WEST SIDE STORIES
Aleta LaFargue: “You’ll never take Hell’s Kitchen out of the girl!”
Aleta LaFargue, Hell’s Kitchen native and one of Manhattan Plaza’s first babies, has served as their Tenant President for the past 5 years. She has been an artist, activist and advocate in the community for the […]
Hold the Phone — Improv Everywhere’s Charlie Todd is Here to Stay!
A Hell’s Kitchen resident since 2013, this former performer at the Upright Citizens Brigade used his talent to start Improv Everywhere nearly 20 years ago. Since then, he’s brought smiles and surprises to the public. His sense […]
Michael Waxes Lyrical About the Neighborhood He Now Calls Home
He may have only recently arrived in Hell’s Kitchen, but Michael William G has really taken the neighborhood to his heart. And pandemic living has inspired a pivot that’s led to him creating his own luxury […]
“I’m NEVER Leaving” — Tom’s Long-Standing Love Affair with Hell’s Kitchen
Tom D’Angora is a producer and activist. During the pandemic he and his husband, Michael, with the help of friend Tim Guinee, have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to save places like the West Bank […]
“I Love our Neighborhood Spirit” — Why Hell’s Kitchen is Heaven for Priya
She may have only moved to the neighborhood in 2018, but Priya Ahluwalia has taken Hell’s Kitchen to her heart. Here’s Priya’s West Side Story So, what’s your New York story? Born here, or just arrived?I […]
Why Foodie Maria is Proud to Have Spent a Lifetime in the Kitchen
Social Worker and community activist Maria Ortiz has lived in and around Hell’s Kitchen for most of her life so she’s certainly got a taste for the place — maybe that’s why she loves the food […]
Why Photographer Robin Loves This “Small Neighborhood in a Big City”
The pandemic has helped photographer Robin Riley to rediscover her love for the work that brought her to New York City in the first place. Here’s her West Side Story So, what’s your New York story? […]
Christine Berthet — a Persistent Voice Above the Hell’s Kitchen Traffic
Hell’s Kitchen activist Christine Berthet describes herself as “persistent.” Since landing in New York from France just over 40 years ago, she has fought to reclaim 9th Avenue from “the hellish Lincoln Tunnel traffic”. For the […]
Great Vibe and Community — Why Juli Loves to Live in Hell
As Founder and Professional Organizer of OrganizeNY, Juli Oliver is probably one of the most together people in Hell’s Kitchen — but her early days in the neighborhood were a little rocky. Here’s Juli’s West Side […]
Variety is the Spice of Neighborhood Life for Chef Christopher
What are the ingredients that make Hell’s Kitchen such a tasty dish for Chef Christopher Motta? “Its style… character… the history… and the food and all the bars are a huge plus!” he says. Christopher shares […]
Why Real-Time Illustrator Tracey was Drawn to the Neighborhood
Tracey Kleinman Berglund draws pictures in real-time, visualizing what speakers like Bill Clinton and Melinda Gates are talking about. She’s live-illustrated everything from events about robotics to peacekeeping to focus groups on making tastier sausage products. […]
Keri is Baking and Connecting with her Abstract Tarts
You might know Keri Jordan-Leander from her baking at Kahve or her Abstract Tart stand at local food festivals. She also wrote for W42ST on Juneteenth last year about what she had learned about racism from […]
“I Packed My Bag with a Tennis Racquet, Jeans and 2 T-Shirts. Hey, I’m Going to New York” — Bini is a Happy Refugee, 22 Years Later
Shkumbin ‘Bini’ Mustafa came to New York in 1999, as an ethnic Albanian Muslim refugee from Kosovo. He had heard from a friend that the United States would allow in 20,000 immigrants seeking escape from war-torn […]
“Life’s Not Fair” — but Lion King’s Scar is Surviving the Pandemic
Actor Stephen Carlile plays Scar, the loathsome baddie in The Lion King. His opening line in the hit musical — “Life’s not fair” — is a phrase of our times. Stephen is making the most of […]
Capturing a flavor of “Worst Cooks” contestant Jonathan
You might have seen Jonathan Hanna on the current season of “Worst Cooks in America” on the Food Channel, or the 2019 season of “Dating Around” on Netflix — or maybe you recognize his distinctive mustache […]
Patrick’s Hell’s Kitchen Book Club
Patrick Key is a non-profit fundraiser by day, and an avid book reader by night. His claim to fame is being on The Oprah Show for her book club. Patrick’s Instagram account has been our publisher’s […]
Karin Schall Chalking Her Outrage
Karin Schall is the person chalking up Hell’s Kitchen sidewalks with messages about masks, voting, staying home, and democracy. She says that her superpower is her “outrage”. Read on for Karin’s West Side Story. So, what’s […]
Kelly McCann — ‘it’s oh so quiet’
Kelly McCann arrived in Hell’s Kitchen in January 2020 with her husband, Cameron. She’s taken pictures of cities around the world, and loved the solace she could find in quiet, tranquil places with no people. When […]
Matthew Kilgore: Dressing Hamilton and Drew Barrymore
Matthew Kilgore arrived in New York as a dancer with Broadway dreams, which he pursued for 17 years in musical theater. These days he is in the wings, working as a dresser and wardrobe assistant. This […]
Lynnette Blanche: “Times Square? You mean my back yard?”
Lynnette Blanche is a first generation American, born to Colombian parents in Anchorage, Alaska. She spends her weekdays plugging away as an advertising executive and weekends snapping photos all over the city. Her Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood […]
Charles ‘Chuck’ Gomez — Cuban Son Rising
Charles ‘Chuck’ Gomez has “had a remarkable journey”. He’s the son of Cuban immigrants “who worshiped the American Dream”. As a journalist, he covered civil wars and “had a grenade tossed my way in Nicaragua”. He […]
Elisha & Laila Ortiz — mom & baby’s West Side Story
In March, Elisha Ortiz was 3 months pregnant. She was locked down at home with her husband at their one-bedroom apartment in Hell’s Kitchen covering breaking news for NBC. She documented her rapidly changing tastes and […]
Michael Barth: “Go out and make a difference”
Michael Barth is a 26-year-old Wall Street associate. Last month he got a call from a four-star Admiral to tell him that his work with the Coast Guard Auxiliary (the uniformed civilian component of the U.S. […]
RuPaul’s Drag Race’s Jackie Cox: “How am I suddenly extremely famous, but just sitting on my couch?”
At the start of 2019, Jackie Cox was holding down a job in Midtown, doing cabaret at the Laurie Beechman Theatre, on the drag circuit in Hell’s Kitchen, “and then I got the call from mama […]
Eliza Hamilton – will she be able not to sob?
Krystal Joy Brown can’t wait to get back on stage. She’s been playing Eliza Schuyler in Hamilton on Broadway since mid-December. But she has one reservation about re-opening night: “When the show starts, the crowd always […]
Interior inspiration from the hardware store
We all wear a uniform. New Yorkers wear black. It sets us apart from the tourists. And our homes have white walls. Wooden floors. In this city of glass and steel, we live in neutral boxes, […]
Hell’s Kitchen’s optimistic futurist Kate O’Neill
On Friday March 13, we started this journey of a W42ST daily newsletter. I wrote the initial post and committed to being a “friend dropping in” at around 9am every day. It was a leap of […]
Karim Rashid – it’s a neighborhood thing
Karim Rashid is standing at the window looking out over Hell’s Kitchen. For seven days, he’s not stepped out of his apartment. He’s taken delivery of a treadmill to replace his gym trips and walks. “It’s […]
Marcy Harriell’s hot sauce side hustle
We used to scoff at the term ‘side hustle’,” says Marcy Harriell. “Now we realize we have about half a dozen.” The actress/singer/sewist/vlogger and her husband Rob, an actor/writer who also works in development at New […]
The actor who makes Broadway’s favorite pies
He went from Broadway to baking, but Arnold Wilkerson never lost that sense of performance. My West Side Story – via London and Europe After I finished high school, I thought I should see the world. […]
Max von Essen: Call Me Old Fashioned
Broadway leading man Max von Essen talks about his perfect block in Hell’s Kitchen, where he goes to work off his fried chicken indulgence, and why he loves the old seediness of the neighborhood. Max was […]
About face – a pivot from Google to gorgeous for Kasey Adam Spickard
Kasey Adam Spickard has gone from the corporate world of tech to the fickle world of fashion, with the help of a business degree and a sideline in drag Why I’m here I’d been working for […]
Marti Gould Cummings interview
My Hell’s Kitchen story … I moved to New York when I was 17 [he’s now 30], two weeks after high school. I look back now and think: “That was insane! Who thought it was a […]
Telly Leung at home in Hell’s Kitchen
Aladdin on Broadway’s Telly Leung on how he met his husband, his favorite New York hangouts, and what he’d do with his three wishes My Hell’s Kitchen story I grew up in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, but […]
Patrick J Hamilton, Hell’s Kitchen interior designer
My Hell’s Kitchen story … I moved from Florida in 1995. I’d be hard-pressed to find another place that ticked off all the boxes like New York does. A lot of that has to do with […]
A masterclass in the art of drag, with Monet X Change
PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHRISTIAN MILES I always wanted one of those punny drag names … like Chandelier Period or Kitty Litter … something like that.” That’s Kevin Bertin (“the whitest name that ever was a white name”). […]
The secret life of drag queen Paige Turner
“Showbiz Spitfire” Paige Turner is a two-time Glam Award Winner, Mac nominee, and featured regular on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen. She has the longest running drag show in NYC, Slurp Sundays at Therapy […]
Amy Scherber – bread winner
Twenty five years, two apartments, and more slices of chocolate devil’s food cake than she can count … Amy Scherber is a true Hell’s Kitchen icon What’s your Hell’s Kitchen story? I came to NYC from […]
Pies, love, and understanding – the art of Tyler Wallach
Artist and designer by day, pizza server by night, mimosa pourer by brunch – Tyler Wallach is mixing it up, with a little help from his boss Job description I’m a server by night, and a […]