From Graffiti to Celebrity, The Bronx's Struggle With Identity
In an eloquent think piece, New York magazine's Benjamin Wallace-Wells mulls the identity of his native borough: the Bronx. His argument is that, in contrast to, say, Queens' ethnic diversity and Brooklyn's trend-tastic reputations, the last borough to get switched away from Manhattan's 212 area code hasn't quite figured out what it is yet, or what it wants to be.
Of all the places in Manhattan's general orbit, the Bronx is (and this is its enduring strangeness) both the poorest and the least alienated. That every other place is more distinguishable is true in part because every other place has taken greater pains to contrast itself with Manhattan.
More than contested, impending demolitions, more than golf courses courtesy of The Donald, more than a new-development hotbed, The Bronx is still establishing itself as a place that carries more gravitas than simply being where celebrities first lived while they rose to fame because of its proximity to Manhattan and their own drive (e.g. J. Lo, graffiti artists, other musicians).
On the heels of this past weekend's protest by South Bronx residents over the potential rezoning and subsequent, apparently inevitable, gentrification of the city-proposed "Cromwell-Jerome"neighborhood comes a more detailed breakdown of the risks and rewards of such a move. For one, affordable housing would be a boon, but local auto shops could get sacrificed: "Improving a neighborhood for its residents—not without them—includes offering residents the choices they deserve: the ones in their best interest, not just the ones that sell well." [W2TB; previously]Bronx Residents Disrupt Tour of Proposed 'New Neighborhood'
[Activists protest the "Cromwell-KJerome" revitalization plan in the South Bronx.]
The city's plan to create a new neighborhood in the South Bronx was shown to be a tough sell to locals over the weekend when residents disrupted a walking tour led by the Department of City Planning. The department wants to rebrand a 57-block corridor that is currently dotted with auto shops as "Cromwell Jerome." New housing, both affordable and market-rate, would pop up along with new retail stores after a rezoning of the area. Seeking input on the existing swath for a new study, the DCP held its second walking tour Saturday, which focused on traffic and park conditions. But half of the dozen or so locals who showed up were more interested in discussing what they saw as a major move to gentrify the area—and they were dubious.
"Who's going to be coming in when the project is done? That's the question we have to ask," said Jay Espy, an organizer with activist group People Power Movement. This calm reflection at Mullaly Park preceded a collective confrontation that would prematurely end the tour.
Brooklyn Bridge Park Towers Protest; What Is the 'New Bronx'?
BROOKLYN HEIGHTS—There's a meeting of the Board of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation happening tomorrow afternoon at Brooklyn Borough Hall, and some of the Brooklyn Heights residents who oppose the plan to build two affordable housing towers in Brooklyn Bridge Park are planning on showing up and yelling at some politicians. Should be a fun time. [CurbedWire Inbox; previously]
THE BRONX—Welcome2TheBronx on the so-called "New Bronx" that politicians have been touting in recent years: "'The New Bronx' mantra is very insulting to the Bronx for many reasons but primarily because it is a campaign to whitewash our borough and scrub it clean from the grit that made it what it is today ... The Bronx of today is a product of the resiliency that grew out from those years of strife and a people who learned how to do things for themselves rather than wait for others." [W2TB]
Members of the Great and Glorious Grand Army of the Bronx, a "ragtag group of Bronx patriots," is calling for the Bronx's definite "the" to be capitalized at all times, a la The Vatican. The request comes via the same group who called for the annexation of Manhattan's Marble Hill earlier in the year. "Not capitalizing the 'the' in 'The Bronx' would be like not capitalizing the 's' in 'Staten Island,'" the group's leader told NYDN, adding, "Wherever that place is." [NYDN]Amid Bronx Buildings, One Lone Mansion Holds A Mystery
Our favorite film location scout has discovered yet another hidden gemin our northernmost borough. During a trip through the Bronx's Highbridge neighborhood, Nick Carr spotted a standalone abandoned mansion at Woodycrest Avenue and West 167th Street. Sporting a quirky patchwork facade of gray stone, yellow brick, and red brick, the cottage-esque urban ruin is punctuated by chimneys and dormer windows?a far cry from the apartment complexes and one-story shops that surround it. So, what was up with that?
In The Bronx, Tiles And Mosaics Of Art Deco Lobbies Abound
After checking out a haunted house in the Bronx, our favorite movie location scout returns to the borough and discovers a host of awesomely decorated building lobbies from another age. On his blog Scouting NY, Nick Carr explains that Art Deco-era terrazzo floors, detailed mosaics, inventively patterned tiles, fireplaces, ceiling ornamentation, fountains, and elaborate doorways are all de rigueur in some of the buildings on and around the Grand Concourse.
Often, the exteriors are deceptively plain, belying the architectural detail and design savvy within. "Never underestimate the Bronx," he writes. "There is a tremendous amount of beauty to be found if you take the time to look."
In the Bronx, a 19th-Century Haunted Mansion Is Watching
On another one of his treks around the city looking for movie locations, Scouting NY aka Nick Carr came across this turreted brick beauty in the Mount Hope section of the Bronx. A passerby warned him that 1857 Anthony Avenue was haunted, but that only piqued his interest further, and so he shot a series of photos capturing the abandoned property's eerie details.
Bronx Parks Twofer: Concrete Plant Park & Ferry Point Park
From the department of flying way too low under the radar, here's our first look at the remade Concrete Plant Park in the Crotona Park section of The Bronx. A neighborhood activists' dream for the better part of the decade, the park occupies the site of an abandoned—yes—concrete plant, on the banks of the Bronx River between the Bruckner Expressway and Westchester Avenue (below). What makes this 2.7 acre park unique in the new-generation of NYC greenspace, however, is the degree to which the numerous industrial objects that defined the site have been kept and reworked into its fabric. The park apparently opened to the public earlier this month; while we plan to get our asses up there, anyone had a look around and want to shed more light?
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