members of the barrio today we're going
to be exploring hell's kitchen
a neighborhood in midtown just west of
the chaos
of times square put a world away we're
going to show you where to eat
where to shop and where to hang out like
a local you don't want to miss this
meet our guest billy hipkins he's worked
on broadway as a wardrobe professional
for 30 years and lived in hell's kitchen
for decades we're two and a half blocks
from times square the center of new
york's tourist universe but
hell's kitchen feels so much different
it's actually got a neighborhood vibe
it's always been
its own neighborhood with its own
distinct separate from all of that just
so close to us
feel did i mention how hilarious really
is
that's my apartment right there what
floor 30th floor
lived there for 31 years and next time i
move it's in a pine box
all right i said at the time you went
there you went throughout me
manhattan plaza and we have to talk
about the importance of the performing
arts to this neighborhood
broadway is a couple of blocks away and
a ton of actors and people in the
industry
live in these two buildings right
absolutely uh the building uh
is government subsidized housing a huge
percentage of the
people in the building i think it's a 60
percent
are people within the performing arts
any division of actors scene painter
musician
whatever that is you do that's how i got
into the building you can make the
argument that everything around this
neighborhood
has thrived and become the neighborhood
it is because of the success of
manhattan plaza
billy took us inside manhattan plaza for
a surprise tour of one of new york's
most famous apartment complexes i know
actors that said they were begging us to
move in and
i said hell no over there and people are
kicking themselves now
that's a tennis club the traffic and the
noise and the sirens
are insane i live right up there on the
30th floor and i'll be in my apartment
on the phone with the terrace door open
and friends are like are you on the
street
i don't hear it anymore i've been there
30 years i don't hear it have you
noticed when you travel to like upstate
new york a quiet location that it's too
quiet yes it's too quiet so
i've had that same experience when i go
upstate with my wife we rent a little
cabin
at night i hear crickets i hear birds i
hear things like wow
where's the noise yeah where's the noise
yeah no i don't care for it
i start missing concrete real fast
angela lansbury used to live in here
tennessee williams used to live in here
alicia keys grew up in my building
uh lawrence fishburne was a uh nighttime
security guard in the building
if you're a fan of seinfeld you're gonna
love this stuff
and as luck would have it we are sitting
in the booth where
the idea for seinfeld was conceived
absolutely uh this is also the booth
where i spend a lot of time after shows
because after a broadway show lets out
a lot of people that have seen shows
will come over here to eat but also
those of us that live in the
neighborhood and work here
if i want to meet a friend after a show
and i don't want to go to a bar or
something touristy or anything else yeah
meet over at westway diner because it's
it's the best diner food in the
neighborhood i can just get a midnight
omelet
i grew up in north jersey diners are
life for me i love like old school
classic diners like this one especially
in hell's kitchen hit this up after a
show for sure
billy there's a lot of talk these days
that new york has become a lot more
dangerous but you lived here
literally you said on this block in the
80s
when the crime stats were actually
extremely high what was it like back
then
well there were certain blocks where if
you want to get robbed or shift
feel free to walk down that block if you
want to be safe go on block over it's
picked up to the point where
we're a safer neighborhood uh we we have
just so much activity
and life i feel safe anywhere i am now
it's been different during the pandemic
with
people shut down it was a little
dangerous for a while there but uh now
it just feels like my neighborhood again
i
i go anywhere i do anything we are i
can't go a block without seeing somebody
i know
billy got stopped so many times he may
as well have been the mayor of hell's
kitchen
and i absolutely loved his choice for
lunch
bulgogi beef mandu and then one order of
beef tacos from ben
this is one of those ultimate lunch
destinations because when you go out
with a big group
someone's probably a vegan someone just
wants regular american food and maybe
someone wants something exotic we've got
all three here i were in korea you
ordered a sandwich
absolutely i never understood being a
tourist going to another location and oh
thank god they have an applebee's
why would you go to applebee's this is
different than anything else we have in
the neighborhood
and different than something you're
probably going to find wherever it is
you're visiting from
now for 7.95 a mango that's a mango
mango
mango where am i speaking english today
for 7.95 a mango
sojurita i mean i i had to try this
oh that's good put this in a cocktail
glass at some
snobby rooftop bar and this would be 15.
7.95
yes that's my look at the presentation
on that that's my favorite
that's my jam i love this all right
bulgogi
mandu right here beef let me take a bite
[Music]
really interesting lunch very eclectic
choice here totally the kind of place
that i would get behind and i would be
here
all the time if i live where billy lived
make sure i'm not gonna get a run over
all right amazing amazing ben what are
you what are you thinking here
thinking about this korean tacos right
here bulgogi beef tacos
there's even rice this is amazing
and you're like two inches from the curb
here this could be my last meal do you
think broadway's gonna reopen in
september or is this still up in the air
i do think broadway is going to reopen
in september
the question is how we cannot do
broadway unless we are this close
as you and i are right exactly you and i
are vaccinated is there a guarantee
everyone is vaccinated how do you prove
that how do we do that checking
everybody at the door backstage in front
of house
until those protocols are nailed down
and announced
our unions will not let us work
backstage and until those are announced
what audience member would feel safe
with the assumption that you're sitting
this close to me safe
next up one of the coolest gift shops
i've ever been to
in new york city you guys first showed
up in the neighborhood it changed
everything because that's someone that
was already living here oh my god
a store that is a gay friendly and with
with gay merchandise uh to get something
for somebody for opening night
or for the dressing room or on your way
to a birthday party it really changed
everything
vladimir putin the laboratory mist make
problems disappear
here you have all your famous leading
ladies a to z
it's an essential for every child this
comes from your gay uncle in new york
we've determined these actually do not
go on kittens they just look like
kittens
you're the first one that's fantastic
yeah texas loves me yeah
good to see that you recommend texas
loves me
let me introduce you to a damn good
cookie place i have always about that
maple thing maple that is skinny
i don't know i don't know you gotta try
it i think i just want a classic
chocolate chip
okay call me old-fashioned i definitely
want a maple bacon
i'd heard of schmackary's before never
actually been here
and you were telling me that normally
before or after a broadway show there's
a line out the door
oh yeah 11 o'clock at night there'll be
a line 20 people deep of people that
just say hey i'm talking here they'll
send smackeries to your stage door and
we all will lose our minds when a box of
schmackary shows up i mean this looks
incredible
i i think it's going to be great let's
take a bite
[Music]
the only thing missing is a little milk
right now it's the only thing missing
from this to make it perfect but
right across the street in that coffee
shop where he usually sits
i think that might be my friend tony
nominee max von essen
in hell's kitchen we're all sitting here
side by side the rich the poor the dirty
the famous
if you want to hear more of me running
my mouth i have my own youtube channel
it is called the also ran
it is my daily ramblings about being a
new yorker all day
all night feel free to join me all right
we've got cookies to go thank you so
much to billy and ben for today's video
hope you guys enjoyed this tour of
hell's kitchen check out our other
neighborhood playlist
linked down below guys thank you so much
for watching as always until next time