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MY BRONX STORY
The photo to the right is the tenement where I grew up: |
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MY BRONX STORY
The photo to the right is the tenement where I grew up: |
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The Bronx is many things. It is the only borough in New York City that has its name preceded by the definite article. The Bronx was home to Lee Harvey Oswald for a few years in the 1950s The Bronx was home to president Kennedy as a child (Riverdale) Robert Klein sings THE BRONX IS BEAUTIFUL THIS TIME OF YEAR. Bob, the Bronx is beautiful any time of year. I grew up on Charlotte Street, a block and a half away from Crotona Park. The neighborhood was a type that no longer exists. It was an ethnic Yiddish-speaking Jewish neighborhood inhabited mostly by immigrants from Eastern Europe. I say that type no longer exists. What I mean is that today, when people speak about a New York Jewish neighborhood, they are speaking about a RELIGIOUS or Orthodox Jewish neighborhood. I attended PS61, Herman Ridder, and Morris High School. In home room, in my senior year, I sat behind Colin Powell, a very self-possessed teenager. Herman Ridder was JHS to many celebrities, among them Danny Aiello and Al Pacino. Tony Curtis lived several blocks away, but he went to a different JHS. I left the Bronx in 1963 and have lived in many places. But every time I came back to New York, my friend Norman and I would go up to the old neighborhood and have lunch on Arthur Avenue. I said that I have lived in many places, but whenever anyone asks me where I am from, I proudly smile and say, I'M A BRONX BOY! I'm Shlomoh, formerly Stanley. To anyone who remembers me, it would be a pleasure to hear from you.
It is the home of the New York Yankees.
It is the home of a nationally acclaimed Zoo and Botanical Gardens.
It is the home of an Italian neighborhood that has changed very little over the past decades and remains intact while much of the surrounding areas have deteriorated.
It is the birthplace of HipHop on the 1970s, the creation of the borough's predominant black and Latino communities.
It is the location of the oldest bridge in NYC.
I bet you thought that was the Brooklyn Bridge. Nope! It's the High Bridge, connecting the Bronx with Manhattan, and built in 1848, 21 years before the Brooklyn Bridge started construction in 1869.
It is the only borough that has its own little island, City Island.
Speaking of islands, the Bronx is the only borough that is not located on an island; it is located on the American mainland.
The Bronx is the greenest borough, with 25% of its surface dedicated to parks. Don't be mistaken by thinking that Central Park is NYC's largest park. No! Pelham Bay Park is the largest park in town.
And Pelham Bay Park is home to Orchard Beach, a good competitor to Brooklyn's Brighton Beach and Coney Island Beach. Orchard Beach, where my family and my neighbors' families spent the hot summers.
Charlotte Street later became a national symbol of urban blight.
In 1977, President Jimmy Carter visited Charlotte Street for 10 minutes and pledged to restore the Bronx to its former glory.