Press

Hell’s Kitchen Groups Gather to Snack and Strategize

 February 15, 2017 | by DUSICA SUE MALESEVIC, Chelsea Now

On Feb. 13, members of the Hell’s Kitchen Commons — a loose alliance of area park and block associations — met at the Landmark Tavern (626 11th Ave., at W. 46th St.) to celebrate, connect with their neighbors, and warm themselves by imbibing spirits and snacking on appetizers. Click here to read more.

Hell’s Kitchen Mural Project is a ‘Commons’ Cause

February 10, 2016 | by TRAVIS STEWART, Chelsea Now

The images may be faded, but the message endures — and it’s one that Hell’s Kitchen needs now more than ever.

Created by artist Arnold Belkin (1930-1992) in the heroic socialist tradition of Mexican muralists such as Diego Rivera, “Against Domestic Colonialism” depicts working class community members, shoulder to shoulder, fighting eviction and exploitation by wealthy overlords. Over four decades after its 1972 unveiling, the work is in disrepair — and a group of neighborhood residents have made it their number one priority to fix the wall and recreate the mural, which looms large inside of Mathews-Palmer Playground (btw. W. 45th & W. 46th Sts., and Ninth & 10th Aves.). Click here to read more.

West 45th Street Movie Screening Celebrates Life With Disabilities

July 10, 2015 | by Rosa Goldensohn, DNAinfo

HELL’S KITCHEN — Celebrate 25 years of the Americans with Disabilities Act Hell’s Kitchen style, with a free outdoor movie and live music Monday night.

The festivities begin at 7:30 p.m in the Matthew Palmer Playground on West 45th Street near Tenth Avenue. Actor, singer and Hell’s Kitchen local Anita Hollander will perform songs from her show “Still Standing,” which tells the story of her loss of a leg to cancer. Click here to read more.

Hell’s Kitchen Event Celebrates the Abilities of the Disabled

July 8, 2015 | BY DUSICA SUE MALESEVIC, Chelsea Now

Performer and Hell’s Kitchen resident Anita Hollander will be singing songs from her musical “Still Standing” on Mon., July 13 at Mathews-Palmer Park (on 45th/46th Sts. btw. 9th & 10th Aves.) — a night that will also include the free outdoor screening of the film “Musical Chairs.” Click here to read more.

Hell’s Kitchen Mural Restoration is the Right Kind of Urban Renewal

June 17, 2015 | BY ZACH WILLIAMS, Chelsea Now

The solemn expressions of a proud and proactive proletariat hide behind the grime acquired during 43 years nestled in Hell’s Kitchen.

A casual observer would likely not notice the faded slogan within “Against Domestic Colonialism” which graces a W. 46th St. building adjacent to Matthews-Palmer Playground (btw. Ninth & 10th Aves.). Bare bricks replaced the faces of defiant work people years ago. Chipping and faded paint make it not so obvious that “We the people demand control of our communities,” reads an area of the mural. The top third of the painting was covered by stucco. Click here to read more.

Hell’s Kitchen Street Tree Care

May 27, 2015 | by Scott Stiffler, Chelsea Now

Prune some things from your schedule if you must — whatever it takes to give some love back to the trees that line the side streets of that place some call “Clinton.” The West 45/46 Street Block Association is hosting a Street Tree Care event that puts the TLC in H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks’ Kitchen. At Hell’s Kitchen Commons (W. 45 St.), from last October’s Street Tree Care Project. The next installment happens on June 6. Click here to read more.

Free Footin’ It: No Cost Walks

April 23, 2015 | by Scott Stiffler, Chelsea Now

HELL’S KITCHEN GREEN OASES WALKING TOUR
Mere steps from Times Square is a road not taken by throngs of sightseeing tourists, and barely noticed by those spilling out of the bars that have been sprouting up like weeds. People who call Hell’s Kitchen home (and call themselves “Hell’s Kitchenites”) are growing all sorts of veggies, herbs and flowers in places both tucked away and in plain view. Click here to read more.

Block Association Builds Bridges in Hell’s Kitchen

January 29, 2015 | BY DUSICA SUE MALESEVIC, Chelsea Now

Chana Widawski was sitting on her stoop on W. 45th St. in Hell’s Kitchen when it hit her: a live production of “West Side Story” — populated with local talent — should be mounted at Mathews-Palmer Park (on 45th/46th Sts., btw. 9th & 10th Aves.).

“I thought it would be an incredible idea to do a live production using all our local talent on our own street,” she said. Click here to read more.

City Hits Block Association With $40K in Fines for Hanging Event Posters

May 15, 2014 | By Mathew Katz, DNAinfo

HELL'S KITCHEN — The city's Department of Sanitation slammed a block association with nearly $40,000 in fines after the group put up posters advertising a free movie night in a local park — leaving the group afraid to publicize its upcoming events.

The West 45th/46th Street Block Association reached out to alert its neighbors about its annual bike-in movie event in the Matthews-Palmer Playground last May by hanging signs on lampposts and traffic light poles, as they had done without issue for the past decade, members said. Click here to read more.

A Playground Grows in Hell’s Kitchen

October 29, 2012 | by Bogdan Mohora, BogdanMohora Blog

It was known simply as “the park” to the neighborhood kids of 1950s Hell’s Kitchen in Manhattan. Matthews-Palmer Playground, as it’s called today, was little more than a narrow length of basketball and handball courts, concrete chess tables and benches that stretched from West 46th Street to West 45th Street in between Ninth and Tenth avenues. At night, the stark playground, wedged between five story tenements, laid in thick shadows lit only by the streetlights of West 46th Street. It was a refuge for residents from the indoor heat of smoldering summer days and nights. Click here to read more.