Vanderbilt campus on 21st Street between 9th & 10th will let you walk around this Sunday

We wrote a few weeks ago about the new Vanderbilt NYC campus opening to its first class of students. Mostly understandably, the gates on 21st Street have been shut to the public since we added it to our regular walk around the time of our original post. Neighbor Lauren now writes in informing us that this Sunday, October 18, 2026, Vanderbilt will be opening its gates for an “open house” from 12-4pm. Architects will be on scene to answer your questions about the historic Gothic buildings on campus. We will wander down this Sunday and encourage you to as well.

Korean wellness and beauty spot called “Noona’s” opening on 20th Street & 7th Ave

“Noona” means older sister in Korean and is used exclusively by a younger brother to refer to an older sister. So in serious honor of someone’s little brother (Ed. note to him and probably you as well: you really need to call your older sister and probably your mother as well), a Korean wellness and beauty establishment called Noona’s is opening soon on 20th Street & 7th Ave. As we understand it, the owner Christine Kim is cultivating a lounge-like atmosphere that should feel like your tasteful and approachable older sister’s room. It will serve coffee, smoothies, and small bites (some of which you can see here); and then at night it turns into a wine bar.

We’ll reach out to Christine and report back here with more information, including anticipated opening and hopefully a description from the noona’s mouth as to what she’s got in store here. Really happy to have this opening up in our neighborhood.

“Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen,” a musical, now playing on 27th Street

“Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen,” a musical based on a Japanese manga novel by the same name about a literary and disassociating sex worker in 20th century France, is playing from September 25, 2026 through January 3, 2027. Venue is The Culture Club, the former site of Sleep No More (between 10th & 11th Aves). You can see some rehearsals here and a write-up from New York Theatre guide here, excerpted below:

In Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen off Broadway — the first Japanese manga to be adapted into an American musical — Colette (Beetlejuice's Sophia Anne Caruso) is a dreamer in twentieth century Paris who uses her writing to cast herself out of her place at a brothel. In her writing, she transforms the fantasies, confessions, and private sorrows of her eccentric clients, turning herself from object into observer. All the while, she has a desire even she can't outrun: a lingering, destructive attachment to Léon, her childhood love.

Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen is a thrilling and sharp new musical about passion, connection, and the power of writing. Moyoco Anno is one of Japan’s most renowned manga artists, known for her complex look into character psychology, and now her story comes to the stage. Now, Tony Award winner Rob Ashford directs this new musical from Sheik, who passed away in 2026, and Leah Nanako Winkler.

We love this space on 27th Street and highly recommend seeing any show you can here.

Restaurant row is really in Chelsea

With some respect to 46th Street between 8th & 9th Avenues (shown here), “restaurant row” is rightfully in Chelsea. Start at 25th Street & 9th Avenue and mosey just five streets down and here are the world-class restaurants you’ll pass along the way: Txikito (Spanish Basque), Sullivan Street Bakery (a bakery…), Shukette (Middle Eastern), Lilli and Loo (Chinese), Pastai (Italian), Qanoon (Palestinian), La Bergamote (French), and Tradicionale (Filipino). Bocca di Bacco and Remo’s (both Italian) are also in the same stretch and while we haven’t been ourselves, both come highly recommended by some of our top contributors. Truly a crisis of riches and cuisine around here.

Comic Con is back at block convention center

North America’s (and this block’s) most attended fan convention, Comic Con, is back this year at our very own the Javits Center (note: the largest fan convention in the world is “Comiket,” held in Tokyo every December). Running on its usual Thursday to Sunday schedule (October 8 - October 11, 2026), the gathering celebrates comic books, graphic novels, and the like, and approximately 250,000 people were expected to attend this year. One of our chief investigative photojournalists compiled the gallery, featuring Captain Jack Sparrow, that you see here.

Inside Javits, you can wander from comic-specific station to station and find whatever comic books or figurines or trinkets that you’re into. For us though, it’s really about the swarms of ghostbusters and power rangers and catwomen who descend upon and wander around our block and the High Line and the subway and the Vessel year after year. Happy to have you all back next year.

“FBI” filming on 28th Street on October 19th

The guy’s name who created Law & Order is the one and only Executive Producer Dick Wolf (go ahead and picture his white name against the black background). Executive Producer Dick Wolf isn’t evidently making enough on Law & Order royalties and so he went ahead and created a sister-looking show on CBS called FBI. Season 9 of FBI is filming next Sunday and Monday (October 19 and 20, 2026) on 28th Street between 10th & 11th Avenues. Here’s the trailer, and here’s the Law & Order sound effect. ‍

“Tulsa King,” starring Sylvester Stallone, filming on 28th Street on Oct 12

You might not have thought a show called “Tulsa King” would be filming in our neighborhood on October 12, 2026, but here we are. Here’s the Wikipedia and here’s the trailer; it stars Sylvester Stallone as a mob caporegime named Dwight who was released from prison in New York and is then sent by his boss to Oklahoma, evidently to establish criminal operations down under. Season 4 (code name “King Street”) is filming here next week, and so you get the sense that Dwight might have gotten a little homesick.

We love a good mob movie around here and the trailer looks like a party. Sly Stallone is set against 50 Cent music in the background, and we see a Suge Knight-type character, one of the guys from Silicon Valley, and even Pat McAfee in the trailer.

I will say I think that it might be time for the 80-year old gangsters to consider passing the torch to the next generation of tough guys (similar views on our government officials…), but for now, happy to have Tulsa King on our block.

Dexter “museum experience” comes to Chelsea Industrial (October 10-11, 2026)

Fresh off the heels of a Dexter film shoot on 19th Street & 10th Avenue a few weeks ago, Dexter returns to our neighborhood yet again, this time for a “museum experience” at Chelsea Industrial, the events space on 28th Street between 10th & 11th Avenues. You can read about it here and see a little tour of it on Instagram here.

This is supposed to be an “immersive experience” with props and pools of bloody water and the like to promote “Dexter: Resurrection, Season 2,” the sequel to the original Dexter series which first premiered 20 years ago. The new Dexter season premiers on October 30, 2026.

Italian bathroom appliance brand called “CEA” sets up shop on 29th Street

Neighbor Bridget wrote in about a month ago now about a new bathroom fixture showroom moving into the long-vacant retail storefront right next to the Mexican restaurant Kahlo, on 29th Street between 10th & 11th Avenues. The storefront sign has now gone up and we see that it is for CEA, which is headquartered in Milan and appears to (based on its Instagram) have a hyper-clean, crisp, minimalist, contemporary vibe. Happy to see a tenant in this space.

Dog of the day (with stick)

Amazing action shot on 24th Street between 8th & 9th Avenues this morning. Sent in by a wildlife photographer who would like to remain anonymous. This is the type of energy we’re looking for around here.

Torn up roads in our neighborhood probably won’t be fixed for weeks

Currently the roads around our neighborhood are a bit torn up. To the left here is a picture of 11th Avenue around 29th Street; to the right is a map of the street construction, and you can trace that very cursed green line of construction/destruction from 11th Avenue from 30th Street all the way down to 22nd Street; and then 22nd Street and 26th Street are also torn up. And so what exactly is going on here and how much longer is it going to last?

We had the same question and did a little digging. NYC maintains a “Permit Management System” accessible here where you can get a sense of any street construction you’re curious about. The permit for this particular construction opened last Friday, September 25, 2026, and is valid until October 30, 2026—which is probably the outer bound of how long this is likely to last but gives you a sense of how long it is likely to last. The permit type is for “Contract Roadway Milling,” with “milling” being the process of grinding off and resurfacing the top layer of a roadway. This is like a zamboni for the street, the purpose being to fix cracks and potholes.

In NYC, the Department of Transportation typically waits 2-3 weeks before resurfacing a road after grinding it off (“About 80% of roads are resurfaced within 3 weeks of milling, with 25% completed within 2 weeks.”). During this “cure” period, utilities like ConEd get the chance to repair their pipes and cables. Because so much of NYC’s infrastructure is underground, NYC has a way longer “cure” period than other cities before a road is resurfaced.

Upshot is that we’re likely not going to have repaved roads until mid-October.

Update 10/10/26: It looks like the 11th Avenue how now been resurfaced though not yet painted with dividing and bike lane lines. 26th & 22nd Street remain in their “milled” state.

High Line staircase on 26th Street now set to be complete in October 2026

Our friends at the High Line write with news that the new staircase we’re getting up to the High Line on 26th Street & 10th Ave is now set to open in October 2026 rather than September 2026. Evidently the reason for the slight delay is that an essential item from Canada is taking its time to get here, and so we can do what we always really try to do and just kind of blame Canada for our problems. Canada, get it together on our wildfires, staircase, and like all the other things too. Thanks to the folks at the High Line for keeping us updated.