Happy Saturday. Did you get caught in the rain yesterday afternoon? The storm that blew in was pretty wild!! Thanks to Gary Hershorn for this dramatic pic of it heading over the Hudson River.

Going to work with a glue gun and a dream, Alex Ringler has created a showstopping bullseye dress from 10th Avenue Target tote bags. Read more…

Here’s what’s been happening around Hell’s Kitchen this week…
In one of several unsettling weekend shootings during July 4th weekend, two unwitting taxi passengers were caught in a hail of gunfire early last Saturday morning on their way home to Hell’s Kitchen. Read more…

As a follow-up to council member Erik Bottcher’s local discretionary funding of $1m in May, the city is giving over $8m in grants to the West Side. Trees are among the winners again — with $600k allocated to planting in the area. Read more…

Although the West Side missed out on the big Macy’s Fireworks display again this year, we did get some local flourishes! This one caught our eye on Monday evening while enjoying a glass of wine on W52nd Street.

Thanks to days of research by our Lifestyle Editor Sarah Beling, you can check out over 40 venues around Hell’s Kitchen that are NOT Broadway, but offer great value inflation-busting entertainment on the West Side. Read more (and share widely — these places need our support)…

Artist, composer/playwright Marc McBarron Kessler was born in New Jersey but is “reborn daily in New York City”, where he creates postcards, zines and musical plays. Read his West Side Story…

The Q faces a lawsuit alleging widespread managerial racism, discrimination and illegal practices at its multi-level Hell’s Kitchen LGBTQIA+ club. Read more…

New Yorkers are biking and walking to the office rather than take the subway. “I would rather hear the birds than the screeching of the train,” says one commuter. The move is hitting the MTA financially. Read more…

Still making plans for this weekend? Check out W42ST Lifestyle Editor Sarah Beling’s “Make Way For The Weekend” newsletter — your curated guide to the best of New York events.

Already merged Seamless and Grubhub delivery platforms have now joined forces with Amazon in what is becoming a towering home delivery monolith, putting profits from that impulsive late-night pizza order into Jeff Bezos’s pocket. We have reaction to the news from a couple of Hell’s Kitchen eatery owners. Read more…

Kids under 12 go free on NY Waterway ferries this summer — and there are other fun ways to explore the river from the West Side piers. Read more…

What we’ve been reading
The world’s most expensive fries are back on the menu in NYC. (NBC)
Micro sweepers heading out to clean New York’s bike lanes? (amNY)
Museum workers unionize, saying working in the arts is not all it’s cracked up to be. (Jacobin)
NYPD snagged best fireworks viewing points for their friends and family. (Gothamist)
The Chelsea Hotel “holdouts” feature in this new documentary. (New York Times)
Freeze Frame

Congratulations to Hell’s Kitchen photographer Richard Moore who has been selected as a finalist in the KLPA Portrait Photography Prize. His image entitled Perfect Portrait was shot at Mickey Spillane’s on 9th Avenue. “The picture was taken on my way home from the Easter Bonnet Parade this year. I didn’t get any good images and stopped for a drink. They turned up and I just had to get a shot,” he said. You can vote for his picture here — which will be exhibited in Kuala Lumpur in September
Happy birthday to Jamie Brown.
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