Life in and around Hell’s Kitchen, NYC
Because you’re not sick of hearing about Gotham West yet. Residents at the “megaproject” will get free breakfast every day.
Apparently the super-expensive sculpture at the incoming Hudson Yards will be a big deal.
In case you missed it, summer was hot, which means lots of A/C. Here’s an interesting look at the city’s power usage.
859 – 861 9th Ave – at 55th St, with Puttanesca downstairs – was sold…for $17 million.
The Señor de los Milagros held a procession today, heading along 53rd St, down 9th Ave, then back along 52nd St. Dozens of people gathered around to watch the procession as it slowly moved down the avenue:
It’s time for another update in the ongoing saga of the Vintage-to-ASC conversion (previously here). The new venue has put its signage up, and it is nothing more than paint on paint:
For reference, here’s what it replaced:
The new bar will be a “cross between a gay speakeasy and a retro athletic club”, apparently. It’ll be interesting to see what that actually means. The inside will be decorated with classic boxing, bodybuilding and wrestling and bodybuilding memorabilia. Hopefully they put a little more effort into the interior decoration than they did with the exterior.
At Schmackary’s today:
A pretty weak attempt at “viral” marketing or something on 9th Ave:
I guess posting this would sort of mean the ad is working, but it’s ok, “we’re doing it ironically”.
Get ready: the Million Second Quiz is coming. The stage for this new TV show has been set up on the roof of the still-vacant former Mercedes dealership on W 41st St:
The show will be filming pretty much every night throughout the first half of September, with host Ryan Seacrest (!!). NBC has gone all out with the setup for the stage, with the full high-tech lighting structure and grandstands. They’ve even got billboards up for it across the road:
As if that wasn’t exciting enough, you can even be part of the audience for the show. Tickets are still available for most of the nights, so get in quick. SEE YOU THERE.
Couldn’t make it to the Summer Movies at the Intrepid? Have a look at this “photo sphere” from the middle of the Star Trek screenings last month. The turnouts for the nights were usually pretty big, and that night was no exception, so it’s interesting to look back and see the crowds.
Blue Dog opened a new store on W 50th St this week, between 8th & 9th Ave, and to celebrate are giving out free coffees, as discovered by Midtown Lunch.
Get in today or tomorrow for your free coffee!
(Insert some form of dog pun)
Midnight at one of the $1 pizza stores:
With the number of “megaprojects” going up around the area, it’s interesting to instead take a look from time to time at what’s happening with the more traditional townhouses around the area. To give you a taste of that world, one on W 50th St has gone up for sale, for the “modest” price of $3.6 million:
The floorplan, to make you sad about your apartment too:
The place sold for over $600,000 less at the end of last year, so not bad for half a year of nothingness. We can dream.
We noticed last week that Luna Sur was abruptly closed, and assumed it was temporary. Turns out it wasn’t. There’s now a big “store for rent” sign in the window:
They’ve also taken their website down in the last 48 hours, so you know it’s official. We reached out to them when we saw they were closed, but never heard back, so the closure is still a mystery.
Along W 35th St this morning:
Way back at the start of June, we looked at the impending plan to convert a cabaret into a hopefully-classier restaurant or bar or something. As of a few weeks ago, progress:
Back in June:
The building is way out on W 47th St, almost right next to the West Side Highway, but things are starting to pick up with all the new hotels and developments popping up all over the place (Gotham West anyone?), so it’s in with the restaurants and out with the “gentlemen’s lounges”.
Luna Sur, the Latin bistro near the corner of 53rd & 9th, has been closed for the past few nights:
The spot had noise complaints filed against them back in June, so were on the docket for the community board meeting. Apparently the complaints had been addressed though, so it could be unrelated.
They were also starting a new “Fierce Fridays” promotion on Friday, but ended up being closed, so this has been a very sudden closure.