Ever wonder about all those people who line up at Danny Meyer's Shake Shack and wait an hour or more for a hamburger? You got me. Full disclosure: I've never tried a Shake Shack burger. I refuse to wait for an hour. But no hamburger could be that good. I attribute the hyperbolic success of this glorified food stand to Meyer's fabulous marketing machine. Oh, and did I mention location? Anything tastes better when you're eating it sitting in a beautiful park, gazing up at the Flatiron Building.

Here's the beautiful MetLife tower, at the northeast edge of Madison Square Park. The tower was modeled after the Venetian Campanile. I took this photo today from the 40th floor of a neighboring building, looking north. Notice how clear the view is to midtown, up to that cluster of skyscrapers.

Today I took this picture of 26 West 17th Street, one of the many gorgeous Beaux-arts decorated loft buildings that line the Flatiron District side streets. Here my grandfather had a celluloid button factory in the late 1930s and early '40s. In those days, the area was all light industry, and pretty grungy. Nobody then cared about all these old buildings--most were built between 1900 and 1910--that preservationists today salivate over. At that time, there was no landmarks commission. Owners could tear down properties on a whim. Nobody could stop them. Tell this to the stylish young'uns rushing through the streets after work, heading to the scene at the Ace Hotel bar. They'll look at you like you're crazy. But it's true, in those days New York didn't care about the old, period. New York was all about the new. Especially for people like my grandfather, one of the millions of immigrants who came to America in the early 20th century.

He set up his business in the '30s in this then-crummy old space, which he rented for next to nothing. His business was on the top floor, where the ventilation was better, because button-manufacturing involved toxic chemicals.