Life in and around Hell’s Kitchen, NYC
Back in June, we covered a new gay bar coming soon to 9th Ave. The bar is taking over the location previously occupied by Vintage, which has been closed since April.
The signature Vintage sign is gone:
The same storefront two months ago:
Now that construction is fully ramping up, we should be seeing a lot of progress in the coming weeks.
Mamasita, a new Mexican bar and grill, is gearing up to open on 10th Ave. Taking over the store of the former Manhattan Marketplace, the spot between 54th & 55th claims to be “the home of the original 60oz margarita”.
Their menu is online, and has all the staple Mexican dishes. They’re just one block over from the neighborhood favorite El Centro, as well as a handful of other Mexican restaurants and bars, but there’s not really any on 10th Ave near them.
A close-up on that “unique” sign:
Their website is currently blank, so expect to see that come to life as they get closer to launching. And of course, they’re on Seamless.
Here’s the same storefront just over a month ago:
We’ll check back again when they’re open and churning out burritos.
Another quick reminder – the free Summer Movie Series at the Intrepid continues tonight, with a screening of Harry Potter.
Every movie so far has seen lines stretching far around the neighboring pier, so if you want to get a spot make sure you arrive well in advance of the 7:30pm opening.
To quickly recap, the series kicked off with National Treasure back in June, following up with Jaws, then last week continued with Star Trek during SpaceFest, with two more still to go after tonight’s screening.
At the community board meeting two weeks ago, a number of residents showed up to voice their concerns about noise from Traffic at night, with one person apparently going as far as calling 311 to complain over 90 times.
Nobody from the bar attended the meeting to defend themselves, so because of the overwhelming amount of complains, and the allegations that the bar kept the doors and windows open much later than their license allowed, the board agreed to hold back on their pending license renewal.
With the construction and roadworks still going on right outside the bar, and now this, it hasn’t been a good month for the venue. Unless the bar can address the many complaints from the community, there’s a chance they might be getting shuttered in the near future.
Just a quick notice, the first of the free Summer Movies Series at the Intrepid starts tonight. Doors open at 7:30pm, and the weather’s looking like it’s going to be perfect for it.
Tonight’s screening is National Treasure. Try to contain your excitement. We’re all just holding out until the August 15th screening of Top Gun.
Looks like 9th Ave is set to welcome another gay bar:
Ben Maisani, whose partner is CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, is set to open a third trendy New York City gay bar in Hell’s Kitchen, The Real Deal has learned.
The space used to be the wine bar Vintage, which closed down in April.
A bit more on the new bar, from The Real Deal:
The new space is comprised of 2,500 square feet of space on the street level and 2,500 feet on the lower level, according to a listing for the property on BuzzTarget.com. The term of Maisani’s lease is 15 years, sources said. Retail rents in the area range from $150 to $200 a square foot, they said.