Manhattan's most underutilized (and undervalued) park, Madison Square is a tranquil, impeccably green space, presided over by the majestic stone skyscrapers of the Flatiron District. Before the population boom that followed the Civil War, this area marked the northern end of habitable Manhattan, and was originally meant as part of a much larger park. When the city's wealth moved northward, Madison Square quickly became a glamorous address, home to the Fifth Avenue hotel and the original Madison Square Garden. Today, Madison Square serves both the longstanding commercial tenants, who make the park a popular lunchtime picnic spot, and the growing population of neighborhood residents, who are gradually remaking the imposing warehouses and factory buildings of the Flatiron district into chic, Soho-style lofts. In the summer, Madison Square is the home to the Big Apple BBQ festival, which assembles the chefs and equipment from the nation's best barbecue joints, who set up shop for a weekend smoking ribs, pork shoulder, and brisket for the salivating BBQ pilgrims that gather for the event. Year round, the Shake Shack, an affordable burger stand designed and managed by restaurateur Danny Meyer, operates in the middle of the Square, doling out comfort food late into the night.