Good morning and happy Saturday. The sun will be shining throughout Labor Day weekend, with the occasional clouds giving welcome relief. Today has a high of 81 degrees — but from tomorrow, we start a September heatwave in the 90s until the end of the week.
When Barbetta maitre d’ Roger Brooks was murdered on Labor Day weekend in 1997, detectives had to tirelessly chase leads to find his killer, Daniel Oliveira. This true crime case is featured in an episode of New York Homicide airing on Oxygen. Read more…
Here’s the news from around Hell’s Kitchen this week…
Hell’s Kitchen is gaining recognition not just for its edgy character, but also for its evolving and diverse culinary landscape. Critics are taking notice, celebrating both the newcomers and “old timers” in the neighborhood. Read more…
Sheldon Todman is better known as Shellz Kitchen, a visual artist who spends time documenting the neighborhood, interviewing people and preserving the memories of stores, restaurants and places that are no longer in Hell’s Kitchen while also welcoming newcomers. Read his West Side Story…
Last weekend, the Manhattan Sideways team dropped in to view the Met Opera Summer HD Festival at Lincoln Center and we think this event has everything you’d want for a summer evening. Free seating, a small bar for libations and ice cream. Bring a chair if you want to seat yourself. It’s on every night until Monday. Read more…
Madison Square Garden will be sticking around at its current location above Penn Station for at least five more years — after a City Council committee voted to grant the venue a new short-term special operating permit on Monday. However, the reduced term was heralded as an opportunity to create “a train station that is worthy of the greatest city in the world.” Read more…
New York City approves Sunset Pier 94 Studios, a $350m film and TV hub in Hell’s Kitchen, despite community board opposition. Read more…
Subway service was restored and 7th Avenue reopened in Times Square after Tuesday’s water main break caused major disruptions and street closures. Check out the dramatic images from MTA photographer Marc A Hermann, which showed the operation to bring trains back. Read more…
West Side wine lovers can raise a glass at The Red Stache — the newest Hell’s Kitchen hospitality venture from proprietors Ted Arenas and Shaun Dunn. The bar takes over the space that was previously Casselula. Read more…
Love in Hell’s Kitchen turned into a fang-tastic adventure! Producers Drew Desky and Dane Levens are sinking their teeth into NYC theater with Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors. Read their West Side Story…
Check out Sarah’s latest edition of “Make Way for the Weekend” for ideas of what to do around New York. Read more…
The West Side Community Fund is marking five years of giving by opening applications for new grants! They’ve awarded over $800k to date to local organizations. Read more…
Comedy show producer — and familiar face at Rudy’s Bar & Grill — Joe Sallabi started coming to Hell’s Kitchen in the 1980s, and now is proud to live and work in the neighborhood. Read Joe’s West Side Story…
Thanks to Gary Hershorn for this spectacular picture from Thursday evening. “More clouds as the 98.7 percent illuminated Sturgeon Moon rises behind the Empire State Building,” he said on X about his photo. You can read up on your Sturgeons and Super Blues here…
What we’ve been reading
* Stories that might be behind a paywall are marked with a 💰
Migrants want to work, but New York admin is confiscating their mopeds. (THE CITY)
NYC filming permits have halved during the strikes. (Variety)
Is your friendly neighborhood dog park good for your pup? (New York Times💰)
New York’s small pharmacies are under threat… (West Side Rag)
A Marvel-ous academic’s view of Daredevil’s Hell’s Kitchen. (Study Breaks)
Freeze Frame
We spent an afternoon this week wandering 4th Street in the footsteps of Sideways founder Betsy Bober Polivy, inspired by the “4x4TH STREET — A Side Street that Takes an Interesting Turn” chapter in one of Betsy’s books. Check out our discoveries by reading the newsletter… and just click this link if you would like to subscribe.
Happy birthday today to Charles “Chuck” Gomez, Heather Carlucci and Jonathan Schnapp; tomorrow to Charles Dustin Sammann, Danny Fishman, Isaac Halpern, John Harrison and Geert DeBecker; and on Monday to Alicia Reich.
We will be back in your inbox on Tuesday. Have a fabulous Labor Day weekend.