Good morning — and welcome to our Saturday weekly round-up of what’s been happening in Hell’s Kitchen this week. Be warned that there’s been much sadness, but scroll to the pics of the diner and new theater for the good news!
Last night, we received the news that the missing makeup artist, Juan “JP” Ramirez, who was last seen in Hell’s Kitchen over a week ago had died. Inita D, who had led the search for JP, said: “Your laugh was infectious and loud, your soul was genuine, and your heart was made of gold.” Rest in Peace, JP.
We started the week tracking the journey of a historic Skyray returning to the Intrepid Museum. The 722mph jet took a somewhat leisurely trip on a barge from Connecticut. After 3 days and 177 miles, the plane arrived at Intrepid on Tuesday morning. Details here…
The story of actor Linda Holston and her dog Jake is so very sad. We gave some background to the woman who jumped with her dog from The Victory last week, including a video of Holston talking about her last stage acting role. More here…
We republished a story from THE CITY about gridlock in New York. We’ve had a number of emails about the traffic on 9th and 11th Avenue in particular — and one instance of a woman being stuck on W47th Street for 90 minutes. What’s your experience? Have you any ideas or solutions? We will follow up with a Hell’s Kitchen update on this issue in the coming weeks.
Our change of scenery upstate this week has given us some connectivity challenges — but this meant digging into the DVD collection at our vacation digs.
Watching the 1980s movie Fame was a treat and when reconnected to the internet again, we checked out the locations. Times Square was easily recognizable, the exterior of the school was hard to place.
“The High School of Performing Arts situated at 120 W46th Street refused to let the filmmakers use the school or even photograph the exterior due to the graphic content in the film. So instead the filmmakers were forced to look for an alternative venue, which turned out to be the disused church on the opposite side of W46th Street. The church doorway was used as the school’s main entrance,” reports On the Set of New York.
The school interiors were shot at the Haaren High School on 10th Avenue between W58/59th Street — now the Haaren Hall Building at John Jay College.
Is there a New Yorker who doesn’t love an iconic high rise? Are you a Chrysler or an Empire State person? Learn all about the global race to the skies with free admission at the reopened Skyscraper Museum.
We were delighted to hear that longtime off-Broadway and Broadway producer Eric Krebs has taken on the theater most recently used by the Upright Citizens Brigade, to create a new 160-seat venue called Theater 555. More details here…
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This is a lovely portrait of Manhattan Kayak Company founder Eric Stiller paddling out on “Lake Intrepid”. Eric started the business in 1995 to train and guide kayakers on Manhattan’s Hudson River. Little known fact — David Lee Roth of Van Halen was his first customer. Did he “JUMP” in?!
The Vessel at Hudson Yards was once again closed after the body of a 14-year old boy was found at the base of the structure at lunchtime on Thursday. The Community Board immediately called for the height of the barriers to be raised — or that the structure remains permanently closed. More here…
Our break from the city is nearly over — but we’ve not stopped working unearthing HK stories. Turning a corner in the town of Liberty we spotted the New Munson Diner. It tweaked a memory — and sure enough, we found that it had been physically moved from W49th Street and 11th Avenue back in 2005. You can read more here — and if you scroll to the end of the story you will discover what diner meal you’d get if you ask for “wreck ’em and whiskey down.”
What we’ve been reading
Should those delivery apps keep all your data and not share it with restaurants? Or should your data be getting shared at all? (Gotham Gazette)
New openings in Hell’s Kitchen gay bar and nightlife scene. (Edge Media)
New York’s sad $15 lunchtime salad culture investigated. (BBC)
Restaurant stopped from building two-story outdoor dining shed. (New York Post)
The history of Eddie’s Sweet Shop and its NYC ice cream. (Untapped Cities)
Freeze Frame
It’s good to see filming returning to the streets of Hell’s Kitchen. Cyn Cooper sent us this picture from W47th Street between 9/10th Avenue of the set of I Am the Big Man yesterday.
Have a wonderful weekend — see you Monday!