Good morning and happy Saturday. We’re having a sunny, blue sky weekend with highs just over 60 degrees. Enjoy every moment of this Halloween weekend.
Neighborhood favorite Fine and Dandy has been a stylish addition to Hell’s Kitchen for a decade. As the shop celebrates its 10th anniversary, co-owner Matt Fox shares his memories. Read more…
Here’s what else has been happening in Hell’s Kitchen this week…
Manhattan’s Community Board 4 has released its new Affordable Housing Plan, days after a revelation that the city has 90,000 rent-stabilized units sitting vacant. If implemented in full, it would protect or build 14,692 units in the “financially prohibitive” West Side. The Board calls for action on illegal demolitions, evictions and Airbnbs, and wants major changes to development rules to stop affordable homes being segregated in new developments and given lower-quality fittings. Read more…
Local residents and business owners who oppose Gov. Kathy Hochul’s looming Penn Station-area redevelopment plan and its megatowers are trying a new tack in their resistance: coming up with a proposal of their own. Read more…
Can you remember a New York that existed before outdoor dining? Yes, there were the occasional seasonal sidewalk cafes, but in a world where a night out means braving freezing temperatures, rats and the potential threat of a car crashing into your dinner, there is a definitive Before and After to the New York restaurant scene. However, as Resy has revealed, there is no definitive name for dining outside: in fact there are 113. Read more…
Neighborhood organizations are being boosted with $100,000 in new funding as the West Side Community Fund announced 15 recipients in its biannual grant program, designed to support groups dedicated to strengthening Hell’s Kitchen and Chelsea (including W42ST). Read more…
In a now-familiar routine, City Hall abruptly announced the implementation of a new sanctuary shelter for asylum seeking families — this time at Hell’s Kitchen’s Washington Jefferson Hotel. The move sent local social services into overdrive to manage the ongoing influx of new residents without advance notice, and the state’s gubernatorial candidates squared off over solutions. Read more…
Do you look back in horror at your Seamless and Grubhub receipts, wondering how exactly your grilled cheese sandwich cost you $43.50? Then we’ve got good news: there’s a new, sustainably-minded app that can help you both reduce food waste and bulk up your wallet. Read more…
West Side fans of Greek food and wine will have plenty to smile about when the Livanos family reopens Midtown go-to Molyvos beneath Manhattan Plaza. Read more…
After a violent act of hatred rocked Sikh playwright Sundeep Morrison’s community, they vowed to shine a light on the dark heart of America’s post-9/11 xenophobia and racism — pouring personal experience and political context into a powerful tale of the fatal consequences of bigotry in Rag Head, which premiered Off-Broadway this week at Theatre Row. Read more…
A Hell’s Kitchen building which last sold for $77,000 is on the market for $26 million in an astonishing appreciation in value, and the culmination of a classic New York story of immigrant grit for a Greek couple who scraped together the money to buy it 49 years ago. Read more…
The MTA is facing a new legal challenge from New Yorkers with disabilities — just months after the transit agency settled two other lawsuits that resulted in a commitment to add elevators or ramps at most subway stations by 2055. Read more…
What we’ve been reading
City and state are committed to more cops on the subways. (Gothamist)
Karla tells her story about being in New York shelters for three years. (Documented)
Sales tax collection is up 10% as NY comes back. (Spectrum News)
This Mondrian painting entitled New York City 1 is upside down – and there are no plans to put that right … (The Guardian)
Are restaurants guilty of serving up your meal too quickly? (Grub Street)
Freeze Frame
Check out the 35th annual Children’s Halloween Party in Hell’s Kitchen Park (10th Avenue between W47/48th Street) at 12:30pm today. Thanks to Elke Fears from The West 47th/48th Streets Block Association for sending this cute archive pic and some history of the event: “It’s a fun event that was started 35 years ago in an effort to reclaim the park from drug activity for just a few hours. We’ve come a long way from those days … with a lot of work from the block association, Community Board 4 and other local residents.”
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