Good morning and happy PRIDE weekend. We’re waking up to light drizzle tapping on the window — and that’s going to be with us most of the day. Maybe a break late afternoon for a few hours when temperatures will hit a steamy 80 degrees. Tomorrow will be a little better, but similar! Here’s our PRIDE bar guide to finding AC and a Margarita indoors… (today with the link!)
Cards on the table time! Silverstein Properties is going all in on a bid to win a coveted New York City gambling license, with plans to develop a mixed-use hotel, casino and residential mega-complex on 11th Avenue. Read more…
Here’s the rest of the news from around Hell’s Kitchen this week.
If Sophie Gerber seems like the kind of person who has a century’s worth of stories to tell, it’s because she does. The 102-year-old Hell’s Kitchen resident who has seen the likes of everything from Prohibition to Pearl Harbor to the COVID-19 pandemic is also a published author who is celebrating the release of her new memoir, The Trunk in the Attic: Memories and Musings of a Hundred-Year-Old Broad, this week. Read more…
Gwyn McAllister, a native New Yorker, shares her West Side Story: from her first job at McDonald’s to becoming a produced playwright, her love for Hell’s Kitchen and her antics in Times Square. Join her and her dog Sylvester for Yappy Hour at Worldwide Plaza. Read more…
Its name may recall an old-school Hell’s Kitchen Irish bar, but the new Frankie’s Pub — which opened last night on 10th Avenue just in time for PRIDE weekend — plans to marry the neighborhood’s past and present with a vibrant, tchotchke-filled space decked out to conjure a friendly and eclectic LGBTQIA+ living room where “everybody knows your name.” Read more…
Earlier this year, the City Council forbade selling reconditioned batteries — yet FDNY inspectors didn’t look for them in a visit just weeks ago to the e-bike repair store where four died in a fire this week. Read more…
Hell’s Kitchen and its West Side leaders feature heavily in City and State’s annual PRIDE 100 list of notable queer advocates who “are continuing to engage in the battle for LGBTQ+ rights, whether it’s in the halls of power, in the courts, in the C-suite or on the streets.” Read more…
As President of Broadway Plus, Nathaniel Hill sees around 100 Broadway and Off-Broadway shows each year. He lives in Hell’s Kitchen, right next door to MCC Theater! Read Nathaniel’s West Side Story…
Check out Sarah’s latest edition of “Make Way for the Weekend” for ideas of what to do around New York — including a list of PRIDE events. Read more…
You can now stand on W54th Street and explore a 3D rendering of the Centro Maria site using an AR app. It’s your chance to scan future urban development projects in Hell’s Kitchen in real time! Read more…
Judy Xu is a creator of whimsical crochet creatures. Between her day job and diverse food adventures, she finds time to surprise local businesses with her handmade creations. Here’s her West Side Story…
What we’ve been reading
* Stories that might be behind a paywall are marked with a 💰
Action is underway to prevent bad landlords and political donors from hiding behind LLCs. (The Center Square)
Ample Hills is coming back to serve up ice cream to New Yorkers again. (New York Times💰)
$48 billion of debt could derail MTA. (Gothamist)
Shop owners fight facial recognition legislation, saying: “Stealing up to $1,000 at a time is now an entitlement in New York City.” (Supermarket News)
All aboard for a subway ride to Coney Island in 1987. (5ninthavenueproject)
Freeze Frame
Just in time for PRIDE weekend, the “super sidewalk” on 9th Avenue seems to have been taken over by stenciled pedestrians of every color! Let’s hope these guerilla PSA efforts to warn bikers of the area will be a success!
Happy birthday tomorrow to Denice Flores Almendares.
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