Hellsea (Hell’s Kitchen + Chelsea)
Hellsea (or HellSea) is a Manhattan neighborhood nickname, blending Hell’s Kitchen with Chelsea. “Hellsea” appears to have been coined by gay publications (2004 Go Guide and Out & About magazine) in 2004.
NoChe (North of Chelsea) is another name for the same area that dates from 2005.
Urban Dictionary
hellsea
All the gays fled Chelsea and now are populating this part of Hell’s Kitchen - an area square from (from the southeast) 33rd St & 8th Ave to 43rd St & 10th Ave. Curbed.com says: It’s everything you hate about Hells Kitchen and nothing you like about Chelsea.
As much as I love the price of my Hellsea apartment, I can’t stand Times Square, the Lincoln Tunnel traffic and all the damn tourists.
by Valerie F Manhattan Apr 14, 2006
Gay.com - New York City
HELL’S KITCHEN
Also known (but less so these days) as Clinton, Hell’s Kitchen is the most recently settled of the city’s gay enclaves, earning it the new monikers of Hellsea and NoChe, both nods to southern neighbor Chelsea. Running roughly from 34th to 57th streets and from Eighth Avenue west to the Hudson River, Hell’s Kitchen’s proximity to Broadway and the theater district has drawn stray gays for decades, attracted by the formerly cheap rents of its tenement-style housing. It’s only in the past few years that gay people have settled here en bloc, bringing with them the requisite bars and restaurants that now make Hellsea arguably the city’s hottest queer playground.
14 March 2004, Atlanta (GA) Journal-Constitution, “2004 Go Guide”:
The top 10 list’s recommended spots to visit in the Big Apple are Hellsea (Hell’s Kitchen north of Chelsea) and the East Village.
San Diego (CA) Union-Tribune
San Diego listed among magazine’s gay-friendly destinations
By January W. Payne
October 3, 2004
If you are gay or lesbian and looking for a vacation hot spot, Cape Town, South Africa, might be the place for you. And if you live in San Diego, you might just want to stay home.
The towns made it on to two gay-friendly destination lists put together by Out & About, a monthly magazine that provides gay travel information and resources.
(...)
7. New York: This city offers something for everyone. The Top 10 list’s recommended spots to visit in the Big Apple are Hellsea (Hell’s Kitchen north of Chelsea) and the East Village.
Curbed
‘Hoodwinked Update: Quick Hits
Tuesday, June 14, 2005, by Lockhart
(...)
HellSea: Stretching from 33rd St & 8th Ave to 43rd St & 8th Ave and west to 10th Ave. It’s everything you hate about Hells Kitchen and nothing you like about Chelsea.
flickr
HellSea
Uploaded on February 13, 2006
by sawkonyc
HellSea: Stretching from 33rd St & 8th Ave to 43rd St & 8th Ave and west to 10th Ave. It’s everything you hate about Hells Kitchen and nothing you like about Chelsea.
A Good ‘Hood
Friday, February 9, 2007
Eatin’ Good in the ‘Hood (Hellsea)
Okay, so perhaps I was rash not to name names yesterday, because certain establishments deserve good old fashioned shout outs! And today’s is “Empenada Mama” in Hellsea. 9th Avenue, in the low 50s.
New York (NY) Times
March 25, 2007
Under the Rainbow
By DAVID SHAFTEL
(...)
And despite Hell’s Kitchen’s growing appeal to many of the city’s young gay men, an attraction fueled by its strengthening gay identity, many residents predict that the area may never have the gay identity that Chelsea has and that the West Village was once famous for, that it will endure simply as a gay-friendly district, less a scene than simply a neighborhood.
Hellsea? NoChe? Hell’s Kitty?
Historians disagree on the derivation of the name Hell’s Kitchen, which designates the area bounded by 34th and 59th Streets between Eighth Avenue and the Hudson River, and which was largely replaced in the 1960s by the more respectable-sounding Clinton. But not surprisingly in a city that loves to rename its communities, Hell’s Kitchen has been increasingly rebranded, with names spawned in equal measure by real estate agents and gay tastemakers: Mid West, NoChe (North of Chelsea), Hell’s Kitchenette, Hell’s Kitty and, most ubiquitous, Hellsea.
Whatever people call it, the message is unmistakable: Hell’s Kitchen is getting gayer and gayer.