Why does the west side section of NYC above about 34th St. have the colorful nickname "Hell's Kitchen"?

Answer 1

I got so excited - I thought this was a Gordon Ramsey question.
Actually, nobody knows for certain how Hell's Kitchen got its name - I like the Davy Crockett quote - "too mean to swab Hell's Kitchen"

"Wikipedia has these explanations:
Several different explanations exist for the original name. An early use of the phrase appears in a comment Davy Crockett made about another notorious Irish slum in Manhattan, Five Points. According to the Irish Cultural Society of the Garden City Area:

In 1835, [when] Davy Crockett said, "In my part of the country, when you meet an Irishman, you find a first-rate gentleman; but these are worse than savages; they are too mean to swab hell's kitchen," he was referring to the Five Points.[1]
According to an article by Kirkley Greenwell, published online by the Hell's Kitchen Neighborhood Association:

No one can pin down the exact origin of the label, but some refer to a tenement on 54th as the first "Hell's Kitchen." Another explanation points to an infamous building at 39th as the true original. A gang and a local dive took the name as well.... a similar slum also existed in London and was known as Hell's Kitchen. Whatever the origin of the name, it fit.[2]
Local historian Mary Clark adds a probably-apocryphal anecdote when she states the name:

...first appeared in print on September 22, 1881 when a New York Times reporter went to the West 30s with a police guide to get details of a multiple murder there. He referred to a particularly infamous tenement at 39th Street and 10th Avenue as "Hell's Kitchen," and said that the entire section was "probably the lowest and filthiest in the city." According to this version, 39th Street between 9th and 10th Avenues became known as Hell's Kitchen and the name was later expanded to the surrounding streets. Another version ascribes the name's origins to a German restaurant in the area known as Heil's Kitchen, after its proprietors. But the most common version traces it to the story of Dutch Fred The Cop, a veteran policeman, who with his rookie partner, was watching a small riot on West 39th Street near 10th Avenue. The rookie is supposed to have said, "This place is hell itself," to which Fred replied, "Hell's a mild climate. This is Hell's Kitchen."[3]
Today, most residents of the area, and most New Yorkers in general, refer to the area as "Hell's Kitchen," with "Clinton" being the name favored by the municipality, "gentrifiers," and eager real estate agents."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell's_Kitchen,_Manhattan

Answer 2

Hell's Kitchen starts at about 45th Street at Ninth Avenue heading toward the Hudson River Slyvester Stallone from "Rocky" movies was borned in Hell's Kitchen. It was a dangerous, rough neighborhood for over 100 years until the 1990s when realtors took over. One reason it was named Hell's Kitchen was because the west side pier ports drew in a lot of French sailors at the turn of the century. And the French sailors loved to cook and they were rowdy drunks like everyone else in that longshoremen neighborhood. So because of the French sailors cooking abilities and the rough and tumble attitute of everyone there, the neighborhood was called "Hell's Kitchen."

Answer 3

Because it used to be the stomping grounds of several Irish gangs, which then were forced to give way to Puerto Rican gangs. The musical West Side Story is based on these gang clashes in Hell's Kitchen. Same with Paul Simon's canceled show The Capeman. The industrial area of the riverfront coupled with the crime-ridden low-income gang-dominated residential area combined to give the neighborhood the Hell's Kitchen name and reputation.

In recent years, real estate developers have tried to rename the area "Clinton" as in DeWitt Clinton, one of New York's early state governors, but the Hell's Kitchen name sticks.

Answer 4

Because at one time not so long ago there were ships that used all those piers that are now abandoned . With the ships came the seamen , the longshoremen and the wiseguys. Others that provided good and services to the aforementioned groups were also well represented.The area was rough and coarse and so were the people who lived and worked there.Some theater people also lived there because the rents were cheap and the theaters were close by
What you see today is a far cry from what it once was.

Answer 5

For great and concise answers about Hell's Kitchen and all of NYC's neighborhoods and their history - visit nycvisit.com