The Hell Gate Review is an online literary journal that publishes stories from the Bronx, Queens, and beyond. Our mission is to create a space for the urban and immigrant voice, a place where artists can tell their stories.

The review is named after the Hell Gate tidal strait and the Hell Gate Bridge in New York City. Built between 1912 and 1917, the steel-arch railroad bridge spans the East River and connects Queens and the Bronx. The waters of the Hell Gate ebb and flow, a whirlpool of chaos and turbulence, at times perfectly still.

In 1614, the Dutch fur trader Adriaen Block sailed to the lower Hudson aboard his ship the Tyger. While moored along southern Manhattan, the Tyger was accidentally destroyed by fire. Over the winter, he and his crew, with help from the Lenape tribe, built the 42-foot ship the Onrust (“trouble” or “restless.”) Block then explored the East River and was the first European to navigate the Hellegat (now called “Hell Gate”) and enter Long Island Sound.

The Hell Gate Bridge on October 11, 1916