Good morning and happy Friday. The month is saying farewell to us with traditional April showers starting this evening and continuing through until Monday. Have an umbrella and some layers ready this weekend.

A fire at an unlicensed smoke shop on W52nd Street burned for several hours in the basement of the building, requiring over 100 firefighters to bring it under control. Read more…

Hk clouds fire

New Jersey-born actor, singer, dancer and host of the Be The Good with Kate podcast, Kate Cherichello has lived in Hell’s Kitchen for a dozen years. Read Kate’s West Side Story…

Kate Cherichello and pup Olive

What we’ve been reading

* Stories that might be behind a paywall are marked with a 💰

Smelling cannabis has become an inescapable feature of living in NYC. (The Atlantic💰)

This NYC doorman is retiring after 61 years. (PIX11)

Should CitiBank pay for us all to ride Citi Bike for free? (Hellgate💰)

Half of New York City households don’t make enough money to meet their basic needs. (Gothamist)

If rooftop movies in NYC take your fancy this summer — here’s a list. (TimeOut)

Freeze Frame

TLC Police

What the world and New York City need more of is Tender Loving Care. We were glad to see on 11th Avenue yesterday that local police are giving resources to that task…. (we were a little disappointed to learn after extensive research that the Taxi and Limousine Commission Police just give tickets!)

Happy birthday to Brenda Hutchings and Mark Taaffe.