Life in and around Hell’s Kitchen, NYC
In case you didn’t hear yet, an ex-employee of the construction site at 49th & 9th shot a former colleague around 9:30am this morning. The victim was taken to hospital, and fortunately is expected to make a full recovery. DNAinfo has the full story.
Despite the forecasts it was a clear day, so we stopped by the Hell’s Kitchen Flea Market on 39th St to see how it’s going. It was starting to wrap up, but was still fairly busy, with dozens of stalls all down the street.
Always great seeing the hellboy mascot out:
As usual, they’re open every Saturday and Sunday.
After this week’s big news of the Supreme Court striking down DOMA coinciding with Pride Week, bars and shops all down 9th Ave showed their pride, draping rainbow flags from windows, fire escapes, and awnings:
Tagg spared no expense:
Flaming Saddles put up a bunch more flags:
And plenty of other stores got in the spirit in their own ways:
On a lower key than the other thing that was on tonight, the Oasis Community Garden on 52nd St held their “Make Music” summer solstice celebration this evening, and a small crowd gathered to watch the various performances:
And now, it’s officially summer.
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.
(Catching up – better late than never). Over the weekend there was a surprise-to-us fair going on over on Broadway:
Fortunately, the weather was perfect fair conditions on Saturday, so hundreds of people turned out for it.
Various trinkets, “lemonade-lemonade-one-dollar”, and of course, mozzarepas. Second Ave Sagas’ piece on street fairs is eerily accurate.
El Azteca, the popular Mexican restaurant/bar on 9th Ave just north of 52nd St, was shut down recently by the Department of Health:
The restaurant’s decided to make the most of the situation, however, and has decided to renovate the interior. It’s only been three days, and they’re already deep into the refitting.
They’ve had a pretty rough history in past health inspections, with a number of violations, but the closure was a first.
Here’s hoping they’re back up and running soon, with the health “issues” fixed.
W 35th St can look forward to a new hotel opening between 8th and 9th Avenues. Here’s something like we can expect from the 25-story building, per the site:
Trendy!
The newish brand EVEN Hotels are taking over lots 321 – 325, from the applications. The spot, formerly home to a bike shop and pedicab garage, is currently a vacant garage:
The hotel isn’t scheduled to be opened mid-2015. Don’t hold your breath!
A new restaurant/wine bar, Marston’s, is coming to 53rd St. The name is still tentative, apparently, but they’ll be taking over from the recently-closed Swizz – a seemingly-liked restaurant and fondue spot:
The spot is almost next door to the Broadway Comedy Club, so it’s easy to imagine a decent amount of dinner-and-a-show customers coming through.
Their application to take over the license from Swizz was discussed at the CB4 meeting on Tuesday, so depending on how that went, we can expect to see them moving in soon.
Vynl, at 51st & 9th, is planning on moving. The restaurant has been around since 2005, and is an iconic part of the area.
The new location they’re hoping for? Directly next door.
The space is currently occupied by Go Sushi. It’s right on the corner of the intersection, and considerably larger than Vynl’s current home. Applications were filed for the move (#10) for discussion at Tuesday night’s BLP Committee meeting. No word yet on the outcome, but it’s hard to imagine much pushback for the almost comical proposal.
Their current venue:
And a closer look at the new space:
Moving that window is gonna be fun.
The Big Apple Meat Market is eyeing a massive space opposite the Port Authority Bus Terminal, according to DNAinfo:
One of the neighborhood’s few affordable grocery stores is hoping to get a discount on rent at a huge space across from the Port Authority Bus Terminal.
Locals say the space at 551 Ninth Ave. — the former home of Project FIND’s Coffee House — would be a perfect spot for the Big Apple Meat Market.
The space is directly beneath the overpass on 9th Ave:
It would be a big step up from their current, cramped location a block south of there:
They were forced to move to the current location after being pushed out of their old location just north of the bus terminal:
The community board gave its support to the move at its meeting on Wednesday, so the ball is in the Port Authority’s court.
Kashmir’s Dollar Burger over on 8th Ave looks like it’s shuttered its doors for good. Read the history of this questionable eatery over at Midtown Lunch
Spotted on W 51st St:
Not a good start to the day:
Last Sunday night on W 45th St. See more over on Flickr.