Skip to main content

The View from Hell's Kitchen

A weekend visit to the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market on West 39th Street between 9th and 10th Avenues often turns up a lot of great finds, but surely the unusual view of the city from this block and adjacent streets must be counted as one of the best side benefits to market shopping.

IMG_7138
Hell's Kitchen Flea Market on W. 39th, with residential towers in the distance.
The food trucks were part of this past Sunday's Gourmet Food Truck Bazaar.

To the immediate northwest, the tall and sleek modern residential high-rises near the Hudson River symbolize the transformation of this once rough-and-tumble west side neighborhood into what the AIA Guide to New York City describes as "a new frontier for desperate affluent luxury invaders." To the northeast, the eclectic Midtown West/Times Square skyline rises above tenement buildings, a mix of the old and new city. From this angle in Hell's Kitchen, the steel-rod curtain of the Times Tower on Eighth Avenue, designed by Renzo Piano and built in 2007, seems the most dominant, though a magnificent older skyscraper on 42nd Street, Raymond Hood's blue-green McGraw Hill Building (original name) from 1930-1931, achieves greater elegance. Sandwiched between the two and closer to the ground, the showy Paramount Building (1926-1927) with its theatrical clock and globe looks the most fun.

IMG_7150
view of Midtown from W. 38th Street, looking northwest.
Look for the clock and globe of the Paramount Building (1501 Broadway) just right of center,
now looking small but holding its own.




From the vantage point of a high floor in the new-futurist Yotel Hotel (10th Avenue and 42nd St.), the transformation along the streets near and far beyond the flea market comes into clearer view: out a west window - the twin glass towers of River Place (2009) and the slender Atelier (2007), both residential luxury developments of recent years; to the southwest - St. Cyril & Methodius & St. Raphael Church, a steadfast reminder of another day from the 1890s, and beyond to the river, New York's comparatively inaccessible meeting place, the Jacob Javits Convention Center. The extension of the 7 line to the west should alleviate the access issue, along with bolstering the redevelopment of the large Hudson Yards waterfront. And to the south, we see the vast expanse of the West Side, sprawling on past the West Side highway and the trail arteries of the once and future High Line (the final section would wrap around the Hudson Rail Yards ending near the Javits Center). Looking way, way south, One World Trade Center takes shape in the skyline.

IMG_7190
The changing West Side


IMG_7192
St. Cyril & Methodius & St. Raphael Church (foreground);
Jacob Javits Convention Center (background on the left)

IMG_7196
Looking south. One World Trade Center is in the distance, right of center.
As a point of interest, the skyscraper on the far right is in Jersey City -
the Goldman Sachs Tower, the tallest building in New Jersey.


These vantage points are only available to those with certain rooms at the hotel, so residents of New York may want to suggest the accommodations to their friends and visit them. The hotel's restaurant and spacious terrace on the 4th floor are open to the public. The views of 42nd Street looking east are a vision of Manhattan loveliness, with the Chrysler Building in the distance. The Hudson River views to the west are also spectacular.

IMG_7209
looking east from the hotel's terrace on the 4th floor


Back to reality on the ground, this area of southern Hell's Kitchen offers easy access to the Port Authority Bus Terminal and vice versa. While there, look for an homage to the famous fictional bus driver, Ralph Kramden of The Honeymooners, in the weighty bronze statue of Kramden (aka the hefty actor Jackie Gleason) in front of the massive building on 8th Avenue. As we recall from the TV series, Kramden worked for the Gotham Bus Company. His friend, Ed Norton (Art Carney), labored in the city sewer system.

IMG_7169
statue of Ralph Kramden in front of the Port Authority Bus Terminal


As Gotham often goes, we've walked from the privileged haunts of the wealthy on the high floors to the swells of humanity at the bus terminal. High or low, a shared city of dreams rests to the east of here - in the fabulous gaudy world of the theater district and Times Square.

IMG_7180
The city of dreams. 42nd Street.



View The View from Hell's Kitchen in a larger map

Images by Walking Off the Big Apple from July 10, 2011. As an important aside, a summertime visit to this area of Hell's Kitchen may require copious amounts of sunblock. With the recent heatwave, Hell's Kitchen felt like it. For more information about the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market, visit this link. For more information about the Yotel Hotel, see their website.

For a literary approach to Hell's Kitchen, read about poet Vachel Lindsay's experience in the post Scenes from a Walk in Hell's Kitchen.

Comments

  1. Love the McGraw Hill bldg!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Me, too. I wish the transition from Art Deco to modern had lasted longer.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I always enjoy unusual and unexpected views of city landscapes. The Ralph Kramden statue--priceless.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A New York Spring Calendar: Blooming Times and Seasonal Events

See the UPDATED 2018 CALENDAR HERE . Updated for 2017 . At this time of year, thoughts turn to spring. Let's spring forward to blooming times, the best locations for witnessing spring's beginnings, and springtime events in the big city. While the occasional snow could blow through the city, we're just weeks now from callery pears in bloom and opening day at the ballpark. In The Ramble, Central Park. mid-April Blooming Times •  Central Park Conservancy's website  lists blooming times within the park. During the month of March we begin to see crocus, daffodils, forsythia, snowdrops, witch-hazel, and hellebores. Species tulips will emerge in several places, but the Shakespeare Garden and Conservatory Garden are particularly good places to catch the beginning of Spring blooms. Central Park near E. 72nd St., saucer magnolia, typically end of March. •  Citywide Blooming Calendar from New York City Department of Parks & Recreation April is u

Museums in New York Open on Mondays

Please see this post for current announcements of reopenings . Please consult the museum websites for changes in days and hours. UPDATED September 23, 2020 Advance tickets required for many museum reopenings. Please check museum websites for details. • The  Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)  reopened to the public on  August 27 , with new hours for the first month, through September 27: from 10:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday to the public; and from 10:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m.  on Mondays for MoMA members on ly. Admission will be free to all visitors Tuesday through Sunday, through September 27, made possible by UNIQLO. See this  new post on WOTBA for a sense of the experience attending the museum . •  New-York Historical Society  reopened on  August 14  with an outdoor exhibition, "Hope Wanted: New York City Under Quarantine,” in the rear courtyard. The exhibit by activist Kevin Powell and photographer Kay Hickman will highlight how New Yorkers weathered the quarantine

25 Things To Do Near the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)

(updated 2016) The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) at 11 W. 53rd Street is near many other New York City attractions, so before or after a trip to the museum, a short walk in any direction could easily take in additional experiences. Drawing a square on a map with the museum at the center, a shape bounded by 58th Street to the north and 48th Street to the south, with 7th Avenue to the west and Park Avenue to the east, proves the point of the area's cultural richness. (A map follows the list below.) While well-known sightseeing stops fall with these boundaries, most notably Rockefeller Center, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and the great swath of famous Fifth Avenue stores, cultural visitors may also want to check out places such as the Austrian Cultural Forum, the 57th Street galleries, the Onassis Cultural Center, and the Municipal Art Society. The image above shows an intriguing glimpse of the tops of two Beaux-Arts buildings through an opening of the wall inside MoMA's scu

25 Things to Do Near the American Museum of Natural History

After visiting the American Museum of Natural History, explore attractions on the Upper West Side or in Central Park. Visitors to New York often run around from one major tourist site to the next, sometimes from one side of the city to the other, and in the process, exhaust themselves thoroughly. Ambitious itineraries often include something like coffee in the Village in the morning, lunch near MoMA, a couple of hours in the museum, a ride on the Staten Island Ferry in the afternoon, cocktails at the midtown hotel, a quick dinner, and then a Broadway show. It's a wonder people don't pass out at the theater. While sitting on the steps of the American Museum of History, consider exploring the Upper West Side and nearby sites of interest in Central Park. There's a better way to plan a New York trip. Consider grouping attractions together geographically. Several posts on this site address this recommended approach. The Wild West of the Tecumseh Playground Groupin

The High Line and Chelsea Market: A Good Pairing for a Walk

(revised 2017) The advent of spring, with its signs of growth and rebirth, is apparent both on the High Line , where volunteers are cutting away the old growth to reveal fresh blooms, and inside the Chelsea Market, where new tenants are revitalizing the space. A walk to take in both can become an exploration of bounty and surprise, a sensual walk of adventure and sustenance. A good pairing for a walk: The High Line and Chelsea Market Walking the High Line for a round trip from Gansevoort to W. 30th and then back again adds up to a healthy 2-mile walk. Regular walkers of the elevated park look for an excuse to go there. Especially delightful is showing off the park, a model of its kind, to visitors from out of town. A stroll through Chelsea Market. Time check. If you haven't stopped into Chelsea Market lately, you may want to take a detour from the High Line at the stairs on W. 16th St. and walk through the market for a quick assessment or a sampling. Among the sampli

25 Things to Do Near the Metropolitan Museum of Art

(updated) Sitting on the steps in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of those iconic things to do in New York City. On a sunny day, the wide steps can become crowded with the young and old, the tourist and the resident. It's tempting to stay awhile and soak in the sun and the sights. Everyone has reasons for lingering there, with one being the shared pleasure of people watching along this expansive stretch of Fifth Avenue, a painting come to life. Certainly, just getting off one's feet for a moment is welcome, especially if the previous hours involved walking through the entirety of art history from prehistoric to the contemporary. The entrance to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Avenue The Metropolitan Museum of Art should be a singular pilgrimage, uninterrupted by feeble attempts to take in more exhibitions along Museum Mile. Pity the poor visitor who tries "to do" multiple museum exhibitions in one day, albeit ambitious, noble, and uplift

Taking a Constitutional Walk

A long time ago individuals going out for a walk, especially to get fresh air and exercise, often referred to the activity as "taking a constitutional walk." The word "constitutional" refers to one's constitution or physical makeup, so a constitutional walk was considered beneficial to one's overall wellbeing. (Or, as some would prefer to call it, "wellness.") The phrase is more common in British literature than in American letters. As early as the mid-nineteenth century, many American commentators expressed concern that their countrymen were falling into lazy and unhealthy habits. Newspaper columnists and editorial writers urged their readers to take up the practice of the "constitutional" walk. One such essay, " Walking as an Exercise," originally printed in the Philadelphia Gazette and reprinted in New England Farmer , Volume 11, 1859, urges the people of farm areas to take up walking. City dwellers seemed to have the

Visiting New York on a Monday

Mondays are OK. Let's have a look at some of the museums open Mondays - • American Museum of Natural History • Jewish Museum • Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) • National Museum of the American Indian • Neue Galerie • Guggenheim Museum • South Street Seaport Museum Any of these museums could be paired with a nearby restaurant or bar, making a complete full afternoon or day in New York. Monday is especially good for a museum visit, because the crowds tend to be thinner, and restaurants, too, tend to be less busy than on a weekend. A fun museum and bistro walk on the Upper West Side would be a combination of the American Museum of Natural History and the nearby Cafe Lalo on W. 83rd St. I also would suggest a pairing of the Neue Galerie with a nearby cafe, but the two cafes inside the musuem are so good, why go anywhere else? Image above: The Guggenheim on left and Beaux-Arts townhouse on right. View from E. 88th St. by Walking Off the Big Apple.

Introducing Birds of Inwood

Introducing a New Website It's been a moment since I posted last. Please forgive me. I have been in the forest down the street. After spending many of my leisure hours taking photographs of birds in my local neighborhood of Inwood, I am introducing to you a new website featuring these beautiful and often enigmatic creatures. It's called  Birds of Inwood . As I write there, "Inwood is my Amherst." With time, my advancing age, and the pandemic, I have learned to find depth and beauty in places close to home.  I have also found to my delight that designing a new website presents great opportunities. Birds of Inwood is pretty flashy! The birds are even larger than life on these new pages! Please visit. You'll be glad I didn't call it "Flying Off the Big Apple." Check out my forest home. - Teri

14 Useful Mobile Apps for Walking New York City

Texting and walking at the same time is wrong. Talking on the phone while strolling down the street is wrong. Leaving the sidewalk to stop and consult the information on a cellphone, preferably while alone, is OK. What's on Walking Off the Big Apple's iPhone: A List Walkmeter GPS Walking Stopwatch for Fitness and Weight Loss . While out walking, Walkmeter tracks routes, time, speed, and elevation. This is an excellent app for recording improvised or impromptu strolls, especially with many unplanned detours. The GPS function maps out the actual route. The app keeps a running tally of calories burned while walking, useful for weight loss goals. Another welcome feature is the ability to switch over to other modes of activity, including cycling. An indispensable app for city walkers. $4.99  New York City Compass , designed by Francesco Bertelli, is an elegant compass calibrated for Manhattan, with indications for Uptown, East Side, Downtown, and West Side. While facing a cert