The Port Townsend Marine Science Center's new Giant Pacific Octopus This story was published in the Port Townsend Leader. She’s friendly, but reserved. She likes to play, but she’s also dignified. She’s a lady, but she also likes to eat fish popsicles. Her name is Eleanora, and she’s a Giant Pacific Octopus. “We’re still getting … Continue reading Meet Eleanora…
Lunchtimes, and at all times, Chen Lieh Tang can be glimpsed in his Chelsea kitchen leaning into steaming pots of Chinese egg noodles, mixing sauces, and teaching his cooks the tricks of his trade. Since the March opening of his restaurant, Shorty Tang Noodles, on Eighth Avenue and 15th Street, the 64-year-old Tang has been … Continue reading Past Perfect in Chelsea
Eric Marcus, a journalist, author and historian, lives across the street from radio producer Sara Burningham in West Chelsea. With his three-decade-old audio archive of interviews with LGBTQ activists, icons and allies combined with Burningham’s production skills, the two neighbors have created a podcast, “Making Gay History.” The podcast first launched in October 2016 and … Continue reading Bringing LGBTQ history to life
Chelsea's gallery district has reigned as the heart of the city's contemporary art movement since the late 1990s. But could skyrocketing rents, coupled to the availability of cheaper options in other parts of the city, mean the district is losing some of its cachet with gallerists? An August 2016 report by StreetEasy found that real … Continue reading Is Chinatown the new arts district?
On a rainy Friday afternoon, Swatch the Boston Terrier, famous for his many appearances on the reality television show “Project Runway,” lies fast asleep on the first floor of Mood Fabrics on West 37th street, oblivious to the surrounding bustle. Designers step over his snoring body as they search through rows and rows of chiffon, … Continue reading Garment District’s unraveling?
Black history is not confined to one month, or, for that matter, to any single neighborhood or even region. In Chelsea, for instance, it’s in just about every nook and cranny of that district’s architecture — if you know where to look. “There’s a lot of people who do not know that this northern part … Continue reading Black history in Chelsea
New York City officials are teaming up with community faith leaders to provide help for undocumented immigrants. Panic spread through immigrant communities after the New York Immigration Coalition leaked a memo two weeks ago stating that ICE arrested “nearly 40” people in the New York City area. Since the leak, there have been rumors about … Continue reading Faith in sanctuary
“It's 2021, and our movement has won,” Ulli Hussein Barta told a group of people gathered in a muted East Village basement last week. Thursday's snowstorm, which had shut down public schools and closed businesses, had slowed to flurries as darkness fell. Inside Planeta, a community arts space on East Eighth Street near Avenue B, … Continue reading Envisioning four years from now
Move over Chanel No. 5: artist and chemist create money fragrance Mike Bouchet’s latest “sculpture” fills all 45,000 cubic feet of the white-walled, concrete-floored Marlborough Chelsea art gallery. There’s nothing to see. But don’t let the bare walls confuse you: the art is the smell. For his latest exhibition, entitled “Tender,” Bouchet has created the … Continue reading Smelling Green
Lily Haight 