Times Square just got prettier

No need to crowd into the outdoor lobby at the Marriot Marquis any longer. The new TKTS ticket booth has finally opened! The renovated structure is far superior to the rundown (but much beloved) trailer/plywood contraption that formerly housed the booth. It's got more windows (twelve in all) and get this: you can use credit cards now.

But all of this is nothing compared to the booth's new facelift. It's covered in glass walls and sheltered by a red glass canopy.


But here's the show stopper: a sixteen-foot high staircase made of ruby-red glass that rises over the back of the booth and lights up at night. Visitors can climb to the top for a new vantage point of Times Square. They are encouraged to have a seat and enjoy a picnic lunch, but there's no smoking allowed. Fabulous!


I imagine that in ten or twenty years, this staircase will be as much an iconic image of Times Square as the towering, lit up Coke sign. It sounds like to the perfect excuse to go visit.