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Oil Can Boyd

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Posts posted by Oil Can Boyd

    Someone broke into my car!

    in Tongue-Tied Lightning

    Posted

    Why is it called Hell's Kitchen?

     

    From wikipedia:

     

    Alternative names

    Hell's Kitchen has stuck as the name even though real estate developers have offered alternatives of Clinton and Midtown West or even the Mid-West. The Clinton name originated in 1959 in an attempt to link the name to the DeWitt Clinton Park at 52nd and 11th Avenue. Clinton was a former New York governor.

     

     

    Hell's Kitchen

    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.

    Octoberquest 2006

    in Tongue-Tied Lightning

    Posted

    I agree with Gonzalez getting shanked on the award. Had he been able to play an additional 25-40 games I'm not so sure the ball-wash job on Jeter would've not still taken place, though.

     

    True, and both Uribe and Michael Young seem to have better numebrs than Jeets.

    The Minutemen Appreciation Thread

    in Someone Else's Song

    Posted

    When I was in high school, some cool guy working at the local independent record store told me that Double Nickels on the Dime "changed his life." Was never able to get into it. What's a good starting point for the Minutemen?

     

    Re: fIREHOSE, I still like "Down with the Bass" - even though Flyin' the Flannel wasn't the greatest record in the world.

     

    I think Double Nickels is their best, but Project Mersh and Three Way Tie for Last are probably easier to get into (and quite good too).

    Blu-Ray v. HD-DVD

    in Tongue-Tied Lightning

    Posted

    This past Saturday, we were at Jerry's Records and I could have bought Woodstock and The Last Waltz on laserdisc for 10 bucks each. The dude even told me where I could go find a laserdisc player.

     

    When I was in college (which is longer ago than I would like to admit) my dorm had a fundraiser and with the money we had the choice of buying a VCR or a laserdisc player. I remember there was lots of discussion but the laserdisc faction won out. It seemed like a good choice at the time ...

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