Life in and around Hell’s Kitchen, NYC
Not content to let Union Square get all the fun, Urbanspace have launched the Columbus Circle Holiday Market, with over 150 vendors selling clothes, jewelry, food, art, homewares, and more.
Here’s the poster they’ve put out (not much information on it though):
You can see the map or the website to find out all the vendors who’ll be at the market, or just head on up and see them in person. The markets are running from now right through to Christmas Eve from 10am – 7/8pm, so you’ve got plenty of opportunities to go check them out.
It’s almost here. The second outpost of Turco II, which we’ve been watching for months, is gearing up for its opening. The signage was completed recently, bringing the construction of the new spot much closer to an end.
Over the (long) weekend crews were continuing on the store:
Residents above 46th St can start getting excited for a two-block-closer gyro fix.
It’s been a few weeks since we’ve seen a health department closure around the area, but before we could get to the end of the year, Breeze was hit with the notice.
We’ll have to wait and see how long they stay shuttered for. With any luck we can make it through the rest of the year without the bright yellow notice returning.
Eating With Ziggy have done a big update to their Hell’s Kitchen Survival Guide, adding some of the new places that have opened up lately. Here’s the guide itself. Update: There’s a map, too.
The plan for the forever-vacant lot at the corner of 42nd & 9th: another hotel. We’re just as surprised as you are.
The latest plan for the final section of the High Line resembles a giant salad bowl.
Aside from the area name (not only midtown, but with a hyphen?) this is a nice look at popular Italian restaurant Tavola.
As reported by PIX 11, firefighters were called to a two– or three-alarm fire (articles disagree on that) around 6:20pm on Friday night at Barbetta on Restaurant Row. It took crews around an hour to bring the blaze under control.
Barbetta is one of the oldest Italian restaurants in the country, having been founded in 1906. They’ve been closed since the fire, but plan on reopening later this week. Eater posted a big look at the place back in 2010, if you want to find out more about the iconic restaurant.
According to PIX 11, two firefighters suffered minor injuries battling the fire, but fortunately the fire was contained to the kitchen so no other injuries were reported. Hopefully Barbetta will be back up and running soon.
The massive Verizon building at 435 W 50th St is getting the condo treatment. Developers JDS and Property Markets Group are converting the building – which dates back to 1927 – into 51 condos ranging from $1.5 million right up to $9 million. Madness.
The future:
The development will be going by the name Stella Tower. Fortunately, it looks like they’re staying pretty true to the original design, which is more than you can say for some other developments going up around the area.
The building is currently drowning in scaffolding while the conversion gets underway:
All the scaffolding makes for a really great skyline:
Here’s the spiel on the mostly uninformative website:
Designed in 1927 by pre-eminent architect Ralph Walker, Stella Tower has been transformed into 51 of the finest condominium residences, capturing the best of a pre-war architectural masterpiece and modern living. Located in the iconic New York neighborhood of Hell’s Kitchen, Stella Tower shines as a new beacon, rising above its skyline neighbors, showcasing dramatic 360-degree views of Manhattan.
And then there’s this line:
A new star is born
America.
But seriously, really liking these hydrant designs all over the place. Here’s another.
A car and a commercial bus collided this evening around 5:45 at the intersection of W 53rd St & 9th Ave. It looked pretty minor – they were just touching, with no real damage visible – but blocked most of the intersection for at least half an hour. Traffic was great, as you’d imagine.
A quick progress on the clearing out of the closed Go Sushi. The plywood went up over the past week, and now the very recognizable neons have been taken down:
Last we heard the plan was for this place to become the new home of next-door-neighbor Vynl, moving into the coveted corner spot. Guess we’ll find out when we manage to get a look behind the plywood.
Balancing on the sidewalk along 10th Ave:
More don’t-call-them-Christmas trees are appearing all over the place. On 8th Ave outside the Rite Aid they had the giant snowman:
Less over-the-top on 9th Ave, outside the Hampton Gourmet Deli:
Better start making room in your apartment now…
“Shop Small”. On the wall of McQuaids Restaurant & Pub at 44th & 11th:
Comes as a relief when all we thought we had to look forward to from now on was corporate-sponsored “graffiti”.
Update: Turns out the “Animal” section of the mural is almost definitely related to Animal New York, the online magazine who are semi-based on that corner, as they mention buried away in the legal section of their site. Guess that makes it’s another sponsored one. Thanks to Timbo for pointing that out. We’ll always have Banksy I suppose (and Hanksy)…
The new outpost of popular West Village restaurant Snack Taverna opened on Monday, under the name Snack EOS. The Greek restaurant has taken over the former home of Sandwich Planet at 39th & 9th, just south of Port Authority.
The restaurant opens at 5pm daily, so we didn’t get a chance to see it up and running when we went by. Here’s a photo of the interior from a few days before it opened, to give you a sense of what the décor’s like:
The letter they posted near the window announcing their arrival:
Here’s the section from it on the name:
We call ourselves EOS as Eos os the Greek Titaness of the Dawn and for us this restaurant represents a “new dawn” or “new beginning.”
We’ve been watching the place for the past few months as the store took shape, and suddenly it’s arrived. The place isn’t trying to be flashy or obnoxious, and looks like it’ll be a quiet, relaxing dinner spot.
Now that Thanksgiving/Black Friday are officially over, sights are fully set on Christmas. The Chelsea Garden Center – on 11th Ave, and not in Chelsea – is all set for it:
Of course, if you’re more into the artificial variety, I guess there’s always Kmart?