Photos by Rebecca Fiore
Danny DePamphilis, manager of Rudy’s Bar & Grill (627 Ninth Ave.), told stories of the iconic local dive. STORIES continued from p. 3
to melt anyway!� Ashley recalled. John Newsome, whose family has been in Hell’s Kitchen since 1880, said he was at summer camp during the blackout. “When I got home I was amazed all my friends had brand new mopeds,� he said. “There was moped shop on 55th and 10th Avenue and when I came home they were all around riding mopeds.� “I was always wondering who’d done it,� an older man interjected.
On the rooftop of 445 W. 45th Street’s Maravel Arts Center, fresh and seasoned residents drank wine and ate s’mores on the night of June 26, as they swapped stories of living in Hell’s Kitchen. Hell’s Kitchen Commons, an alliance of the West 45th/46th Street Block Associations and the Hell’s Kitchen Neighborhood Association, held the soiree to create an opportunity for storytelling and reminiscing. Thecla Harris, a 22-year Hell’s Kitchen resident who serves as artistic
On top of the Maravel Arts Center, overlooking Mathews-Palmer Playground, community members gathered to share stories passed through generations.
director for the Maravel-based arts education nonprofit Rosie’s Theater Kids, said the idea for “Hell’s Kitchen Stories� came about after planning for this past May 20/21’s Ninth Avenue International Food Festival. “Last event here, we were all talking about Hell’s Kitchen and how much it has changed,� she recalled. “People say it doesn’t feel like a neighborhood, but it is.� “We really wanted to create a space to get people together,� Chana Widawski, Hell’s Kitchen resident and member of Hell’s Kitchen Commons said. Previously, the group held a similar event called “West Side Stories.� “The idea is to connect people through the generations,� she said. “It’s the characters of Hell’s Kitchen that make it. This is what a neighborhood is.� Julio Rosario Sanchez, also known as the Professor of Hell’s Kitchen, told a story passed down by his parents of the neighborhood’s namesake. “A small area on 41st between Ninth Street and Dyer Ave; there was a tenement there and next to that tenement was a shantytown,� Sanchez said. “In that shanty town, lived a lot of thugs.
One night a big fight broke out. There was an altercation where somebody got hurt, their jaw was broken, I think I remember reading, and I believe the cops were called and when the police came they did not want to enter into that shantytown. One of them commented to the other police officer that that was where the Devil did his cooking. So hence the name, Hell’s Kitchen.� The Arts Center, which overlooks the Mathews-Palmer Playground (between 45th & 46th Sts. and Ninth & 10th Aves.), was the place to be for many of the older residents, as it still is to some, young and old, today. “The first time I came to the park was about 1972, because we weren’t allowed to go further than 43rd Street at that time,� Sanchez said. “As I got older I got more adventurous and I came to 46th Street Park, where I’d hang most of the time.� Michelle Diaz, a fifth generation Hell’s Kitchen resident, on her mother’s side, the Irish side said, “When you have lived here for generations, all of us West Siders call [parks] by the street that they were on. So we have always called it 46th Street Park. De Witt Clinton is 52nd
MANTA SPA FOCUSING ON MAN TO MAN MASSAGE
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July 13, 2017
NYC Community Media