Where did Alfred Eisenstaedt take the famous V-J Day kiss photograph in 1945?

Alfred Eisenstaedt took the famous V-J Day kiss photograph in Times Square, New York City.

Eisenstaedt photographed the scene on August 14, 1945, as crowds gathered to celebrate news that Japan had accepted the Allied surrender terms. The image shows a U.S. Navy sailor kissing a woman in a white uniform amid the excitement of the celebration.

The photograph was made south of 45th Street, looking north from the area where Broadway and Seventh Avenue converge. A second photographer, U.S. Navy photojournalist Victor Jorgensen, captured the same moment from another angle. His image helped researchers identify the precise setting.

The photograph is often described as a nurse kissing a sailor, but the woman was dental assistant Greta Zimmer Friedman. She later explained that the kiss was spontaneous and not something she had chosen. The sailor has most commonly been identified as George Mendonsa, although the image’s subjects were not identified at the time.