lunch on speed dial.

The cold front has finally blown into the city. As the wind howls down Fifth Avenue, New Yorkers dread stepping out of their warm buildings into the frigid weather. So when lunchtime rolls around, it’s much easier to just pick up the phone and order takeout than bundle up and venture outside for a tuna sandwich.

If you work in the Flatiron district, you’re lucky. The area boasts an endless list of diverse dining spots, many of which offer delivery options. I asked the employees at Full Picture, one of the many public relations firms in the Flatiron district and where I am interning this semester, which eateries they put on speed-dial when the temperature drops.

Here are some of their recommendations:

Lenny’s
23rd Street, between 5th and 6th avenues

This chain of sandwich shops prides itself on making every sandwich to order. “I love Lenny’s because it has fast service, a large menu and decent pricing,” said assistant account executive Dwight Armstrong. “Plus, I can order online and pay by credit card.”

Armstrong loves the chicavo sandwich ($7.50), a generous serving of grilled chicken on a bed of avocado, roasted peppers and mesclun.

Order online or call 212.462.4433.

Chat ‘n’ Chew
10 E. 16th St.

Situated just off of Union Square, Chat ‘n’ Chew serves up generous portions of American comfort food – from golden mac and cheese ($10.95) to creamy chocolate milkshakes ($5.75). “Its fries are perfect – just the right amount of crispy,” said receptionist Katie Leary.

Leary’s favorite meal? The classic grilled cheese sandwich, made with tomato and three kinds of cheese ($7.95).

View the menu and call 212.243.1616 for delivery.

Mizu Sushi
29 E. 20th St.
Associate account executive Sasha Marden loves Mizu Sushi for its inexpensive, fresh offerings and efficient service. “I definitely call them when I’m starving because the food always comes quickly,” she said.

Marden’s Mizu staples include the spicy tuna roll ($5.50) and vegetable gyoza ($4.50).

Order online or call 212.505.6688

Chop’t creative salad company
24 E. 17th St.

Chop’t offers unique and healthy fare to the New York City lunch crowd. Customers can order one of the Chef-Designed salads, or create their own. Salads can also be chopped up and rolled into a flatbread sandwich. Account executive Leah Pepper loves the chicken po’boy salad ($8.45), featuring romaine lettuce topped with home fried chicken, tomato and white cheddar.

View the menu and call 646.336.5523 for delivery.

Home’s Kitchen
22 E. 21st St.
If you’re just looking for good old Chinese takeout, Home’s Kitchen is the go-to option for quick, quality fare. “For $8.00, you can get a large portion of good food,” said Dafna Debasc, a senior account executive.

Debasc recommends the lunch special, served daily from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Customers can get an entrée with rice and either an egg roll or soup for as low as $6.25. Debasc personally favors the beef with broccoli entrée ($6.95).

Order online or call 212.475.5049.

the old town bar.

The stretch of 18th Street between Broadway and Park Avenue South is a scaffolding wasteland. Gray planking covers most of the storefronts. But a lone, neon-lit sign swinging from a high doorway marks an oasis: the Old Town Bar and Restaurant.

The Old Town has been serving New Yorkers in the Flatiron district since 1892, long before this trendy neighborhood was even called the Flatiron district. While other bars come and go as often as the wind changes, this old bar has been faithfully serving up burgers and beers for more than a century.

“I mean, this is it,” said John Fundus, who has been a patron for three decades. “This was here.”

Originally founded by the Lohden family, the Old Town was bought by its longtime manager Larry Meagher in 1970. After he died in February, his family carried on the business. On any given day, chances are you’ll find one of the Meagher grandchildren serving up your tuna melt ($10.50) and pint of Brooklyn lager.

The restaurant’s interior is pure Old New York. Squint through the dusty front window and you can see the original pressed-tin ceiling and the sprawling 55-foot-long mahogany and marble bar. The menu is classic and unfussy: burgers (from $10.25), salads (from $5.25) and hot and cold sandwiches ($8.50 to $13.25) are prepared in the second-floor kitchen and lowered to the dining room in New York’s oldest dumbwaiter.

The Old Town’s burgers are longtime restaurant review heavyweights for good reason. Grilled to pink perfection, the juicy burger is smothered in gooey American cheese and nestled in a toasted bun. A generous portion of golden fries and a long slice of pickle accompany this model of good old American cuisine.

Even though the burgers have remained the same, the crowd has changed with the times. In the 1980s, the Old Town played host to a motley crew of regulars, truckers and artists from Andy Warhol’s nearby Factory. These days, it continues to resemble a Noah’s Ark of sorts. On Friday evenings, every imaginable demographic group is crammed into the bar area. “Everything and everyone here is changing so quickly,” Stewart, an Old Town bartender for 23 years, said. “I used to know everyone at this bar. But I only recognize one person here tonight.”

On the night in question, West Village hipsters squeezed next to regulars nursing glasses of Maker’s Mark. Frat boys and their 50-something counterparts bonded over pints of Guinness, while PR types clicked away on their BlackBerrys. Grizzly-bearded men discussed Tina Fey’s "Saturday Night Live" imitation of Sarah Palin, while elderly ladies sipped on small glasses of red wine and compared the Old Town’s burgers to those of the fast food chain White Castle.

But patrons agree – while the scene is constantly evolving, this old place will always attract a crowd. Fundus, who plans to keep coming for a few more decades, gestured expansively to the horde packing the bar behind him. “This just is New York,” he said.

did you watch history being made?

BE BARACK BLUE TODAY.

walking the flatiron.

Sunday dawns bright and cool, a perfect day to take advantage of the free Flatiron district walking tour sponsored by the Flatiron and 23rd Street Business Improvement District. It is a pleasant walk up Broadway from my apartment on 13th Street, and I join the tour group at the foot of a bronze sculpture of William Seward.

The group today is a diverse mix of elderly European tourists, students and young couples taking advantage of the sunshine. Our guide, a burly man with a steel-wool beard, greets us by holding up a postcard depicting a scene from 1908 and asking us to imagine the two ladies strolling down the street on a sunny day like this one. I try, but get distracted by the industrial truck parked where a hansom cab once sat.

Standing on a little traffic island in the middle of Broadway, our guide points out the original site of Delmonico’s restaurant, the gastronomic birthplace of Lobster Newberg, Baked Alaska and Eggs Benedict. As he describes waiters carrying dinners across Broadway to millionaire Leonard Jerome’s mansion on 24th Street, a young man rushes by with a cart of frozen dumplings. I watch a man feed a proliferation of pigeons, and learn about a sculpture of Chester Arthur, who became President after James Garfield was shot, earning the unflattering nickname of “His Accidency.”

Our tour circles Madison Square Park and ends under a tree in the park, where our guide says Gouverneur Morris once stood and devised the layout of New York City. Standing by some construction workers, Morris was inspired by the grid-like shadow cast by the sun shining on an abandoned sand sifter. There are no construction workers here today, but there is plenty of sun and a sand pit, where children play and impatient New Yorkers wait in a line that snakes around the park to the Shake Shack. After the tour, I debate joining the queue; all that talk about Baked Alaska has made me hungry for a milkshake.

election day in the flatiron.

The financial crisis has dominated headlines lately, but economic worries weren't the main issue for Flatiron retailers and customers this Election Day. "Business has been slightly slower than usual, but that's not my main focus in this election," Jlee Maldonado, 26, who works at Alma Salon and Spa on East 21st Street and voted for Obama, said. "My family is thinking about healthcare and education. I want to see the end of the war."

Obama's foreign policy was the deciding factor for Roseline Dipty, 28, a manager at the Universal Force Healing Center. However, the economic issue played a small role in her decision. "McCain's tax cuts just seem like what we're already seeing with Bush," she said. "Obama seems more focused on helping individuals, not corporations."

Hilda Davis, 51, who headed to the Shake Shack in Madison Square Park after voting, echoed Dipty's sentiments. "Obama just seems like he will create more jobs for regular people," she said.

But most agree that the economic issue isn't at the forefront of the election. Monica Gmochowska, a financial controller at Full Picture, one of the many Flatiron public relations firms, hasn't seen much change in business recently. She also doesn't think that the candidates' economic policies really matter. "Economic stimulus isn't so much about who the President is, but about Congress's actions. Bills have to pass the House and Senate first," she said.

Others were swayed by simpler reasons. "I have more good feelings about McCain," Amy Nelson, 21, a salesgirl at the East 20th Street pet boutique Trixie+Peanut, said. "I voted mostly on intuition."

modern heroes.

This Halloween, we’ll see the requisite superhero-wannabes roaming the streets, clad in their Batman or Superman costumes.

On Sept. 11, we saw real superheroes, in the form of police officers and firefighters, wading through the ash-covered rubble.

Seven years later, you can still find heroes by Ground Zero. Only today, they’re clad in blue track jackets – they are the volunteers at the Tribute WTC Visitor Center.

Where so many have (understandably) tried to move on with their lives and wipe out the memory of the acrid smell and black dust, these men and women dare to remember. They rehash their memories and experiences every day to help educate and inform others about Sept. 11.

If you think this doesn’t sound too daunting, think again. My journalism class went on one such tour this week, and as we listened to tour guide John Henderson describe the impact of the crash, looking at pictures of the destruction, and hearing the stories of the 2751 people who were murdered that day, it was hard not to tear up. And that’s just my reaction – and I was 12 and living in Singapore at the time, as far removed from the tragedy as anyone could be.

Henderson, on the other hand, was here, a little way uptown in Washington Square Park that morning. And now he shares with a dozen strangers memories that are obviously still fresh in his mind. “You have to read what’s on that panel over there,” he said during the tour, referring to a transcript of a voicemail message from a passenger on Flight 11 to his wife. “I can’t, because if I do, I’ll start crying in front of you and then I’ll feel silly.”

It must take a certain amount of emotional strength to do this job day after day. “There are people here who I give tours with and you can see their health deteriorating,” said Manny Papir, a volunteer docent and 9/11 survivor.

Henderson has volunteered at the Center since 2002. “People always ask me why I do this,” he said, counting off on his fingers. “One: It’s important. Two: I want it done right. Three: If you want something done right, do it yourself.”

“There’s always something you can do,” he reiterated, sounding not unlike Albert lecturing Batman to do his civic duty. “My wife is a hospice worker; she works with dying people. I couldn’t do that. But this? This, I can do.”

hmm.

"My mom worked at the Met Life building. So did Don DeLillo's mom. If you want to raise a kid who wants to be a writer, work at the Met Life in an office facing Madison Square Park."

- Pete Hamill

pete hamill (!)

Pete Hamill, the respected writer, reporter and lifelong New Yorker, stopped by our journalism class this week to give us all a bit of insight into his world.

Grey-bearded and dressed in a casual but neat blazer and navy t-shirt, he settled into a chair at the front of the room. In his deep, calm, bedtime-story voice, he started talking about life in New York.

Hamill takes walks every day; they are his way of keeping a pulse on his city. He walks alone, or with his dog, and lets his mind explore. And then he writes. He writes to understand, to remember, and to share. He wrote his book "Downtown" for his grandson, who currently lives in Westchester, New York. “I wanted him to understand why this weird old guy with a beard had such passion for this strange city,” he said.

And he doesn’t write just for his grandson, but for children in general. “I want them to feel excitement – passion for this place we’re living in,” he said. “Kids will learn and they will go home and teach their parents.”

Hamill is currently working on a present-day novel.

the seven deadly sins.

In honor of everyone’s favorite October holiday – Halloween – here’s a list to help even the most straitlaced of us be a little sinful.

Lust
The Museum of Sex indulges our kinky side with exhibits like Sex Lives of Animals and Robots.
Gluttony
New York Times investigates Curry Hill, the area around Lexington and 28th known for its many Indian restaurants.
Greed
On Oct. 28, watch money fly at Swann’s Auction Galleries's Halloween-themed auction. Items for sale include handcuffs once owned by Harry Houdini (starting at $500).
Sloth
On Monday nights, kick back with a cocktail at Hotel’s Giraffe’s Jazz in the Grande Lobby.
Wrath
Vent your anger while getting a full workout at Ironflower's Wednesday kung fu and boxing class. The first visit is FREE.
Envy
On Oct. 25, envy the toned bods and decadent costumes of Le Scandal Burlesque's performers at Chris Noth's club The Cutting Room.
Pride
Be proud of yourself this month for attending the Community Emergency Response Teams’ free training course starting Oct. 23. Learn about disaster preparedness and volunteer to support your local community.

sins and sensibility.

The Flatiron district is pulsing with issues and activities this month, ranging from the serious to the sinful.

Every third Tuesday, the New York Police Department’s 13th Precinct (which covers the Flatiron district) holds a public community council meeting. This week, Brad Kaufman, medical director of the New York City Fire Department, came to educate residents about Rapid Organ Recovery, a groundbreaking pilot program that will enable doctors to potentially harvest organs from those who die outside of the hospital. “The whole country is watching us,” Kaufman said.

A representative from the District Attorney’s office also came to assure concerned residents that they were working closely with the precinct to crack down on prostitution in the area. According to the precinct’s commanding officer, Captain Tim Beaudette, the precinct has processed five arrests in the last month.

Beaudette also reeled off a few crime statistics that will put residents’ hearts at ease. In the last 28 days, crime has fallen across the board, with a 53 percent drop in robberies and a 20 percent drop in assaults due to heightened club detail breaking up those rowdy early-morning brawls.

Grand larceny, however, was up 21 percent, specifically in bike thefts. Nineteen bikes have been stolen in the last 28 days, so invest in an extra-strong chain for your wheels. Flatiron businesses, take note: The Department of Transportation will also install free bike racks outside your store upon request.

The economic crisis is finally beginning to hit the Flatiron. The Village Voice looks at the crippled Downtown lease market – the Flatiron district fell 83 percent short of its monthly average.

But there will always be money in the area: just look at the stats on this year’s Big Apple Block Party, restaurateur Danny Meyer’s annual food-fundraiser for the Madison Square Park Conservancy. The event raised $82,500, serving up an impressive amount of food that included 8,460 lbs of baby-back ribs and 32,488 bottles of Snapple.

And the Park is using those funds well, hosting yet another fascinating art installation. Pulse Park, an interactive nighttime light show, will be on view beginning Oct. 24.

history.

Long before the Flatiron building cast its shadow over Broadway and lent its name to the eponymous neighborhood, the section of Manhattan spanning about 38 blocks from 18th to 28th Street between Sixth and Lexington avenues was already a central part of New York City. During the War of 1812, the Madison Arsenal, named for President James Madison, sat at the heart of the neighborhood. Thirty years later, Madison Square Park was built in its place.

After the Civil War, the American elite flocked to the area because of its proximity to Wall Street and distance from the filth of the Seaport. The Park was quickly surrounded by businesses and brownstones. Hotels settled in, among them the prestigious Fifth Avenue Hotel. Today, these hotels, where Boss Tweed and Jay Gould once smoked cigars and cut deals, have been replaced by office buildings.

At the turn of the 20th century, department stores began popping up along Sixth Avenue to cater to well-heeled society women. Later known as the Ladies Mile, the stretch between 14th and 24th streets included retail meccas Lord & Taylor and Bergdorf Goodman.

The area also became an artistic and literary hotbed. At 14 W. 23rd St., Edith Wharton found inspiration for her novels in the lives of her wealthy neighbors. Herman Melville of Moby Dick fame called 104 E. 26th St. home. The neighborhood also housed a glut of theatres, including the Booth Theatre and the first and second Madison Square Gardens. Many of these still operate today. The theatres brought with them plenty of drama – both on and off the stage. The architect Stanford White, who designed the Washington Square Arch, maintained a love nest on 24th Street for his infamous trysts with the beautiful young actress Evelyn Nesbit.

But as the city continued its inevitable march north, the wealthy residents followed and for a while the district was largely commercial. In the mid-20th century, it was known as the Photo District as studios moved into the large, airy lofts. During the late 1990s, it was dubbed Silicon Alley for the influx of Internet and new media companies. Fashionable stores, clubs and restaurants – key attractions of the area today – followed the hordes of young professionals, and rising rents began to push small businesses out.

Around 1985, real-estate agents needed an attractive advertising name for the increasingly popular neighborhood, so they crowned the area the Flatiron district, after the iconic 1902 building that sits on the island where Broadway and Fifth Avenue meet. The district is now home to about 10,000 residents; about 60 percent live in non-family households. It is hard to believe that in 1928, the Metropolitan Life North Building was capped at 36 stories high, instead of the planned 100, because the owners didn’t think they could ever rent out that much space.

But even as the Flatiron district undergoes constant change, traces of its history still remain. The Gramercy Theater, once an old art house on 23rd Street, is now a popular concert venue. Along Sixth Avenue, young women wander thriving sections of the old Ladies Mile where they can now find stores like Nine West, Gap, and Sephora. The old photographers’ lofts are now occupied by hip public relations and advertising firms

As I walk under the shadow of the Flatiron, I try to imagine a time when skyscrapers were so rare that the Flatiron could be seen from Central Park. And as I cross the street, I can’t help but think: it must have been a lot safer to jaywalk in the days when hansom cabs, not taxi cabs, made their way up the enduring asphalt of Broadway.

life on the sidewalk.

What do you think of when you hear the term “street vendor?”

Maybe you think of the Sabrett hot dog cart on Broadway and 23rd Street. Or the fruit stand on the corner. You may imagine many things, but the image of a tall, white guy whose credentials include an Ivy League education and a Wall Street résumé is probably farthest from your mind.

Sean Basinski, 36, attended college at the University of Pennsylvania. And got his law degree from Georgetown. Before graduate school, he did time on Wall Street.

But between Wall Street and Georgetown, Sean Basinski hawked Mexican food from a pushcart on Park Avenue and 52nd Street.

Fending off Health Department officials trying to take advantage of his ignorance of vending laws, Basinski realized that street vendors – most of whom didn’t hold B.A.s from Penn – faced the same harassment every day. So after law school, he founded the Street Vendor Project, an association for New York’s 10,000 street vendors to organize and learn about their legal rights. “It’s like a union for street vendors,” Basinski said.

The SVP helps vendors deal with issues like police harassment and license scarcity. Merchandise vendors face a daunting waitlist for one of 853 licenses. The last time the waitlist was opened was in 1992. Due to the shortage of licenses, a black market emerged. According to Basinski, in a move akin to illegally subletting an apartment, a license holder can rent out his two-year license (which cost $200) for as much as $8,000.

It is easier for food vendors to obtain one of 300 required Health Department permits, but they have other problems. Held to restaurant-level standards, they are easy targets for Health Department officials. According to Basinski, a Nuts-for-Nuts vendor who leaves his window open to interact with customers could be slapped with a ticket for up to $1,000 for exposing his food to airborne contaminants.

While we may take the corner hotdog cart for granted, Basinski is quick to remind us of its importance. “[Vendors] liven up the sidewalks,” Basinski, who was recently awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study street vendors in Nigeria, said. “This isn’t LA, where we go to drive-throughs in our little boxes. In New York, the first person you talk to in the morning might be the guy that makes your coffee.”

sidewalk success.

Earrings by Lisa Clarke, $10.

By any measure, Lisa Clarke is a New York success. At 45 years of age, she recently bought herself an apartment in Brooklyn. And a new car. A third-generation Barbadian, she takes an annual vacation to Barbados. So what has helped her obtain what many can only aspire toward?

A successful street vendor, Lisa Clarke sells jewelry on Fifth Avenue and 18th Street.

Clarke’s road to street vending was a long one. Brought up in Queens, she received her undergraduate degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology. She then spent years working retail for companies like Ann Taylor, Saks Fifth Avenue and Macy’s. She designed her own jewelry on the side – delicate Afro-centric pieces made from hammered or stenciled brass.

When a project for QVC fell through, Clarke suddenly found herself out of work. To supplement her welfare check, she started selling her jewelry on a SoHo sidewalk. City law guarantees veterans vending licenses, so she brought her veteran brother with her, as it was impossible for her to obtain one of the 853 general vending licenses on her own.

While business was busy, Clarke often found herself harassed by police. Perched on the narrow sidewalk, she received multiple tickets for failing to keep her table the legal distance away from storefronts. Finding SoHo overregulated and overcrowded with competitors, Clarke moved her table to the Flatiron District.

That was five years ago, and she is still there today. Her regular clients are the district’s young working women, drawn to her self-described “funky, yet classic” pieces, which cost anything from $10 to $50.

For Clarke, the Internet is the next frontier. She hopes to find a larger market for her jewelry, while giving her regular customers easy access to new designs. She is also looking into renting a space from a small boutique. “I’ve made my success,” she said, “Now I just want to take myself to the next level.”

on new york.

"It'll be a great place, if they ever finish it."

- O. Henry a.k.a William Sydney Porter, American writer and Flatiron resident
(1862 - 1910)

flatiron happenings

In these volatile times, a lot of us are feeling the pinch. But read about the Flatiron district in the news and you’d never know it.

So many new luxury condominiums are coming up in the area that even Dubai, a city where new buildings pop up more often than pictures of Paris Hilton in Us Weekly, is taking notice. Real estate prices continue to skyrocket, a trend we’ve seen for the last couple of years.

“Meltdown? What meltdown?” the New York Observer asks about the crowd at the new French restaurant Allegretti on West 22^nd Street. New Yorkers may be losing money, but they haven’t lost their appetites as they chow down on gnocchi and other Provençal dishes at the Flatiron’s newest dining spot.

The party is still hopping in the Flatiron clubs. The area’s hot new restaurants, shops, and clubs have helped bolster the district's prosperity. But unfortunately, wealth isn’t the only thing that the new establishments have brought to the neighborhood. Clubs have contributed not only to a rise in rents, but also in disorder and occasionally, violent crime.

*

Seeing as most of us are now a little bit poorer than we were yesterday, here is a list of free events coming up in the Flatiron district. Hey, Alan Greenspan, it turns out that sometimes, there is such a thing as a free lunch.

Enjoy!

ART

From October 2: “Tadashi Kawamata: Tree Huts”

Look upward if you're in Madison Square Park: an art installation of small “tree huts” will be set up until the end of the year.

MUSIC

October 4: Sally Spring + Amy Speace and the Tearjerks

Part of a weekly Saturday concert series, these folk singers will be serenading the Flatiron crowd this weekend at 3 p.m.

FOOD

Fridays: Factory Fridays at Vere Chocolate Factory

You don’t need a Golden Ticket to get into Manhattan’s version of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. Visit Vere every Friday from 12 to 6 p.m. for a free tour and chocolate samples.

PLAY

October 18: Fall Kids Fest 2008 at Madison Square Park

This day of family fun promises live music, snacks from Whole Foods, a pumpkin patch, and a kids’ Halloween Parade. If you are afraid of clowns, though, stay far, far away.

Saturdays: Rebel Waltz at Aspen

For a night of clubbing without ridiculous cover charges, head to Aspen at 30 W. 22^nd St. for a dance party featuring a heady mix of everything from hip-hop to techno.

LEARN

October 15: Meet Councilwoman Rosie Mendez

Councilwoman Mendez of the 2^nd Council District addresses key issues facing the Flatiron neighborhood. There will also be a complimentary breakfast!

about the jaywalker.

I started at NYU in 2007 and have been flouting New York City traffic laws ever since. In fact, I have gotten so used to ignoring traffic signals that whenever I go home to Washington, D.C., my mother insists on holding my hand when I cross the streeet.

I am now a sophomore majoring in economics and journalism. When I am not studying, I work once a week at the production desk of the Washington Square News, the school's daily newspaper.

Outside the NYU bubble, I enjoy fashion, music, food and real estate. I read the Sartorialist obsessively. The Brooklyn/Austin, TX band Ola Podrida has been playing on repeat on my iPod. And I want to brunch at a different restaurant every week (this Sunday was Marquet on 12th - fabulous French toast, FYI).

I am also an intern at a public relations firm in the Flatiron district. Which brings me to this blog.

This blog is about the Flatiron district. It is also part of an academic experiment being conducted by my journalism class. In this class, Reporting Downtown, each student picks a neighborhood beat to cover for the duration of the semester. But while this blog is technically an academic requirement, it is also much more that that. It is an exploration of one of New York's most vibrant and fascinating neighborhoods.

Whenever I go to a concert at the historic Blender Theater on East 23rd Street, sit under a tree in Madison Square Park that was planted with seeds from President James Madison's own plantation, or walk past the brownstones that were once so popular that the novelist Edith Wharton observed that it seemed like chocolate syrup had been poured over the whole city, I can't help but marvel at the mingling of old and new that so characterizes this unique neighborhood.

From the goings-on at the local community board to the 20th-and-Broadway street vendor's story, I hope to discover the news, the happenings, the people and the secrets of the Flatiron district - and to use this blog to share my discoveries with you.

I just hope a car doesn't hit me first.