In conjunction with Urban Pathways, the Flatiron Partnership has launched its Homeless Outreach program. Urban Pathways is a community-based service agency that helps the homeless stabilize their lives, grow independent and eventually move into permanent housing.

A two-person team from Urban Pathways began working in the district on Dec. 3, offering assistance to homeless in need of medical attention, treatment programs, and shelter to those who request it.

From now until March 31, the team will work throughout the district from Monday to Friday for a total of 20 hours a week. The hours vary each day, beginning as early as 5:30AM and ending as late as midnight. Twice a month, a five hour Saturday/Sunday or special overnight shift will replace one of the regular five-hour shifts.

From April 1 to June 30, the shifts will increase to 35 hours a week.

As dusk turned into darkness on a mild December evening, all eyes were on the stately 30-foot evergreen in middle of Madison Square Park's Northern Reflecting Pool. It was Dec. 11, and at 4:52PM, when a button was pushed and the tree blazed into light to the cheers of 250 onlookers, it marked the continuation of a 95-year-old tradition.

Ever since 1912, when Madison Square Park became the site of the nation's first public Christmas tree lighting, it has been an annual celebration. Once again, the Mad. Sq. Holiday event was put together by the Madison Square Park Conservancy, and once again, the Flatiron Partnership was delighted to be a sponsor.

Holiday music was provided by The New York Life Singers chorus and AudraRox, a kid-rock band, while Punch restaurant gave out spiced cranberry bread pudding and "candy cane" hot chocolate.

Reservations are now being taken for Restaurant Week Winter 2008, a two-week event presented by NYC & Company. From Jan. 21-25 and Jan. 28-Feb. 1, more than 220 restaurants will offer three-course prix-fixe lunches for $24.07 and three-course prix-fixe dinners for $35. Beverage, tax and tip are not included. This marks the 17th year for the popular promotion.

A number of restaurants in the Flatiron district are participating. They include such local favorites as: A Voce (lunch only), Arezzo, Aspen, Blue Smoke, Bolo, Bread Bar/Tabla, Dos Caminos Park, Eleven Madison Park (lunch only), Giorgio's of Gramercy, Ilili, Primehouse New York (lunch only) and Tamarind (lunch only).

Reservations can be made at www.nycvisit.com.

For the first time since it flipped its first burger in the summer of 2004, the Shake Shack - Madison Square Park's popular outdoor food kiosk - will be open through the winter.

Heat lamps have been added to the seating area and a new policy allows customers to phone in orders as long as the total is at least $25 and a credit card number is provided. Call-ins will be accepted until March 1. Customers may call each day beginning at 9:30AM (212-889-6600), but orders will not be ready for pick-up until the Shack opens at 11:30AM.

Winter hours are 11:30AM to 6:30PM, every day. The hours will gradually lengthen as the calendar moves into spring. There are still no deliveries and there will be no changes to the menu for winter - just the same glorious burgers, hot dogs, fries and frozen custard that have made the Shake Shack a foodie phenomenon.

After more than 15 years operating from a space five stories above street level, Showbiz Software Stores, which offers books and software to folks in the film and television industries, has moved to a handsome new storefront at 19 West 21st Street, the heart of New York's production community. Books cover everything from screenwriting techniques to production, while software includes specialized applications such as budgeting, scheduling, scriptwriting and story-boarding. Computers are available for software demonstrations.

Visitors to Showbiz Software are greeted by a coffee and juice bar and a Wi-Fi hotspot seating area. A conference room in back is for seminars, book signings, meetings and as a space where students can talk to one another in a collegial atmosphere. A number of seminars are scheduled for January on subjects including budgeting, payroll and timecard software for commercials or feature films, and production accounting training.

Chock full o'Nuts, which observed its 75th birthday in 2007, has opened its first freestanding store in Manhattan in about a decade - and it's right here in the Flatiron district. The Chock full o'Nuts Café is at 119 East 23rd Street, between Park Avenue South and Lexington Avenue and is open every day from 6:00AM to 10:00PM. Takeout only.

In addition to "that heavenly coffee," the Café offers teas and specialty beverages such as mochas, lattes and hot chocolate; muffins, cinnamon buns, pound cake and other pastries; bagels and croissants; breakfast "eggwiches"; and a selection of salads, hero sandwiches and wraps. And it still features its signature sandwich: cream cheese on datenut bread.

The Flatiron BID got a new restaurant in December, when the Park Avenue Bistro had its long-awaited opening at 377 Park Avenue South, between 26th and 27th Streets.

If the name and cuisine seem familiar, they should. The restaurant, formerly known as Park Bistro, was in business for years on Park Avenue South near 29th Street, serving classic French brasserie food. Its current menu offers many of the same favorites.

Park Avenue Bistro is open for lunch from Monday to Friday from noon to 3:00PM and for dinner from Monday to Saturday from 5:00PM to 11:00PM.

The Department of Homeless Services is seeking volunteers to help conduct its sixth annual HOPE search on Monday, Jan. 28. HOPE stands for Homeless Outreach Population Estimate and refers to a citywide effort to count the number of homeless throughout the city. The count will take place on the streets and in parks and subways. During the 2007 event, volunteers walked a total of 8,291 miles and surveyed more than 1,000 subway cars.

Canvassers will be grouped into teams of 4 or 5, each with an experienced leader. Training will be provided on the night of the survey and the count will take place from midnight until 4:00AM. The survey will be rescheduled for Monday, Feb. 4, only for extreme winter weather, not for rain or light snow. Whenever possible, volunteers will have their choice of neighborhood.

For additional information, e-mail hope@dhs.nyc.gov or visit the HOPE 2008 website.

The New York Police Department's 13th Precinct, the nearest to the Flatiron district, welcomes the public every month to its Community Council meetings where guest speakers may be heard on a variety of topics and where public-safety concerns may be discussed directly with the precinct's Commanding Officer and Community Affairs Officers.

The meetings are generally held on the third Tuesday of the month at 6:30PM at the precinct house, 230 East 21st Street, between Second and Third Avenues. This month's event is scheduled for Jan. 15.

Past speakers have come from the NYPD and the New York Fire Department as well as senior citizens' organizations, schools and churches. Officials from various city agencies have also spoken. Local businessman Frank Scala is chairman of the Community Council and Police Officers Michael Hnatko and Ray Dorrian are the precinct's Community Affairs officers.

The Councils were originally established in the 1940s.

The recent removal of the scaffolding from the great pyramid atop the New York Life Insurance Building has uncovered one of the more dazzling pieces of the city's skyline. Once again, the pyramid's 25,000 tiles, newly regilded in 23.75-karat gold leaf, are free to add their brilliance to the Flatiron district's panorama of architectural wonders.

The New York Life headquarters, at 51 Madison Avenue, is a monumental piece of work, sitting on the full block between Madison Avenue and Park Avenue South, from East 26th Street to East 27th Street. Inspired by the Salisbury Cathedral in England, it took two years and $21 million to complete (1926-28) and it is sheathed by the largest single order of Indiana limestone ever used in one building - 440,000 cubic feet. Even its windows evoke power, all 2,180 of them, with their solid bronze frames and sashes. The structure was designed by architect Cass Gilbert, who 15 years earlier had created the Woolworth Building - like the New York Life Building, a designated New York City Landmark. For New York Life, Gilbert took neo-Gothic elements of his earlier work, including 72 gargoyles, and combined them with the geometries of 1920s buildings, marking a significant transition from the revival-style skyscrapers of the early 20th century to the sleek towers of the Art Deco period.

Approximately half of the 34-story building is occupied by New York Life, half by tenants. The pyramidal crown adds six more stories. At street level, the building is entered through ornate bronze doors that open to a breathtaking lobby with coffered ceilings and the light of 22 massive hanging lamps.

The site on which New York Life stands has a colorful history, beginning with the New York terminal of the New York and Harlem Railroad, followed by Gilmore's Garden (an open-air arena), P.T. Barnum's Hippodrome, and finally the first two incarnations of the original Madison Square Garden. The second MSG was designed by Stanford White, who would later famously be slain in its rooftop restaurant. After hosting the 1924 Democratic National Convention, the Garden was razed to make way for New York Life, whose earlier headquarters were on lower Broadway.

The Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership sponsors free walking tours every Sunday.

Join our experienced guides on a 90-minute journey through this vibrant neighborhood, viewing some of the City's most notable landmarks, including the New York Life Insurance building, the MetLife Tower, the Appellate Courthouse and the famous Flatiron Building.

Time:
Every Sunday at 11:00AM.

Meeting Place:
The southwest corner of Madison Square Park, at 23rd Street and Broadway, in front of the statue of William Seward.

Recent News Coverage

• BID Launches Homeless Outreach Program
• Making Downtown Friendlier
• Buyers Go Mad.
• Methadone Clients Will Be Told to Dose and Dash
• Methadone Clinics to Keep Closer Watch on Patients
• Drug Clinics to Dismiss Clients Who Get Busted
• Flatiron BID Launches Tree Planting Program
• BID Holds First Annual Meeting
• BID Launches Neighborhood Safety Program
• Annual Meeting Scheduled
• BID Giving Free Walking Tours Through Flatiron District
• BID to Hold Concert to Benefit Homeless
• Local Businesses Head to BID Forums
• BID Unveils New Litter Receptacles
• Clean Team Takes on Snow Removal
• BID Welcomes Citibank to Neighborhood
• BID Makes a Clean Sweep
• Officer Who Cleaned Up Kenmore Named BID's Operations Director
• Long Live the BID
• Jennifer Brown Appointed Executive Director of Flatiron BID
• Manhattan's First New BID in Over Four Years Launched
• New Improvement District Around Madison Square Park
• BID Aims to Clean Up Community
• Flatiron BID Uses Hi-Tech to Track Problem Areas
• Flatiron BID Plans Neighborhood Makeover
• New BID Is Milestone in Flatiron District Revitalization

Press Releases

• Homeless Outreach Program Launched
• BID Conducts First Annual Meeting
• Flatiron BID Launches Public Safety Program
• Discover Flatiron: Free Walking Tours
• Hero Officer Returns to His Beat
• BID Launches Sanitation Program
• Jennifer Brown Appointed Executive Director
• Flatiron Partnership BID Launched

Newsletters

• Flatiron Holiday 2007
• December 2007
• November 2007
• Flatiron Eats - Fall 2007
• October 2007
• September 2007
• August 2007
• July 2007
• Flatiron Eats - Summer 2007
• June 2007
• May 2007
• April 2007
• March 2007
• February 2007
• January 2007
• December 2006