-- Dutch Fred The Cop
Is Hell's Kitchen a real place..?
I was asked this question the other night by a young college cheerleader in town for March Madness… When I said I live in Hell's Kitchen.., her response was --
"C'mon.., is Hell's Kitchen really a place..?"
Hell's Kitchen if you google it.., is supposedly the area between 34th st to 59th st., west of 8th ave… Well, that's part of the problem with google -- they are wrong.., more often than you think…
If you have lived in Hell's Kitchen.., and are familiar with it from, lets say the 1970's.., you know that, Hell's Kitchen is from 39th st to 51st st west of 8th ave… The description from google probably came from some realtors, or something like that…
Today Hell's Kitchen is much like the rest of NYC.., high rise buildings with doormen, where a studio could run upwards of $2400 a month (so ridiculous)… Almost all, if not all.., the mom and pop local stores have closed, only to be replaced by a Starbucks, American Apparel or a bank… Once these long time lease holders, residents of the neighborhood, lived out the length of their leases, landlords quadrupled the rent, forcing them out.
But from the 1850's until the late 1980's.., this was one tough freakin' neighborhood!
It was such a tough neighborhood, from it's inception.., that it was the template for the Martin Scorsese film, Gangs of New York. And from the 1850's until the 1980's gangs and gangsters ran this neighborhood… And not just any gangs -- the Westies, one of the most ruthless group of motherfuckers you never wanted to meet.., never mind owe money too…
Famous gangster Mickey Spillane was sort of like the Irish Godfather of the neighborhood.., who after much feuding with Jimmy Coonan (the Westies), would wind up shot dead, presumably by a member of the Mafia, in the late 1970's. The Market Diner (closed in 2006) on West 43rd st, which I remember, well.., and have eaten there more times than I can remember, was one of the spots The Westies would meet to plan their latest savage killing, by dismemberment -- a tactic favored by the gang…
The bar that sits on the corner of 43rd st and 10th ave, presently -- Mr. Biggs.., was once the infamous 596 Club, owned by Coonan, himself.., and the place where he would kill a sleazy loan shark, whose body was later fished out of the East River --
Like I said.., this was one tough freakin' neighborhood!
But if you lived there.., were part of this dysfunctional community, that waged war on rival gangs and the police themselves.., you always felt safe -- protected (and not by the cops). The very streets that now bare witness to untold amounts of shining steel and glass, reaching for the stars.., once flowed with the blood of hoodlums and innocents alike, like a stream into a river…
And well into the 1980's.., streets such as West 46th, which are now home to salons, bistros and lovely brownstones.., were littered with hookers and their bordellos… The Landmark Tavern which still sits at the corner of 46th st and 11th ave.., and is now considered a "cozy old bar" was once the scene of many, beyond gruesome happenings (murders)… It opened it's doors in 1868 and was one of the more popular speakeasies, in a neighborhood that had more speakeasies than any other in NYC. Frequented by famous actor (tough guy) George Raft.., it was the seen of many, many murders -- and it has the ghosts (that's ghosts plural), that still roam it's hallways to prove it…
Bordering Times Square.., just a stones throw from where they drop the famous "ball" every New Years Eve and the prestigious Theatre District.., Hell"s Kitchen is nothing more than a memory, a bad memory for many… But even with all the killing, the severed fingers kept in jars behind the bar -- the place had character, real people with real faces… Families raised their children, while locals ran the businesses -- for better or worse, it was a neighborhood.
Only to be replaced by faceless zombies, walking the streets, heads buried in their smartphones, without the least bit of knowledge of what used to be… How.., if this was 1979.., they'd be lucky to get of there alive (no shit). They say it's all for the best.., but who says "they" no better… Who are "they" to deem the lack of character, the vanishing of families and generational businesses -- "better." Sure it's cleaner.., and they say safer (I felt safer in the 70's).., but, "better" -- Im not so sure...
And today it is surrounded by the bright lights of Times Square. Pictures below are from my roof, facing Times Square present day --
Image Source: 1 2 3 4