From The Peopling of New York City
Anthony’s breadth of knowledge of the South Bronx’s history was impressive. Not only did he know the history of the borough’s rises and falls, he currently resides in the Bronx so he was able to add his own observations to give the tour a personal feel while still being objective and factual. We started at 138th or 149th St. and made our way up to the Yankee Stadiums. Anthony began by telling us that he was from the Bronx Historical Society, and he brought photographs of the Concourse from various time periods from its archives to enhance the experience. I don’t remember the exact buzzword (Walk of Fame) but the name of famous Bronxites adorned the streetlights in a campaign to recognize the contributions of these individuals. Anthony told us that many of these campaigns are converging in 2009 to bring attention to the area in order to facilitate revitalization. With the christening of the new Yankee Stadium and anniversary of the Concourse, Anthony explained to us with enthusiasm to keep our eyes for new changes in the area in the coming years. The defining feature of the walking tour was learning about the apartment buildings and pointing out their greco-style architecture. I never really noticed the exteriors of the buildings until Anthony pointed out that they were built at height of modernism when “progress” and “purpose” were incorporated into the blueprint. Tihila mentioned something about “sunken-in” living rooms where according to my research, 9-feet ceilings, giant fireplaces, arches and the amenities of 20th century living were married together to make the rich feel rich. In the same vein, another interesting fact that Anthony mentioned was the involvement of John D. Rockefeller in creating Japanese-esque gardens in the plazas of the apartments for the “commoners” to enjoy. Observing the South Bronx today, I regret not asking Anthony his understanding of when and why the rich began moving out. Luckily, Gonzales’ book does a thorough job explaining the waves of immigrants who began coming in the 1930’s while pushing the rich out. Anthony mentioned slum areas like Melrose over the bridge we were walking on where new waves of immigrants were poorer than the previous. One place I wanted to visit was the park on the hill that we passed by, but more importantly, I was burning to know why there were so many railroads, diesel trucks, and other large polluters were prevalent in the area because I felt like I was going to develop asthma right then and there. Out of curiosity, I looked online to find that air pollution in the Bronx isn’t a new issue. Many studies and articles have been written about it, but not much has been done on the ground to address the issue. A study online by NYU discussing the air pollution in the Bronx revealed that not only did this borough have the worst air quality and consistently fails to meet standards, it also has a disproportionate number of toxic waste dump sites compared to all of NYC. Although pollution is deemed as pedestrian, I wonder if this issue may affect the way the Bronx is revitalized, if at all. We walked our way to Yankee Stadium and the area seemed less dreary as it was the first tour. I asked a question concerning eateries in the area because I know food is a huge deal in sports culture, and I was surprised to learn that many head to Manhattan after the games. To me, it made no economic sense to use underutilize the advantage of proximity in setting up a restaurant for baseball game-goers to spend their money, thus contributing to the local economy. Anthony implied to us something that often falls through the lines in many of our texts. He specifically talked about a “stigma” about Yankee fans hanging around after the game with local Bronxites. This reminded me of the day Kat mentioned that she would always know when a Yankee’s game was going on if she saw crowds of white people beyond 125th St. This served to me as an important reminder that race and social classes are something that will probably play the greatest role in how the revitalization of the Bronx will take place. A lot hinges on the new stadium and it appears that many are hoping that money will come into the area. I hope the Yankees do more for the Bronx this time around than they have been doing. Our guided tour of the Bronx almost never happened! Fortunately, it did because the Bronx Historical Society is a great resource for us to get information about our specific time periods.
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WHAT AM I DOING WRONG CHRIS?
