Ted Mosby and The Flat Iron fun fact

Yesterday I was re-watching (!) the episode 3x03 of my beloved TV-series How I Met Your Mother ("Robin 101").

Ted teaches Barney how to deal with Robin and during one of his lectures on the topic, by mistake,  a picture of the Flat Iron building appears.

Ted, inspired by this picture, would like to tell Barney a curiosity about it but he is interrupted by a restless Barney.

Nevertheless I was wondering... what is the odd about the Flat Iron building?

Googling around I found out one curious fact that probably answers my question :)

Since the building is on 23rd Street at the intersection of Broadway on one side and Fifth Avenue on the other, and the open expanse of Madison Square and the park in front of it, the wind currents around it could be quite strong. Due to this phenomenon, in the early 1900s, groups of men gathered there waiting for women to come by and, hopefully,  to watch their dresses being blown up by the wind! There is also postcard from 1905 depicting the "scene":

(Image from wikipedia)

The bad habit was well known to the policemen that were used to shout "23 skidoo" to such persons. 

The expression "23 skidoo" or "23 skiddoo" refers - still nowadays -  to leaving quickly, being forced to leave quickly by someone else, or taking advantage of a propitious opportunity to leave, that is, "getting [out] while the getting's good." 

As bonus fact, do you know that in the Spiderman (2002) movie this building houses the "Daily Bugle", namely the newspaper where Peter Parker works as freelance reporter?

If you think can be something else let me know in the comments ;)

Other fun facts on this blog