1. Annual W 44th St Garage Sale on tomorrow

    W 44th St & 9th Ave

    Just a quick reminder that tomorrow (Saturday 7th) the West 44th St Block Association are holding their annual garage sale, running along W 44th St (as you’d expect), between 9th & 10th Aves. The sale will be on from 10am through to 5:30pm.

    This is the 38th year the garage sale has been running, and should have a wide range of items for sale from local residents. If you need a break from the HK Flea Markets, stop by!

  2. Pick up a key to the Cultivate HKNY gardens tomorrow at the Juan Alonso Community Garden

    From 10am to 12pm tomorrow, if you stop by the Juan Alonso Community Garden you can collect your very own key to their garden, as well as any of the other Cultivate HKNY gardens throughout the neighborhood:

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    To get the key, just bring $2 and proof you live or work within Community District 4, and you can pick one up! They only have a limited number of keys though, so be sure to get there earlier rather than later if you’re after one.

    As for the garden itself, the season is back up and running after a long winter, so while you’re there you can see the progress they’ve made on bringing the garden back to life. And if you’re interested in helping out in the garden they still have a few plots available, so you can talk to the other volunteers about claiming one while you’re there.

Tuesday, Jun 3rd

  1. A look at yesterday’s Taste of Times Square

    W 46th St & 8th Ave

    Yesterday evening W 46th St was taken over for the annual Taste of Times Square festival. The street was lined with stalls from various restaurants around the area, from 9th Ave right into the heart of Times Square.

    Lots of people turned up for it:

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    Food everywhere, of course, from one-​off restaurants, chains, and everything.

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    (There was even a stall for Guy Fieri’s insanely popular “restaurant”…not pictured…)

    Anyway the organizers had a number of performers scattered amongst the stalls:

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    And even a whole swing band and dance tent going in the car park on Restaurant Row:

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    And to top it all off, Manhattanhenge:

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    For something so heavily tied to Times Square, and despite the walls of people making it take about half an hour just to walk the two blocks, it was pretty alright…

Thursday, May 29th

  1. Pizza Plus on 9th Ave becomes “iPizzaNY”

    iPizzaNY

    More pizza news from 9th Ave: Pizza Plus, a pair of pizza stores along 9th Ave, have undergone a makeover and rebranded themselves as the very-​modern “iPizzaNY” (along with the tagline “friggin’ delicious”).

    At the northern store between 48th & 49th:

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    The new logo:

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    And at the southern store, just north of 45th St:

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    Under the old name, the two spots have mostly mixed reviews and generally seem to have the overall impression of “meh”, so the new name looks like an effort to get away from that and start fresh. We’ll see how it goes.

Wednesday, May 28th

  1. Free kayaking is back on the Hudson

    Now that it’s getting into summer (except for today), the Manhattan Community Boathouse have launched their free weekend kayaking again. Over the Memorial Day weekend they got the kayaks out at their Pier 96 location (at 56th St), and it was the perfect weather for it:

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    Source: @KayakMCBH/Twitter
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    Source: Manhattan Community Boathouse/​Facebook
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    Source: Manhattan Community Boathouse/​Facebook

    The kayaking is on from 10am-​6pm every weekend, from now until mid-​October, so you’ve got plenty of opportunities to get out on the water. Also during June, July and August they’ll be running it from 5pm-​7pm on weekends, so you can get in an after-​work paddle if you’re up for it.

    Last year’s kayaking was run by the Downtown Boathouse, but this year the Manhattan Community Boathouse were granted use of Pier 96 instead, so it should be interesting to see how they go. They’ll also have kayaking going from the 76th St dock starting next month, so there’ll be lots of kayaking going on!

Tuesday, May 27th

  1. Nightmare: Pedestrian hit by flying saw blade on 9th Ave

    W 48th St & 9th Ave

    Around 8:30 this morning, a saw blade flew out from in the never-​ending roadwork going on along 9th Ave, ricocheting into the air and coming down slicing a pedestrian. The NY Post has details:

    It flew off its hinges around 8:30 a.m. on Ninth Avenue near 48th Street, officials said. It hit the curb and flew 10 feet in the air before plummeting down and striking the woman, officials said.

    The 50-​something victim was cut on her right arm and right leg.

    The woman suffered a “major injury”, and was taken to Bellevue. Fortunately it sounds like the accident was a lot less-​bad than it could’ve been. Apparently a nearby crossing guard was nearly hit too, so it’s lucky it wasn’t a lot worse.

    This is the 3 foot wide blade that flew at the woman:

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    Source: @SandraBookman7/Twitter

    The roadwork is for installing new water mains around the area as part of a five-​year project, so they won’t be going away any time soon. First buildings are attacking pedestrians…now this. Never going outside again…

    Thanks Nathan for the heads up.

Monday, May 26th

  1. “Annabel” coming to long-​time empty store on 9th Ave

    Annabel

    Update: They’re open as of June 26th.

    Ever since being built, the space next to Bar 9 on 9th Ave (between 53rd & 54th) has sat empty, with papers up forever. Finally the tenant has been revealed: Annabel, which will be an “artisanal pizza restaurant”, giving Merilu a block down from there some competition.

    Photos by HK regular Stanley Conrad:

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    Source: Stanley Conrad
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    Source: Stanley Conrad

    There’s not too much info about the new place yet – the only thing we could dig up so far is this Craiglist job ad for the hiring day they did last week – but it sounds like Annabel is going to be a bit upscale, with artisinal pizza and craft beers. Should be interesting to see how they compare to Merilu.

    Thanks Stanley for the heads up!

  2. Another day, another street fair

    W 43rd St & 8th Ave

    Today was Memorial Day, so naturally the first thing that comes to mind is street fair! Along W 43rd St they had (yet another) one going, pulling in a few people passing by:

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    It wasn’t a big one…they barely managed to fill half the street with stalls:

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    (Don’t worry, they still managed to fit in an arepa stand…)

    You didn’t miss much.

Wednesday, May 21st

  1. Free ride-​in theater tonight on W 45th/​46th

    Summer is already here, with outdoor movie season beginning. The W 45th/​46th St Block Association, along with Bike NYC, are showing Breaking Away tonight at Mathews Palmer Park. The details:

    Join us as we turn our outdoor community center (Mathews Palmer Park) into a Ride-​In Theater. Watch the 1979 cult classic BREAKING AWAY under the Hell’s Kitchen stars. Bring your blankets, chairs, yummy treats — and friends!

    Special pre-​show by world renowned NEW YORK BIKE DANCE!

    And bike tips, consults and discounts from our local shops, including Q&A with Al of Al’s Cycle Solutions, offering special in-​store discounts!

    Here’s the full event details. Whether you ride in or walk in, it should be a good evening!

Saturday, May 17th

  1. Food Festival part one

    We’re halfway through the 9th Ave International Food Festival, and it’s been lovely weather so far. Sure, there’s plenty of “knick-​knack” stalls, , and of course MozzArepas™, but if you can get past them dozens of restaurants along 9th Ave have got stalls going, and most of the bars have seating overflowing out onto the street.

    Of course, you have to brave the sea of people:

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    Lots of crews slaving away serving up food for everyone:

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    Some live entertainment:

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    A lot of local community groups have stalls going:

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    The kids section is up between 53rd & 54th with at least five jumping castles, and two of these guys:

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    Meanwhile further down the Citibike docks have found a new purpose in life as seating:

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    Basically the whole festival can be summed up as “diets”

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    Look forward to more crowds tomorrow!

Friday, May 16th

  1. 9th Ave International Food Festival tomorrow!

    Things have been pretty quiet around here lately…sorry about that. But we couldn’t miss tomorrow! The annual 9th Avenue International Food Festival returns, bringing food from a whole heap of 9th Ave restaurants and stores out for us.

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    Source: 9th Ave International Food Festival

    The festival will be running from 42nd St right up to 57th St, so there’ll be plenty of options, and runs across the whole weekend. Here’s the full list of stalls that’ll be lining the avenue. Be sure to go with the local stores and avoid the ever-​present MozzArepas™, and we can help keep this one from becoming like every other generic street fair!

    Tonight’s flood warning looks like it’s passed, and it’s looking like a clear day tomorrow, so it should be great. Last year was a bit overcast, so hopefully it turns out better. Here’s a taste (haha…) of what to look forward to:

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    2013’s Food Festival

    SEE YOU THERE.

    And we’re bringing things back up to speed on the site, so “look forward” to more regularity soon!

Tuesday, May 6th

  1. Hell’s Kitchen restaurant taking over former Vynl space?

    Hell's Kitchen

    With Vynl all settled into their new store next door to the old one, we wondered what would happen to the old place. It’s had papers up on the windows since the changeover, giving us no clue what was going on. HK regular Laurie heard a rumor that the difficultly-​named Hell’s Kitchen restaurant (not the neighborhood…or the restaurant on 39th…) a few streets down from Vynl will be moving into the place.

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    …to…

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    The move would make sense: Vynl and Hell’s Kitchen – along with El Centro and Therapy – are owned by the same group, so it seems they’re shuffling their spots around, bringing everything closer together. If the move takes place, it’ll be interesting to see if they open up a new place in Hell’s Kitchen’s current spot or let it go.

    Either way, given how long the Vynl changeover took, if any of this ends up happening it’s still a long way out, so we’ll keep an eye out for more as we go.

    Thanks Laurie for the tip!

  2. Health department shutters Rice & Beans

    Rice & Beans

    Another day, another closure. Rice & Beans, on 9th Ave, is the latest victim, getting shuttered at the end of last week:

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    Strangely, the inspection results aren’t online, and they’re still listed with an A-​rating from January, so that’s a mystery… It’s been around a week since the closure, so you can expect them to back up and running in no time.