Good morning and welcome to the weekend. The rain that wakes us up this morning will clear by midday — and then we’ve got settled but cloudy weather for the rest of the weekend. Remember to set your clocks forward an hour when you go to bed tonight.
How many storefronts sit vacant in Hell’s Kitchen? With the help of a West Side Community Fund Grant, the W42ST team surveyed all of the neighborhood’s empty businesses — and counted more than 200 across the area’s four zip codes. Read more…
Here’s the rest of the news in the neighborhood this week…
A Citi Bike rider was stuck by an unidentified driver early last Sunday morning on W51st Street and 11th Avenue, the latest in a series of serious crashes in Hell’s Kitchen. Read more…
French artist Frédéric Lère has lived in Hell’s Kitchen since 1996 and uses the things he sees in the neighborhood to inspire his works of art. Read his West Side Story (there’s a great selection of his art too!)…
As America honors the life and legacy of former US President Jimmy Carter, who recently entered hospice care at the age of 98 — we recall the 39th president’s lesser-known Hell’s Kitchen connections through the eyes of someone who met him one summer in Midtown. Read more…
“My Hell’s Kitchen” was the forerunner in W42ST Magazine to our “West Side Stories”. We’ve been checking back in the archive — and reposted our feature on George Hahn in September 2015. “I got sober, I started a business, I got my first dog, I started a blog, I’ve been broke, I’ve been flush… It’s been an adventure,” he said then… and he’s had many more adventures since. Read more…
The smiling picture of me outside the US Embassy in London this week is a sign of GOOD NEWS! My reapplication for an E-2 Visa was successful — and I will return home to Hell’s Kitchen after five very long months at the end of next week. Huge huge thanks to all who have supported me during this difficult time. What did I miss… ?
New York’s ubiquitous scaffolding structures — officially known as sidewalk sheds — cast a giant shadow over the city’s streets, where some sheds have been obscuring businesses (and photo opportunities) for decades. In fact, it’s exactly a year this week that the scaffolding was put up around the Film Center on 9th Avenue. Read more…
On International Women’s Day, we talked to Orietta Crispino, Artistic Director of Theaterlab, which has just celebrated 10 years at its W36th Street home. Here’s her West Side Story…
Hell’s Kitchen is a step closer to becoming a sartorial hotspot with the opening of PDL Vintage, a new clothing store run by Patrick Daniel Loughlin that’s set up shop on W49th Street with the support of local mainstay Fine and Dandy. Read more…
Much-traveled Hell’s Kitchen political activist and residential realtor Paul Devlin knows all about local land issues in the place he calls home. Here’s Paul’s West Side Story…
Freshman Taxi Commissioner David Do has passed the TLC driver’s license exam — and is ready to take New Yorkers for a ride (for free!) to learn about the job. 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…
Hell’s Kitchen has had a huge part to play in the history of Pilates — its creator Joseph Pilates opened his first studio in 1926 on 8th Avenue (where he lived and worked for 40 years). His legacy is continuing with Plaza Pilates, just arrived in Manhattan Plaza. Read more…
Actor, recording artist, songwriter and model Benjamin Hey! was born in Brooklyn but has fallen in love with Hell’s Kitchen and feels right at home here. Here’s his West Side Story…
What we’ve been reading
Bird experts flock to give opinions on Flaco the Owl’s Central Park future. (Audobon)
“Bad businesses drive out good ones” — the ubiquitous stench of marijuana has this writer worried about NYC’s future. (WSJ)
Delivery pricing by distance could help solve e-bike battery problems. (Streetsblog)
Has your tap water tasted a bit strange this week? (NBC)
Exploring what is “home” for New Yorkers in this new photo exhibition. (6sqft)
Freeze Frame
Thanks to Antone DeSantis for this picture of an old electric typewriter on the neighborhood streets. With the cigarette sign accompanying, it’s a real old New York image.
Happy birthday this weekend to Edmond Busby.
