Red, White, and Blue

Yes, organizations can request a special lighting of the Empire State Building through our tower lighting request form. The building does not grant lightings for personal events (such as birthdays, anniversaries, or weddings), commercial events, political campaigns, or religious figures or events. We also receive far more applications than we can accommodate, so requests made through petitions or social media campaigns are not considered. Applications are accepted up to 12 months in advance of the date, and our committee reviews them about three months before the lighting.

Yes, the Empire State Building live cam that faces the tower shows the lights every night, including the signature hourly sparkle. The colors change for holidays, causes and milestones, and the Upcoming Light Colors strip at the top of this page shows which ones are scheduled next.

The Empire State Building lights turn off at 2 a.m. EST each night. They turn on at sunset, so the start time shifts with the season. Like the Empire State Building color today, each night's color is set ahead of time.

The Empire State Building selects its tower light colors to celebrate holidays, events, partnerships, and special occasions throughout the year. For the full lighting schedule and the meaning behind each display, please visit our tower lights calendar. To get live lighting alerts, text CONNECT to 274-16 or sign up for our e-mails here.

A color change on the Empire State Building marks a specific occasion. Our calendar lists the reason behind each color, so you can look up Empire State Building colors tonight or on any date going forward. Some are annual traditions, including Eid al-Fitr, Easter, Hanukkah, and Christmas. Others mark a single evening, whether an anniversary, a campaign to raise awareness, or a partner organization we support.

No, the Empire State Building does not have a special light show every night. The building hosts full music-to-light shows for special occasions, including its annual Holiday Music-to-Light show. The shows pair a custom lighting display with a soundtrack to mark holidays, album releases, anniversaries, and more. However, the tower is lit every evening, even without a special light show.

The Empire State Building's tower lights are set section by section rather than all at once. The tower has six of them: the antenna, the top fins, the middle, and the bottom. That's why a single lighting can carry several color combinations at once instead of just one. Lighting partners choose a color for each section when they apply.

The Empire State Building is lit red for a number of different occasions through the year, so red on any given night can mean more than one thing. The reason for that night's lighting is published with its date on our calendar.