I live in a loft on West 36th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues, at the south end of a neighborhood  that’s variously known as Hell’s Kitchen, Clinton, or Midtown West. The name Hell’s Kitchen dates to the 1800s, when the neighborhood, which traditionally stretched from from the lower 30s to 59th Street, west of Eighth Avenue, was a hotbed of gang violence. The moniker Clinton was introduced in 1959 in an attempt to distance the area from its gritty reputation, which was still deserved as late as the 1980s. These days the only type of gang you’ll see in the streets is a colorful array of friendly kooks in all sorts of attire riding bikes and skateboards, even walking on stilts, doing their thing. The proximity to the Theater District means that the area is home to lots of actors and show people, and because of its central location, Clinton is a community of walkers: Midtown, Broadway, Times Square, the High Line, Macy’s, Penn Station, Madison Square Garden, Chelsea, and the West Village are all close enough to be reached easily on foot.  I particularly like the shopping on Ninth Avenue, which adjoins the Garment District, so there’s a lot of great energy around. Here are some Hell’s Kitchen highlights.

Scott Bromley lives on West 36th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues—at the south end of a neighborhood known variously as Hell’s Kitchen, Clinton, or Midtown West—shot here by the fine photographer Christopher Woodcock.

Another great Christopher Woodcock image, this one of West 37th Street at Eighth Avenue, where the 28-block Garment District, with its signature brick and terra-cotta factory-type buildings, overlaps with Hell’s Kitchen South.

Opened in 2005, 450 West 37th Street is a six-story, 46,000-square-foot, concrete-and-glass building designed by the late architect John Averitt to be a versatile, column-free performing-arts hub. It houses the Baryshnikov Arts Center (BAC) and the DiMenna Center for Classical Music, home to the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. Photograph by Francis Dzikowski/Esto.

The Baryshnikov Center’s main performing space is the 238-seat Jerome Robbins Theater. The renowned Wooster Group is its resident theater company, creating and performing work in the venue three months out of the year. Other programming in the theater emphasizes multi-disciplinary work, emerging talent, and international artists who might not otherwise have the opportunity to perform in the United States. Photographed by Alexander Severin/Razummedian. 

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