Good morning and welcome to the weekend. We’re starting the month with some light rains, strong winds, a sunny afternoon and a 2023 high of 70 degrees. Sunday, we are back to sunny and 50F!
Taking sustainability back to the annals of time, Council Member Erik Bottcher has announced dramatic new legislation that would ban all single-use paper products in New York City. Read more…
Here’s the rest of the news in Hell’s Kitchen this week…
There are new generations of chess champions in the making at the Times Square Migrant Chess Club, where young New Yorkers and immigrants are teaching recent arrivals how to master the game — and the city. Read more…
Jeremy Driesen is a drummer and photographer who also runs a corporate events company. He’s a recent arrival in the neighborhood, but landed in New York back in the 1980s. Read Jeremy’s West Side Story…
ConEd emergency crews worked through the night earlier this week in an effort to restore power to eight businesses and over 100 apartments that were without electricity for more than 36 hours after an underground electrical fire in Hell’s Kitchen on Sunday afternoon. Although power was restored on Tuesday, several businesses on the block remain closed. Read more…
Part-time Hell’s Kitchen resident Leanne Buckley is a retired public school music teacher whose love of Broadway led her to volunteer at the TDF autism-friendly performances. “There is just nothing like it,” she says. Read Leanne’s West Side Story…
It may no longer overflow with fabric shops and specialty costume warehouses, but the Garment District is still the go-to for editorial and theatrical artists seeking businesses with centuries of expertise. As conversations around rezoning the historic neighborhood to accommodate fewer offices and more housing gain steam, the Garment District’s surviving businesses say that it’s time for them to be sewn permanently into the fabric of the area’s real estate. Read more…
Discover the top picks of Hell’s Kitchen through the eyes of Zach Aaronson, a self-proclaimed Beyoncé superfan, The Color Purple enthusiast and an avid award show follower. Read Zach’s West Side Story…
We were surprised to find a bunch of friendly cops getting dressed on W58th Street this week. They were extras getting ready to film a pilot of Robert and Michelle King’s Elsbeth starring Wendell Pierce, Carra Patterson and Carrie Preston — a police procedural spinoff of The Good Wife.
Embattled Hell’s Kitchen nightclub The Q NYC has closed — months after a lawsuit was filed against its owners alleging discrimination and illegal practices, and one of its clubgoers was murdered. Read more…
Father of Aerial Yoga and Segway chauffeur to his dog, Newton, Christopher Harrison arrived in Hell’s Kitchen from Utah in the mid-1980s — and never left. Read Christopher’s West Side Story…
Mayor Eric Adams headed to the far West Side this week to celebrate the opening of an internationally groundbreaking medical research center — part of a growing “biotech corridor” on 11th Avenue. Read more…
Check out Sarah’s latest edition of “Make Way for the Weekend” for ideas of what to do around New York. Read more…
There’s an authentic new Chinese restaurant on the block — or rather, the corner — as The Corner Chinese Restaurant takes its place in the neighborhood. Read more…
Founder of the Center for New Liberalism, kidney donor and ramen fan Jeremiah Johnson has lived in Hell’s Kitchen for the past 11 years. Read his West Side Story…
Remember that from today residential building owners will need to put bagged trash out on the curb after 8pm rather than the previous 4pm. Read more…
What we’ve been reading
“An embarrassing overreach of government” to provide Madison Square Garden with tax exemption in perpetuity, says Senator. (Gothamist)
A Brooklyn theater dumps Ticketmaster, saying: “We are never, ever getting back together.” (Brooklyn Mag)
New York subway numbers are back at a billion for the first time since the pandemic. (The Hill)
Take a peek at service in a top NYC restaurant through the lenses of 19 cameras. (Bon Appetit)
You’ll be able to cruise to Governors Island on a hybrid-electric ferry next summer. (SecretNYC)
Freeze Frame
This tree on 9th Avenue near W48th Street is a great barometer of Spring arriving in Hell’s Kitchen. Did you know you can look up the species of every street tree? This is a Callery Pear (number 2124877) according to the New York City Tree Map.
Happy birthday today to Belle Bakst — and tomorrow to Ashley Albert, Ortal Mizrahi and Joellle Adams.
