Late last night just before 11:44 p.m., a pedestrian was struck by a MTA bus on East 23 Street, between Broadway and Madison Avenue. Police say that the victim, 21-year-old Amos Velez, was unresponsive and unconscious; when EMS arrived, they pronounced him dead. Now the Post reports that Velez was a busboy at Eataly, located at Fifth and 23rd street. more ›

While the two men were fatally shot in a SUV parked on East 19th Street earlier this week apparently witnessed other murders, there's a new theory for why they were gunned down: One of the victims may have disrespected the mother of his child, resulting in a gang hit. more ›

The police are still investigating the killings of two men on East 19th Street near Broadway in Manhattan's Flatiron District, but now it turns out the victims may have been witnesses in other murders. Terrance Serrano, 22, and Rashawn Washington, 26, were shot in the head, execution-style, at 4 a.m. on Monday while sitting in a Mercury SUV. A witness told NY1, "I distinctly heard two and then a pause and then a continuation, then I heard about 10 seconds later a car pulling out with the wheel's screeching." more ›

Two men were found fatally shot—with gunshot wounds to their heads—in a vehicle on East 19th Street, just off Broadway, earlier this morning. According to WABC 7, "The victims, men in their 20s, were gunned down in the silver SUV, parked on East 19th Street, just before 4 a.m." Apparently gun fire was heard prior to the discovery of the men's bodies. more ›

Yikes: A taxi crashed into scaffolding outside a bank on Park Avenue South and East 21st Street. WABC 7, which describes the cabs as an "out-of-control" SUV, reports that the incident occurred "just before 2 a.m." and sent four people to the hospital. Based on the photo, that cab seems like it must have been super out-of-control, since it's totally on the sidewalk. more ›

After a long two years of preparation and anticipation, Nuela, a giant new South American restaurant and ceviche bar, has finally opened on West 24th Street. And now we know why it took so long; all that red doesn't just fall from the sky. As you can see, the former Sapa space has been transformed into a cushy, 200-seat eatery by world-renowned designer Angel Sanchez. The centerpiece is the 50-seat cevicheria, which, according to the press release, "showcases the beating heart of Chef Adam Schop's menu." more ›

Yesterday, two men were convicted of murder and robbery for a 2007 hold up-gone-wrong in an illegal poker den in the Flatiron District. Four individuals—three gunmen and an inside man— plotted to rob the den, but in the chaos, one dropped a sawed-off shotgun, killing NJ math teacher Frank DeSena. more ›

The NY Times has a feature on the loyalty of the Flatiron building's commercial tenants, even though the landmark features a very awkward layout. "The elevator bank, the waiting area and the stairway eat up an unusual amount of space" and an executive from St. Martin's Press, whose parent company MacMillan publishers is six-and-a-half years through its 15 year lease, said, "We’ve used every nook and cranny. You’re lucky if you get 70 percent of the floor space." more ›

Just before noon yesterday a huge explosion sent fireballs up an historic landmark building in the Flatiron District, on 6th Avenue and 20th Street. WCBS reports that the explosion could have been caused by Wednesday's storm, with melting snow and salt working its way into an electrical vault on the building's exterior. FDNY Deputy Chief James Daly told them, "We've been running on manholes all night since the storm started. So it's a likely culprit." more ›

Here's another story about how you should never trust anyone you meet on Craigslist. Ever. A perp is accused of using 11 stolen credit cards to buy more than $80,000 worth of gym memberships at the Equinox in the Flatiron District. He then put them on Craigslist, where buyers shelled out between $600 and $1,000 for the memberships, which usually cost $2,800. But when the victims arrived at the gym for the first time, they were told their memberships weren't valid, the Post reports. Police were able to track down and arrest 21-year-old suspect Kedar Quashie because he purportedly used various aliases with different victims, but only one phone number. He was arraigned on charges of ID theft and grand larceny. Last month, a mobster reportedly Maced and robbed a man he first contacted on Craigslist. more ›

A bouncer at the Flatiron District's Duvet is accused of raping an intoxicated woman inside a stall in the club's ladies' room on October 25th. Ex-con Hunter Dupree, 33, isn't legally allowed to work as a bouncer because of his criminal record, but that didn't stop the club (which also goes by the name Climax) from hiring him. The 23-year-old victim says she was "incapacitated" in a stall as the club was closing at 4 a.m., and when Dupree called out to ask if anyone was in restroom, she cried for help. more ›

One of the season's more buzzed-about restaurant openings is The Breslin, which will soon be joining Stumptown in the trendy Ace Hotel in the Flatiron District. The hype in this case is not without reason, as the proprieters here are restaurateur Ken Friedman and chef April Bloomfield, of The Spotted Pig fame. more ›

Click on the images above for the scoop on 'Wichcraft's dinner, Harbour's lunch and "Mai Tai Tuesdays," brunch at Charles, speed lunch at La Fonda del Sol, and "Moules Frites Monday" at Bar Blanc Bistro. more ›

The business group spearheading what they hope to be the next era of the Limelight—retail—presented its plans to a local community board this week and were met with a great deal of skepticism and suspicion. The Limelight Marketplace group is hoping to put a mini-mall into the onetime church whose eye-catching building along Sixth Avenue in the Chelsea is only eclipsed by the stories of the drug-fueled and freak-filled nights that went on inside its walls during its era as one of clubland meccas of the '80s and early '90s. But instead of being eager to welcome in retail stores to replace the bad reputation of Peter Gatien's club, the Flatiron community board instead came off sounding like Reverend Moore in , expressing fears that the new plan was a ruse to return to days past. The Board Landmark Chairman recommended rejecting the proposal because he worried that the retail proposal is "one big dodge to get a club going there." He also pointed to a large empty space in the floor plan that would be "perfect for dancing." The development group denied they had any intention of shaking up their plans, only saying about the new space, "There's going to be nothing else like it." more ›

This morning, two men were shot in Manhattan's Flatiron district, around East 21st Street and Broadway. WABC 7 says the incident happened outside a nightclub. Both victims, who had "non-life threatening injuries" were taken to Bellevue Hospital. Nightclub violence has come under the microscope yet again, with the Brooklyn woman last seen at Marquee (not to mention Plaxico Burress shooting himself), and yesterday the Post reported that the NYPD "eliminated specialized units focused on nightclubs, graffiti and other quality-of-life issues at some precincts, shifting those officers to regular patrols." The Manhattan units "were mostly spared" while units in the outer boroughs were "shuffled" (or cut). more ›

Almost one month ago, Representative Anthony Weiner's brother Jason opened a Flatiron district outpost of Almond, his popular Hamptons restaurant. At the time, much was made of the restaurant/lounge's cursed location, which some say is still haunted by the ghosts of Borough Food & Wine, Jeffrey Chodorow’s Caviar & Banana, and Rocco DiSpirito's eponymous FAIL. more ›

This week Frank Bruni at the Times bestows two glittering stars on Allegretti, where one of his dining companions swoons for the fish soup, sounding like an absolutely insufferable food snob: "'It tastes exactly the way it should," she said, rushing the words out as soon as the soup was down. She wanted the rest of us to know. She wanted to crow. She wanted to be done with talking and get back to the soup. She was even making those mm-mm noises...What she meant, as I learned when she passed the soup to me, was that it tasted of Mediterranean waters — scorpion fish, rouget — and of Mediterranean sunshine, the tomato flavor robust and true...Watching and nodding as I myself made joyful sense of it, she said, 'Are we in the south of France or what?' Actually, we were in Chelsea, though it was easy to be confused." more ›

Last November, an underground poker club in the Flatiron district was robbed, and one of the masked gunmen "accidentally" fired his pistol and fatally shot a man. Yesterday, the Manhattan DA's office charged the robbery's alleged mastermind, saying Bronx resident William Delvalle "really took charge of the entire robbery." According to the NY Times, prosecutors claim Delvalle yelled to one of his partners, "Get me a victim." Though prosecutors say Delvalle's face is visible on surveillance video, a lawyer for Delvalle, who served a manslaughter sentence, said, "It’s clear to me that if Mr. Delvalle’s face was so clear on this video, when he was arrested almost a year ago, he would’ve been indicted then." more ›

The siren song of the Big Apple lured Ashley Alexandra Dupre back! The 23-year-old known better as "Kristen," former Governor Spitzer's high class prostitute, was spotted taking a bus from NJ (she's been living with her parents) into the Port Authority. Three guesses: the Emperors' Club VIP took a big chunk of her fees; she hasn't been paid for her music; or she believes very strongly in ways to reduce her carbon footprint. more ›

This woman was spotted dancing on West 23rd Street with a prosthetic butt last week. She was trying to publicize her own performance or film a Parsons art show (she was a subject in one of the photographs), but we suspect she was actually challenging He-Man for attention in south-of-the-Naked Cowboy Flatiron/ Madison Square Park/ Union Square region. more ›

Wildwood: Pit master “Big Lou” Elrose has come a long way from his Ozone Park lunch wagon; the 6’4 Brooklyn-born behemoth has now transferred from Hill Country to this new Park Avenue South barbecue restaurant, part of the B.R. Guest empire. The atmosphere is urban industrial and reclaimed rustic, with high ceilings and a 50-foot-long bar. Big Lou’s famous ribs, pork brisket, pulled pork and smoked chicken can be paired with such sides as Cast Iron Honey Cornbread or even vegetarian chili with smoked tofu. Blogger Beef Aficionado says Wildwood’s “beef brisket was absolutely superb. Even better than the brisket was the massive beef short rib which had a wonderful caramelized crust and comes served on a Bowe knife sized bone.” 225 Park Avenue South, (212) 533-2500. more ›