Dear Feature Writers,
We will be writing a series of neighborhood related stories in this Feature Writing class, all related to your specific neighborhood beat. They include: A profile or a neighborhood faces story, a community business story, a community services story and (for your final project) a neighborhood conflict story. For all of these assignments, you will be asked to upload proposals to the blog. There will also be other blog assignments–concerning your progress on various stories and coverage of other college events.
Upper East Side
Anyone who knows New York City can automatically spit out the words rich or wealthy when they hear “Upper East Side.” They aren’t wrong but they aren’t fully right either. Only from about the early 20th century on did this area of Manhattan begin to flourish and develop its elegance. The Upper East Side was first called home to the Native Americans. The Native Americans set up fishing camps along the East River and the area remained a rural farmland and market garden for many years. Once commercial development began to occur, the farmland started to vanish and became home to many working and middle class immigrants. They worked in factories or stables just trying to make a living. After the economic depression, known as the Panic of 1873, the Upper East Side began to recover financially, which now put it on the map as a prime location.
Around the early 1900’s, the upper or wealthy class began to discover the area and the real estate that it offered. The row houses that were constructed in previous years were demolished allowing for more new and elegant residential buildings, along 59th street going northward. As more and more wealthy individuals moved into the area, schools, churches, social clubs, and fashion shops also took up residence. Development of the Upper East Side continued, bringing status and prominence to the area, and creating the Upper East Side that is here today. A trip to the Upper East Side today will not disappoint with its fine dining, shopping, exclusive clubs and schools, but most importantly its beautiful real estate.
While a small riot was in progress on 39th Street and 10th Avenue in the early 1880s, a police officer referred to the area as “Hell’s Kitchen,” and the name stuck. Also known as Clinton or Midtown West, Hell’s Kitchen spans from 34th Street to 57th Street, from 8th Avenue to the Hudson River. The neighborhood includes many famous band important buildings, including the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, the Port Authority Bus Terminal, The Hearst Building, and World Wide Plaza. The area gained its name by being one of the dirtiest and dangerous neighborhoods in Manhattan many years ago, and although it has been extremely gentrified, it still retains its gritty charm.
Hell’s Kitchen was a haven for Irish Immigrants, with a large Irish Mafia influence over jobs and housing. Over the past four decades, the area became a sanctuary for actors and artists alike. The low rents, the proximity to Times Square and Broadway, and the community support were some of the many reasons for actors and artists to reside in the neighborhood.
Two large apartment buildings on one block between 42nd and 43rd streets and ninth and tenth avenues, called Manhattan Plaza, was constructed in the 1970’s and offered 70% of it’s apartments to occupants who work in the performing arts. There are also many performance venues in the area, including The 45th Street Theater, The Actors’ Temple, and the more recently opened Terminal 5.
Hell’s Kitchen is a thriving, nitty-gritty, recently gentrified neighborhood, with deep community roots, and I look forward to getting to know my stomping grounds more intimately and sharing my discoveries with my classmates, the community, and the world.
Neighborhood : Chelsea
Welcome to the beautiful neighborhood of Chelsea, New York. Situated on the lower west side of the borough of Manhattan, it is a quite a lively area to be around. It was established in 1830 and roughly spanning from 34th street to 14th and from 8th avenue to 10th avenue. Chelsea has many attractions spanning from its Greek revival, Georgian residencies to its bustling shopping centers, Chelsea Piers and to the high line. The high line earns a noteworthy mention because it is an attraction, which is a former elevated railway that was converted to a greenway of sorts spanning from the Jacob Javits center to the Meatpacking district. Make sure and take a gander if you do happen upon this urban oasis as it does run through the spotlight attraction.
The spot, which garners the spotlight moment of this article, is the Chelsea Market. Sure, it sounds like every other market/mom & pop store aptly named for its location if you do not know of it already, but take a walk in and you will find yourself in a bustling urban shoppers dream – mostly for edibles and perishables. Sounds normal? Quite contrary. Chelsea Market has an affinity for drawing in food connoisseurs and celebrity chefs. Besides its amazing selection of gourmet foods and ingredients for every aspiring chef in New York City, the market plays host to the Food Network’s Iron Chef America as well as Emeril Live. The Market is also home to Mario Battali’s Del Posto restaurant as well Masaharu Morimoto’s Morimoto Restaurant. Both chefs are resident Iron chefs on Iron Chef America. Whether a resident of Chelsea or a tourist and your palette is in need of some variety and quality, take a trip down to Chelsea Market to satisfy your cravings.