Good morning and happy Saturday. Looks like the sun is taking the weekend off — with cloud forecast (and even a little rain tomorrow). Still, we’ll take the temperatures: hitting 50 degrees today and up to the low-60s on Sunday. Spring, we see you.
In the middle of the Port Authority Bus Terminal — one of the least likely art spaces in New York — photographer Alan Batt, known as Battman to his friends, is sharing his life’s work. The exhibit includes elephants, porn theaters, gourmet food and hunky firefighters. We went to take a look…
Here’s the rest of the news from around Hell’s Kitchen this week…
If you’ve ever stepped off a bus at the Port Authority Bus Terminal, walked past the Lincoln Tunnel approaches, or caught a whiff of exhaust near the Manhattan Cruise Terminal, new data on air quality suggests you’re not imagining things. Read more…
Two vessels built almost a century apart made Hell’s Kitchen their home this week. On Tuesday, a gray-hulled Italian Navy frigate sailed up the Hudson to Pier 88 — joining a 100-year-old Norwegian tall ship that docked at Intrepid Museum last weekend. Read more…
With a commercial rent stabilization bill advancing in Albany, we went out to ask Hell’s Kitchen operators whether it would help. Their answer: rent is only part of the problem — and not always the most urgent one. Read more…
Catie shares her experience inside the NYPD Citizens Police Academy, from simulated 911 calls to use-of-force training and crisis response — and you can enroll too this Spring. Read more…
Citing crashes, injuries and deaths in 2025, the Community Board is urging Mayor Zohran Mamdani to cut speed limits across Hell’s Kitchen and Chelsea to 20 miles per hour, arguing that the city’s rollout of Sammy’s Law has been too slow. Read more…
He only arrived in the neighborhood in July, 2025, but Brit Jamie Allan has already fallen for Hell’s Kitchen. Read this professional magician’s West Side Story…
Restaurant Row is getting a new sound. Spike Wilner, who runs Smalls and Mezzrow in the West Village, has taken over the former Swing 46 space and is reopening it as Jazzcultural — with coffee by day and live jazz at night. Read more…
AI-driven job losses dominate the headlines. But with help from training programs, some New York City small businesses and nonprofits are learning to use the technology to work smarter — not leaner. Report by Greg David via THE CITY. Read more…
Community Board 4 sent Hell’s Kitchen’s outdoor dining debate back to committee, amid confusion, complaints about weak enforcement — and no opportunity to vote on the new proposed City legislation. Read more…
Confused about tipping delivery workers? Here’s how much to tip, when cash matters and how app pay affects deliveristas. Report by Lilly Sabella via THE CITY. Read more…
What We’ve Been Reading
*💰 might be behind the paywall — 🎁 is a gift link
Here are the top 10 frauds and scams in New York, according to the Attorney General. (Record Online)
Critics Pick — nice to see Chalong on 9th Avenue get a starred review. (New York Times 🎁)
How Whole Foods metes out justice to its well-heeled shoplifters. (Curbed 💰)
New York has four of the world’s best cinemas according to this list. (Time Out)
Are you an earbuds in or out person when walking around the City? (NY Groove)
Freeze Frame
Sometimes we forget how many stars quietly pass through Hell’s Kitchen — and through the doors of the legendary Power Station recording studios on W53rd Street. Now owned and operated by Berklee College of Music, the historic complex — where artists from Bruce Springsteen and David Bowie to Madonna, The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars have all recorded — recently welcomed a surprise visitor.
Fresh from performing the national anthem at this year’s Super Bowl, Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Charlie Puth dropped by the iconic Studio A for an intimate conversation and masterclass with graduate students. The full conversation will soon be released on the Switched on Pop podcast. Thanks to Ryan Nava for the photos.
Happy birthday today to Gabriela Veciana — and tomorrow to Jeffrey Karliner and Lora Aroyo.
Thank you for reading. If you can support our ongoing work to keep Hell’s Kitchen connected, updated and upbeat — please hit the button below.
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