May 3, 2003

Outdoor commerce returned to Manhattan's west side Saturday as the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market opened more than six decades after Paddy's Market, a celebrated New York institution, was shut down.

The flea market, which features an array of goods from antiques and crafts to flowers and farmer's market items, brought about 100 vendors and hundreds of curious visitors to West 39th Street between Ninth and Tenth avenues.

"The Hell's Kitchen Flea Market is the city's only permanent weekend market on a city street, and I hope it will bring attention to the neighborhood," said Alan Boss, the market's proprietor. "It's an exciting development for Hell's Kitchen."

The Hell's Kitchen neighborhood, now more elegantly called Clinton, is slowly being gentrified, with residential high- rises popping up in the area. Boss, 63, whose Annex Antiques Fair and Flea Market founded in 1976 sparked the economic revitalization of Chelsea, hopes to do the same with Hell's Kitchen.

"The market will bring visibility and viability to the area, which I think has the same potential as Chelsea had 25 years ago," Boss said.

The Chelsea market has grown from 11 weekend vendors to more than 500, spanning more than three city blocks and attracting more than 600,000 visitors each year. The Hell's Kitchen vendors, who pay $50 to $75 per day for a spot, were excited about the market's prospects.

"I've been working at several flea markets around the city and I have to say that I have great faith in this one," said Michael Sheafe, 56, who sells refurbished vintage toasters. "Alan Boss no doubt knows what he is doing."

Sheafe, an Upper East Side resident, started his business four years ago and travels the country several times a year searching for toasters that he cleans, repairs and sells.

David Wengerd, another vendor, traveled three hours from Watsontown in Pennsylvania to hawk his homemade cheddar, butter and pies.

"These markets help farmers like myself stay out of financial disasters," said Wengerd, who has been selling his products up and down the east coast for 18 years. "I'm selling stuff for several families back in Pennsylvania."

The market, which will be open every Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. year-round, seemed to please many local residents as well.

"This street was so underutilized and the market will hopefully bring some animation to the neighborhood," Howard Mendes, 67, a Hell's Kitchen resident for 20 years, said. "It's a really great thing."

For nearly 70 years beginning in 1871, the area was alive with activity from Paddy's Market, pushcart vendors who were forced out when the streets were widened for the building of the Lincoln Tunnel.

The Hell's Kitchen Flea Market came about after almost four years of discussions with the City of New York and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Boss said he was thankful for all the people who helped his dream become a reality.

"This is just a remarkable day," Boss said. "It feels good to be a part of this historic project."