Other than the weather, I absolutely loved the Grand Concourse Tour. I especially loved how much information the tour guide, Sam Goodman, knew about the area and that he has lived their all his life. I also loved the set up of the tour because it was set up in a chronological order. Goodman first explained to us the increase in population of the city downtown in the 19th Century which led to a lot of people moving to the area. Then we talked about how the entire area was developed at the same time. A sense of melancholy went through me when I heard this however, because since everything was built at the same time that means everything is going to start to crumble at the same time. Thus turning the beautiful Concourse into nothing more than rubble with the proper steps are not taken to maintain it.

On a brighter note we talked about the amazing patterns and architecture of the buildings — many of which incorporated a lot of Art Deco elements, which was really refreshing since Art Deco is rarely used now a days. Then we went to the park where Mr. Goodman, talked about the fountain. This is what I loved about him, it seemed like he can spend hours talking about anything at all in the community. I believe that the fountain’s journey is one very symbolic of the Bronx itself in that it came from a far place, had a couple of rough patches (during the black out for instance) and came back as good as new. From there we traveled to the mid-20th Century when fixed rent was implemented and there were no vacancies in the Bronx. This forced the suburbs around NYC and in NJ to develop to make room for all the veterans of the war coming home.

Unfortunately, I had to go after that point, but I am sure that Sam Goodman closed off as well as he started.

This is just a quick pic I took to show just how wide the Grand Concourse actually is. However, I was really annoyed how the last stop light doesn’t line up.