Hell's Kitchen: Encyclopedia II - Hell's Kitchen - Derivation

Hell's Kitchen - Derivation

Originally, the expression "Hell's Kitchen" referred to a rough neighborhood in South London. The term in reference to New York first appeared in print on September 22, 1881, when a New York Times reporter went to a police guide to get details of a multiple murder there. He referred to a particular 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."

While the New York Times article was the first reference to Hell's Kitchen in print, other explanations exist for the origin of the name. The most common of them traces "Hell's Kitchen" 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."

Additional theories include:

• The name's origin is traced to a German restaurant in the area known as Heil's Kitchen, which was named after its proprietors.
• The name "Hell's Kitchen" might also be from an old saying from Ireland: "This place is hotter than Hell's Kitchen."

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Derivation", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki