From The Peopling of New York City
Christina Salamon Dumitrescu aka: Naya
E-mail: nayavanti987@yahoo.com
MHC @ Lehman College
“You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.”
- Dr. Seuss
Wikileaks!!!! Revolt! [1]
BOOM TIMES!!! [2]
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It’s hard to imagine the past: the ambience, smells, people, streets, textures, etc. It only exists in pictures and the memories of others. Yesterday I tried to take a walk down memory lane in a place where the only memories lie in dilapidated buildings and architecture of the once prestigious halls of hotels and posh apartment buildings. Art Deco was infectious in the design of buildings down the Grand Concourse built during the height of the City Beautiful Movement in order to connect Manhattan to the Bronx and modeled after the Champs Elysees in Paris (to attract the affluent). It was the Park Avenue of the Bronx. For a moment, staring down the road, I saw it. Friday night. 1920s. Couples litter the sidewalks, pouring out of beautiful, sunken-living room apartments, sauntering down the Grand Concourse in their flapper fashion best, looking down their noses at the factory workers in Motthaven and Melrose far below, headed to the nearest club for a night of dancing (unfortunately sober). The memory escaped the confines of the architecture. It was as if the buildings were trying to embrace the past, letting it linger within their halls. And then, once the fog of the daydream had been blown away, our tour group was standing in front of the courthouse betting on how quickly the new roadway would be finished before the onslaught of Yankee fans descend onto it, making their way to the new stadium. The senior citizens home to the left, Anthony said, was once one of the finest hotels in the area. Banquet halls and extravagant ceremonies were part of the daily routine. It used to house the Yankee baseball players during the season. But the era of the past is long gone. Before it crumbles all together, the Bronx community would like to salvage what is left and build new in this age of growth and development. Now is the time to develop, Anthony said. Diversify our prospects, interest different groups of people. The area is starting to flourish. There are cranes and constructions sites scattered across the area. I’m betting that the roadway shall be completed by the end of this year. We’ll see about that.
