Life in and around Hell’s Kitchen, NYC
The Oasis Community Garden on W 52nd St is having a clean-up weekend this weekend, from 11am-3pm. If you want to get involved with the garden or just lend a hand, head on over tomorrow for the second day of gardening.
The cooling weather won’t do the various gardens in the area any favors, so it’s a good time to get them ready. Here’s the Oasis garden back at the start of summer, for comparison.
The 43rd St Kids Preschool are holding a fundraising bake sale today at the corner of W 43rd & 9th Ave, with all kinds of sugary treats.
The stall’s running until 6pm this evening, so stop by and grab a cupcake!
Who can say no to cake?
This Thursday night, Futures in Education are holding a charity night at the Hudson Terrace to raise funds for providing education to underprivileged children. Per the event:
Enjoy a one-hour open bar against panoramic views of NYC and the Hudson River from a stunning rooftop, while supporting a life-changing education for thousands of underprivileged children in our own backyard.
Some more info about the charity:
The mission of Futures In Education is to ensure that the gift of an excellent education continues to be a viable option for current and future generations of deserving students in Brooklyn and Queens.
Early registration for the night is $25 and closes tomorrow, otherwise walk-ins are $35 at the door.
Wrapping up our constant coverage, the Columbus branch of the NY Public Library finally reopened today after over two months away, to little fanfare. Good to have it back.
The Rauschenbusch Metro Ministries, a local organization that provides support to youths and adults in the area, as well as major supporters of the HK Farm Project, are running a fundraiser for their youth camp and other services.
They’ve raised over $4500 so far, so are extremely close to breaking their $5000 target. If you want to support the group, head here to donate.
Saw this flyer up this morning around 36th St. Unlike the hundred or so “apartment for rent” ads, here’s one actually worth looking at:
The cat’s name is “Tonka”, and was last seen on Tuesday on W 36th St between 8th & 9th. If you see the cat, call Tom on (917) 257‑5716. There’s a $250 reward too, so that’s nice. Hopefully Tonka is returned safely.
As promised, we stopped by the Night Out Against Crime at Hell’s Kitchen Park tonight. It was very much a family event, with lots of activities on for children, and free pizza. Dozens of NYPD officers were there, as well as a number of community groups.
Obligatory jumping castle:
Overall a nice community event.
The Columbus branch of the NY public library closed back in June, as reported earlier, while upgrading their HVAC system. The branch wasn’t scheduled to reopen until September, which has been a fairly major inconvenience to regulars. Good news, however, as they’re opening early!
The branch will be open again on Monday (August 12th), ready for all your reading needs.
Tomorrow night, a collection of community groups are running a free “Night Out Against Crime” at Hell’s Kitchen Park.
Here’s the details from the announcement flyer:
Across the country residents are gathering with their local police officers to take back their neighborhoods. Hell’s Kitchen residents and police officers are celebrating this event in Hell’s Kitchen Park. We’ll have games, refreshments and pizza! Crime prevention material will be available. The Midtown Community Court will be on hand to answer your questions and more!
There’s also going to be face painting for children at 5:30pm, as well as a “moonwalk for kids”?
Have a look at the full flyer if you want to see all the details (and don’t mind Comic Sans). We’ll stop by to check it out tomorrow, but it sounds like it’s going to be a pretty big event.
Local cookie store Schmackary’s Cookies – just off 9th Ave on 45th St – teamed up with Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS to host “Broadway Bakes” last week, with a whole range of Broadway stars getting behind the counter and trying their hand at baking.
The store celebrated their 1st birthday, so hosted the event to give back to the neighborhood. The neighborhood, in turn, showed up in droves, with lines out the door and people lining the counter, to get face to face with cast members from Newsies, Smash, Annie, and countless others:
The event was, from all accounts, a big success, and half the proceeds went straight to the BCEFA.
The Columbus Public Library branch on 10th Avenue temporarily closed last week, to begin upgrades to their HVAC system.
The branch doesn’t expect to be open again until September – 3 months. The nearest locations – for those so inclined – are the Riverside Library at 65th & Amsterdam, the Donnell Library on W 53rd St between 5th & 6th Ave, and the main branch at Bryant Park.
The Juan Alonso Community Garden on the corner of 51st & 11th is reopening soon. The garden, which opened in 1993, closed in 2000 due to construction nearby. The garden is looking for gardeners, volunteers and organisers to help get it back up and running:
The garden is already starting to come back to life:
Anyone interested in volunteering should contact the team at juanalonsogarden@gmail.com
