damnlines.comdamnlines.comThe original Shake Shack, whose Madison Square Park burger line got so famous the company mounted a live webcam over it back in 2006.
This is the original Shake Shack. It opened as a kiosk in Madison Square Park in 2004, and the line became the story. In 2006 the company mounted a webcam over it. Per Expedite (Kristen Hawley), the "Shack Cam" drew 14,000 hits in its first three days; Danny Meyer's pitch was "The brilliance of the Web cam is that it shows actual time." The iPhone did not exist yet.
Reported wait lengths run long and vary with weather. Wikipedia's Shake Shack entry says summer service at the original can stretch to over an hour, especially on pleasant weekends. A 2014 Boles Blogs post described roughly a three-hour wait, with the writer counting at least 500 people in a winding line at 12:30pm on a rainy day and first mistaking it for a relief line. Meyer's own team leaned into the spectacle; the New York Times covered the queue in 2006.
The camera was the original coping mechanism, and the coping never really stopped. NYC Tourism's write-up flatly tells visitors to "get ready to stand in line." The current workaround regulars cite is the Shack App, which lets you order ahead and set a pickup window instead of standing in the park.
No camera here yet — but these lines are on camera right now:
Caffè Panna · 8 min walkclosedBánh Anh Em · 13 min walkclosedLucinda's · 21 min walkclosedWe don't have a camera here, so there's no live number. Reported accounts vary: Wikipedia says summer waits at the original run over an hour on pleasant weekends, and a 2014 Boles Blogs post described roughly a three-hour wait with about 500 people queued on a rainy afternoon. The waits are the whole reason this location got a webcam.
Yes. Per Expedite (Kristen Hawley), Shake Shack mounted the "Shack Cam" over the Madison Square Park line in 2006, and it drew 14,000 hits in its first three days. Danny Meyer described it as showing "actual time" so people could check the line before coming.
Off-peak, non-meal hours are the commonly reported workaround (Yelp tips, Shake Shack app guidance). Warm-weather weekends and the standard lunch and dinner windows are the crowded ones.
The Shack App lets you order ahead and choose a pickup time and spot, which regulars cite as the way around the queue rather than standing in the park.
The Madison Square Park Conservancy lists it as open year-round, 10am to 7pm, at the park's southwest corner near Madison Ave and East 23rd Street.