Westminster in Hell

By Amy Fernandez

For years, I’ve referred to the Westminster experience as Hell Week. This time, I’m not exaggerating because two-thirds of the show will happen in Hell’s Kitchen! Group and BIS judging takes place at MSG. Monday and Tuesday’s breed judging is two miles away at the Piers. This was the site of the combined specialties held in conjunction with Westminster throughout the ‘90s. Although it’s on the Hudson, it was spared by Sandy, and Westminster is right on schedule

This is New York’s second largest exhibition space with 208,000 square feet of space for grooming and benching. Westminster has raised the entry limit to 3200 and invited class dogs for the first time since 1992. Benching hours run from 11 AM to 6 PM and exhibitors get access to the building from 7 AM to midnight. Westminster buses will run between MSG, nearby hotels, and the Piers every 30 minutes. The trip should take about five minutes. However, weekday crosstown traffic on can turn it into an hour.

So… you might consider staying near the Piers. Driving is much easier west of 8th Avenue, 12th Avenue like cruising down a highway compared to midtown. Pier 92 has parking on the roof. Or you can shop prices at garages along West 55 th, 56 th and 57th Streets. Westminster lists discounted rates at some Westside hotels. The nicest is the Parker Meridian 1.5 miles away, the closest is the Skyline .7 miles away. The Shoreham is 1.2 miles from the Piers. If your dogs demand grass, Clinton Cove Park is a block from the Piers. Nearby, Hudson River Park runs five miles along the Hudson. Finding a taxi around there is easier on 57th St. a major crosstown thoroughfare, but don’t confine your trip to MSG and the Piers!

Hell’s Kitchen earned its name as a hotbed of crime and vice in the 1850s when a volatile mix of factories, slaughterhouses, tenements, and street gangs sprang up around the Hudson rail yards. That kind of excitement is long gone, and residents now consider gentrification the neighborhood’s biggest threat. They have resisted efforts to rechristen it with bland, respectable designations like Clinton or Midtown West.

Piers 92 & 94

Luckily, some traditions prevail. Little restaurants and nightspots still flourish here. West 46th Street off of Ninth Ave is Restaurant Row, but concentrations of reasonably priced places abound. Check out Tenth Ave. between 56-57th, and Ninth Ave between 57-58th St. The Roosevelt Deli on 10th Ave and 57th is great for lunch. One block down the Morningstar Diner at Ninth Ave. and 57th is the perfect breakfast spot after a late night. The Brooklyn Diner on 57th and Seventh is also good.

Interior of Pier 92

West 57th Street is minutes from Broadway, Times Square, Lincoln Center, and Columbus Circle at the southwest entrance of Central Park. This area is a shopping paradise. On your way to Bergdorf’s at 57th and 5th, you can unload excess cash at places like Ricky’s 332 at W 57th and TJ Maxx at 57th and 8th. For necessities, try Walgreens at 57th & 9th or Morton Williams 24 hour grocery at two 57th St. locations. Duane Reade has three locations for snacks, beer, dry socks, stain remover, trash bags, dog food, and Westminster Week essentials like aspirin, antacids, and Pepto. If OTC remedies don’t do the trick, the CityMD Urgent Care walk in clinic at 315 West 57th is open from 8am to 10pm weekdays and 9am to 9pm weekends.

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Posted by admin on Dec 3 2012. Filed under Current Articles, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.