Good morning and happy Thursday. It’s going to be sunny until around 4pm today — and then we’ll be expecting clouds through until Saturday. Hoping that everyone down south in the path of Hurricane Ian keeps safe.
When the winners of the W42ST Best of Awards 2022 pick up their prizes tomorrow, they will recognize the work of Joel Holland. The New York illustrator has commemorated hundreds of our most-loved landmarks in his new book, NYC Storefronts — and on Friday, he will add some Hell’s Kitchen favorites. Read more…

Here are the final shortlists for the W42ST Best of Awards 2022. The voting was amazingly tight. In one of the categories, there was just one vote between the winner and runner-up.
We had 30 nominations in the Store category. The shortlist includes previous winners Delphinium Home and Domus along with Fine & Dandy, Piccinini Bros, Preston Konrad and Veritas Studio Wines. All will receive awards on Friday — and one will be the winner!

There were over 130 bars nominated in this final category. The two previous winners — Hold Fast and Casellula — made the shortlist, along with Ardesia, Break Bar and the Pocket Bar. This is going to be a cliffhanger…

What we’ve been reading
Pepper spray sales are up at Esco Pharmacy. (New York Post)
There’s been a guilty plea in the hit-and-run death of “Gone Girl” actress Lisa Banes near Columbus Circle. (ABC News)
Commuters call for NYC subways and buses to operate every six minutes. (amNY)
The city is increasingly using Kendra’s Law to help solve problems. (Gotham Gazette)
Nice to see a shoutout for The Landmark Tavern in this list of New York’s oldest eateries. (Untapped New York)
Freeze Frame

Did you spot these sailors in Hell’s Kitchen yesterday? The crew of British Navy ship HMS Richmond has been docked alongside the Intrepid Museum this week and were heading to an event in Times Square. The ship is the frigate escort to the HMS Queen Elizabeth, which is in New York this week.
Happy birthday to Rhoden Monrose.