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The name Hell's Kitchen, unlike those of Dumbo and SoHo, was not a creation of the real estate world. CityRoom revisits how the push to change the menacing moniker occurred nearly 50 years ago, when three teenagers were stabbed and two were beaten on West 46th Street between 9th and 10th Avenue. Business owners became upset with the press using "Hell's Kitchen" in coverage of the crime and offered the more neutral "Clinton" after the DeWitt Clinton Park. For real estate purposes, Clinton has become more accepted, but does anyone really use it? A 56-year-old told CityRoom, "Anything was better than Hell's Kitchen... But 20 years ago you wouldn’t be asking me this question. Then the streets were filled with hookers and junkies. And I remember. I’m old so I use old name. A new name doesn’t change the place." And a 26-year-old said, "Clinton is a stupid example of gentrification. I’ll never call it that. It’s a name like Hell’s Kitchen that make New York neighborhoods quirky." Google Maps shows Clinton above 42nd Street and Hell's Kitchen below, while Wikipedia sticks with Hell's Kitchen. And the city can't make up its mind: The DOT calls it "Clinton/Hell's Kitchen" while the City Planning office goes with "Clinton."
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Any real New Yorker doesn't use those cutesy names the realtors keep trying to come up with. . SoHo and TriBeCa are the only to manufactured names that ever worked. Besides, the name 'Hell's Kitchen' only adds to the neighborhood now that is has been cleaned up.
Hell's Kitchen.
Fuck all that other shit (Clinto, Midtown West).
*n
- we need an edit button.
When i lived there up until a year or so ago, it was always referred to hells kitchen, i was on 9th & 40th, trust me Hell's Kitchen is the ONLY name for that place!
Hell's Kitchen is pretty much the reason a two week job assignment in NYC back in 1999 turned into 10 years and still going. Out of the 10+ years, I have lived in HK for 6-7 of those years(with hops in brooklyn, downtown, and now Brooklyn again). Even as Disney moves outward from Times Sq., and favourite restaurants on 9th ave get bought up and ruined by conglomerates(I'm lookin at you, whoever you are, that bought Pietresanta's and Rachel's), and old old favourites disappear(R.I.P. McHale's), and the Sunday Morning 8am hookers no longer scare families on their way to church, and crack bottles don't crunch under feet(ok, I don't miss that part).....it's still Hell's Kitchen damnit! and its not okay to call it Clinton.
dimes
Are u kidding??...Someone bought Pietrasantas? Ughh i'm almost glad i left the city
Goes to show you how stupid the realtors can be: Hell's Kitchen is a damn cool sounding name. When I visited Death Valley a few years back.
(con't) I really enjoyed sending cards to people that said greetings from DEATH Valley on them, not "Happy" Valley. Business people have no imagination sometimes.
The funnier part to me is the fact that most of the fuckers who use the name 'Clinton' for Hells Kitchen probably don't even know what the namesake means in the history of New York.
Everyone knows the hotspot is now Dowisetrepla
FTW!!
Calling it Clinton is like putting lipstick on a pig. As Ph says, they probably don't know the history and the history is pretty cool behind the name. HK is gritty & definitely possess some of the old school New York character & for that reason alone, it's one of my fav. neighborhoods.
It has changed greatly and truly is a really pleasant place to live. The only grittiness that I see surrounds that of the Port Authority Bus terminal (Which I live near) and the Shelter across the street.
But for the record, If you call it Clinton, people would generally ask what the fuck your talking about. Some people use Midtown West, which is fine because it really is West of Midtown, but the name Hell's Kitchen ( as well as its history, and good eats) has a certain type of allure which brings more people into the neighborhood. The only people who want to change the names are Real Estate Brokers and high rise development owners who want to turn the area into another high rise development community.
Thankfully the name has sticking power. Long live Hell's Kitchen!
It's HELL for the poor carriage horses who live in those warehouses in Hell kitchen. Not to mention the traffic the poor horses are mixed in.
Don't forget the poor geese in Dewitt Clinton park. They suffer also from the smell of horse shit from across the street.
I think the proper compromise wold be Heck's Kitchen.
I've heard the comment that nowadays it's better described as Hell's Kitchenette. (I might call it Hell's Brunch Spot, lately -- and we all know that brunch is for assholes -- but put that to the side.)
If people in the neighborhood call it Hell's Kitchen...it's Hell's Kitchen. I live there, and in my experience no one calls it Clinton -- the only person I ever heard call it that was a real estate broker.
Hell's Hill, Clinton's Kitchen, Clinton Slope, Hell's Square, Helki, Midtown West, Hooker's Haven?
Give me Hell's Kitchen or give me death. Or a new neighborhood, anyway.
A-8, proud resident of the VIP section of HK (57th St)
The only legitimate reason to call it Clinton... is so that the southern part of the neighborhood can be called Chelsea-Clinton...
Otherwise, HK all the way.
Hell's Kitchen forever!
Hell's Kitchen only exists in Daredevil comics these days. What's there now deserves to be called Clinton.
It'll always be the Heatpacking District.
Hell's Kitchen because it's the bum's and suburban yuppie paradise not to mention the food sucks in that area.
Now that I think of it, the area's claim to fame is still the 2 winos wheeling their recently dead friend and his Social Security draught over to the check casher.
It once earned the name "Hell's Kitchen", now it's earned the name "Clinton".