Good morning and happy Saturday. There’s a small chance of a flurry of snow just as this newsletter arrives. Wrap up warm and head out to savor the “snow of winter 2023”! The temperature might just creep above freezing by sunset today — and tomorrow will pitch up to 50 degrees!
We spoke to chef/owner Stathis Antonakopoulos about his expansion of the Carnegie Diner + Cafe to 8th Avenue and W50th St. “We’re trying to build a neighborhood restaurant where people are going to love our food, they’re gonna love our concept — and they’re gonna love our pastrami!” he said. Read more…
Here’s the rest of the news from Hell’s Kitchen this week…
We were in a movie mood this week. The prospect of the cinema returning to VIA 57 this summer and the BAFTA awards whetting our appetite for the Oscars got us thinking about when Hell’s Kitchen has been on the big screen. You’ll find Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and even Ronald Reagan featured in our list. Read more…
Lithium-ion batteries caused so many fires in New York last year that the Sanitation Department ran out of room to store the hazardous residue. Read more…
“This is a story about doing the impossible,” said New York’s Mayor de Blasio — now thousands of ventilators commissioned during the pandemic for $12 million have been sold as scrap metal for less than $25K. Read more…
Former staff members at Hell’s Kitchen’s now-shuttered Casellula wine and cheese bar are protesting against new owners Vin Sur Vingt — while remembering the happy times spent working at the award-winning neighborhood favorite. Read more…
V-I-Pups, pay up! Fans of the recently renovated Hudson River Park Pier 84 dog run now have the option to buy into a new loyalty club. Read more…
Mayor Eric Adams has handed to the city’s public hospital system control of emergency relief operations for asylum seekers — and a report shows that New York’s spending on hotels for the migrant emergency is more than $92m through spring 2023 — including $40m for ROW NYC and $20m for The Watson. Read more…
Converting office buildings into apartments is a key strategy for Mayor Adams’ housing plans. But obstacles facing Garment District owners are many and the economics are daunting. Read more…
Check out Sarah’s latest edition of “Make Way for the Weekend” for ideas of what to do to round off the week. Read more…
Expect play towers and a “Cloud” fountain in a two-block expansion of Bella Abzug Park. Once named by Politico as “the most expensive park in the city”, Bella Abzug will extend up to the Lincoln Tunnel and the area planned for a future Port Authority Bus Terminal expansion. A hotel, art gallery and an aquarium store will be purchased using eminent domain and demolished to complete the park. Read more…
Well-traveled Hell’s Kitchen friends are bringing global flavors and local passion to The Purple Tongue — a new West Side wine bar where they hope to spread the same communal, neighborhood ambiance that brought them together. Read more…
What we’ve been reading
* Stories that might be behind a paywall are marked with a 💰
Sober dive bars are pulling in customers in New York. (Crain’s💰)
The FDNY has proposed a price hike of 54% for ambulance rides. (New York Post
NYPD pulled over hundreds of thousands of drivers last year — and about 90% of people stopped were Black or Latino. (Gothamist)
“You can’t stay home in your pajamas all day” — Mayor Adams is not a fan of remote working for New Yorkers. (Business Insider💰)
Did you know there’s a boat graveyard at Staten Island? Check out this drone video of the site. (SkyWatch Dynamics)
Freeze Frame
It was good to see Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum flying the flag for the Ukraine last night. Thanks to Marc Lowitz for sharing this photo from the flight deck.
Happy birthday to Shanti Nagel and Anthony Kitch today — and to Suzan Pazos, Cameron Johnson and Claire Daly who are celebrating tomorrow.
