole at the intersection of Seventh Avenue and 44th Street and sat above the busy corner, at times gesturing in the air, and refusing police orders to come down.
The ordeal outside MTV's offices attracted hundreds of onlookers, as police halted traffic and set up an inflatable cushion under the pole.
Police eventually persuaded the man to climb down a ladder they had set up atop a police vehicle.
Police took him into custody when he finally came down at about 11:15 a.m.
He is expected to be arrested, sources said.
Tranquility in the City: Times Square yoga fest honors solstice
Mario Tama / Getty Images
Bernice Acosta and other enthusiasts perform yoga in Times Square during an event marking the summer solstice on June 21, in New York City. Thousands of yogis will attend the free day-long event in Manhattan on the longest day of the year.
Mario Tama/Getty Images
Enthusiasts perform yoga in Times Square during an event marking the summer solstice on Tuesday.
Mario Tama / Getty Images
Enthusiasts perform yoga in Times Square during an event marking the summer solstice on Tuesday.
Richard Drew/AP
Yoga practitioners salute the sun while celebrating the solstice in Times Square on Tuesday.
Mario Tama/Getty Images
Naty Horev, left, and other enthusiasts perform yoga in Times Square during an event marking the summer solstice on Tuesday.
Related content:
Mary Altaffer / AP
From left, Melissa LaCour, Brittany McGarry, Bryan Murray, second from right, and Dennis Vincent celebrate outside the ABC studio in New York's Times Square, Monday, May 2.
Celebration in New York's Times Square as news of bin Laden's death is announced on ticker
See more world reaction to the death of Osama bin Laden in our slideshow here.