Hell’s Kitchen Local

This was my home for 10 years while dancing with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in the early 2000s and again for the past six years as I’ve been teaching at Ailey Extension. I love teaching Pilates Fusion on Sundays at 11am. My students are of all ages and levels but are all so open and receptive to my unique style which combines Pilates, dance, yoga, mobility, stability, muscle activation and breath work. I have people in-studio and from all over the world online as well. Then I get to teach dance classes to the kids and teens. I love getting to help shape young dancers and share what I’ve learned throughout my journey as a performing artist.

Founded by three Hell's Kitchen natives, whose family has run a deli in the neighborhood for years, they serve what I think is the closest to In-N-Out burgers, which the former Californian in me appreciates.

The New Dramatists has a striking Gothic aesthetic that has always captivated me. Long ago, the building served as a church, and that history can still be felt throughout its halls and architecture. Before the pandemic, it was a vibrant gathering place filled with activity and community.

Hell’s Kitchen Park is a real neighborhood park, made even more so by the local volunteers who help maintain the plantings, and those who promoted the new mural on the east building facing the park. This is exactly the kind of public space this City needs more of. It became one of my favorite places and a core memory from this campaign: standing in that park surrounded by the labor leaders and rank-and-file members from the unions backing this race, looking out at a crowd of working New Yorkers who built this city and still fight to make it work for everyone. That’s the coalition I’m running with, that’s the neighborhood I’m running for, and Hell’s Kitchen Park is where it all came together.

I love to have a drink at the bar, chat with local residents or their friendly bartenders and listen to their great jukebox playlist.

In 1978, a group of neighbors on W48th Street looked at a lot that had been a garbage heap for 28 years and decided to build something better. When the city moved to auction the land out from under them in the early 1980s, they fought back. They formed the Committee to Save Clinton Community Garden, ran a “Square Inch Campaign” selling pieces of the garden for five dollars apiece, and in 1984 made it the first community garden in New York City protected as permanent parkland.

The Vanilla Gorilla Cafe is my go-to coffee shop for meeting up with friends. It’s spacious and bright with great beverages and bakery treats. My current favorite is the Hot Cinnamon Spice Tea.

I couldn’t pick my top 10 places and not mention Flaming Saddles. It’s a guilty pleasure. I’m from Texas and sometimes I just wanna have a beer and sing along to Reba, OK!?

Their whole-food, plant-based dishes are incredibly flavorful and visually appealing.

Their $16 Siesta Lunch Special is one of the finest deals in the neighborhood. My rotating order includes the lamb barbacoa braised in Negra Modelo with salsa borracha and serrano chilies, the crispy Gulf shrimp taco with guacamole, pico de gallo, and the beer-battered mahi mahi with poblano slaw and lime aioli on a flour tortilla. Bright, satisfying and always a treat.