Good morning and happy Saturday. Sunny skies throughout the weekend — with today being the warmer of the two days. Enjoy your holiday shopping with plenty of layers.
Governor Hochul vetoed a bill Thursday proposing a significant reduction to non-essential helicopter flights over New York. In response, State Senator Brad Hoylman says that he “will be introducing legislation to close the West 30th Street heliport in the Hudson River Park,” adding, “The Governor has left us no choice.” Read more…
Here’s the rest of the week’s news from Hell’s Kitchen…
Dig out your jean shorts and cowboy boots — the saucy, sassy magic of Coyote Ugly is coming to Hell’s Kitchen in 2023, in a new, immersive theater performance brought to the neighborhood by theatrical producer and local resident Holly-Anne Devlin. Read more…
Sarah and Naty took a tour of 410 W46th Street this week. You will remember the building (and 412 next door) from a press conference back in March about “deplorable conditions”. As winter moves in, there has been no improvement for the residents. Read more…
A new, tiny cafe is bringing the combined taste of Portugal and Mozambique to Hell’s Kitchen. Cantinho do Aziz‘s cuisine is already a beloved fixture in Lisbon and in Britain, where its sister restaurant in the northern English city of Leeds is critically acclaimed. Now, they’re bringing sweet and savory pastries to the West Side. Read more…
While Old MacDonald had a farm, Hell’s Kitchen once had a slaughterhouse — and the sculptural remnants of the West Side’s butcher block past are to be memorialized in a new community garden created by the Clinton Housing Development Company. The more than 100-year-old limestone sculpture of a bull’s head has been carefully preserved and provides a link to a very different vision of Manhattan. Read more…
The rats are going to hate this announcement — in conjunction with the city’s initiative to remove rodents and refuse from the streets, the Department of Sanitation has launched new, steel-enclosed containerized trash cans on one Hell’s Kitchen block in a test run for further implementation. On Tuesday, residents of W45th Street became the first in the city to put their trash in locked garbage cans instead of on the sidewalk. Read more…
TikTok’s most popular apartment tour series has struck again in Hell’s Kitchen: this time making a star not just of musician Willow Avalon‘s home, but of Bowie, her pet possum. What may well be the West Side’s only tame marsupial, and his collection of clothes, managed to overshadow her two-bedroom, two-bathroom pre-war walk-up, her outside space — and even her $3,000-a-month rent. Read more…
Hell’s Kitchen holiday shoppers are eagerly awaiting the last blast of gifts to arrive home, but there are more than a few Grinches ready to steal Christmas. Package theft is on the increase across the neighborhood — including a thief, caught on camera during a heist that ended in a dramatic chase by Larry Roberts on W47th Street. Read more…
More New Yorkers than ever are turning to community food shares and pantries — and one enterprising teen has created a new app that maps the ever-growing directory of neighborhood food sources. Read more…
What we’ve been reading
Idling bus and truck drivers might need to cough up more money for breaking the law. (Gothamist)
New York farmers have half a billion dollars worth of legal cannabis stockpiled — with nowhere to sell it. (NBC)
Subway station exit gates are the “superhighway for fare evasion.” (Curbed)
The harsh realities of working in an Amazon warehouse as the Holidays approach. (Vice)
“Bleisure” travelers are fast becoming the airlines’ favorite passengers. (WSJ)
Freeze Frame
Thanks to local photographer Tom Zuback for this picture of Christmas trees on 9th Avenue. “There’s still time,” he said on Instagram. You can check out what your options are for buying a tree in our handy guide — but be warned as it gets later in the holiday season the prices go up and the quality goes down.
If you are looking for last-minute gifts for the holidays, do remember to support our local businesses. Check out your options on the W42ST app.
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