NYC Got You Tired, Run Down, Listless?

Well then, I have the perfect tonic! I suggest you boogie on down to the best getaway (bar none) that The Bronx has to offer: City Island! Located just a short bus ride or two away from most of our borough's nabes, this quaint little island with a small town, all-American vibe will leave you shouting "This is in THE BRONX??? Shut Up!!!"

The home of several Zagat-rated restaurants with fabulous seafood, beautiful marinas, a lost-in-time Mayberry-esque Main Street, and homes so varied in style that it could keep an architecture buff happy for years, this place is a must for anyone wanting to just get away from it all. For any New Yorker, the silence, serenity and slow pace of the island is nearly impossible to find anywhere else within a 50 mile range... yet we Bronxites have this jewel right in our own backyard!

A recent Colorado transplant here to complete her doctorate, Abra Havens (who can't believe all that she is finding in The Bronx so far) tagged along as I took another trip to the island. We decided on The Sea Shore Restaurant and Marina for lunch (lobster for me, Shrimp Scampi for her) where we sat on the patio deck facing one of the several marinas and just basked in the cool breeze, soaked in the sounds of seagulls and watched happily as dreamy sailboats floated by. (The Sea Shore also has a separate garden patio, a fabulous lodge-style bar with leather sofas facing a fireplace, AND a sushi bar!)

Afterwards, we walked to the end of the island where we stopped in for an iced cappuccino at The Lobster Box and sat at the bar watching Obama announce Joe Biden as his VP pick on the big screen TV. Full, caffeinated, and giddy as we Democrats could be, we then walked the length of the island down side streets enjoying all the fabulous homes - Cape Cods, Salt Boxes, Fishermens' Cottages, Colonials, Ranches, French Tudors, new condos, etc.....all sitting so proudly and unexpectedly next to one another that I gave a private little curse to planned communities, zoning laws, and homeowners associations that have given us uninspiring, homogenized and thoroughly mind-numbing and boring housing across America.

So come on, Don't Worry - head on over to City Island and... Be Happy!

How to Get There: There are many ways to get to the island - a great way is by bike, car or motorcycle, but if that is not an option for you take a bus or subway to Pelham Bay Park and hop on the BX29 (make sure it's the one to City Island, as there are two going in different directions). You could also take the Orchard Beach bound BX-12 bus which runs along Fordham Rd. and Pelham Parkway, so you could get to the Bx-12 by the 4, B, D, 5, 2, or Metro North at Fordham. The Bx-12 ends at Orchard Beach, but you would get off one stop early and walk across the bridge to City Island.

~Simone Davis

Updates from SBFC: New Retail Location of Its Own

South Bronx Food Coop will be relocating to 3103 Third Avenue in a new retail space in October. Until then SBFC is still open from 11 - 5pm on Saturday at Nos Quedamos (Downstairs) @ 754 Melrose Avenue (Between 156th & 157th St),

Membership is $120 for regular folks, $80 for"families" of 2 or more (must have the same address), $60 for students (including grad+) w id, $40 for seniors and those on public assistance.

SBFC is also updating their website to allow for online shopping. No delivery yet, but pick up will be available, and delivery to follow sometime in the future.

Thanks SBFC! And congrats on your new digs.

Here is SBFC's contact info if you have any further questions.

Phone: 646.226.0758

Email: info@sbxfc.org

Mail: South Bronx Food Cooperative P.O Box 484 Bronx NY 10458

Or you can check out their website - South Bronx Food Cooperative, or BoogieDowner's original post on SBFC

~ErLu

New York Times Loosens Definition of Journalism

Now, we never would have thought that we'd be uttering these words on BoogieDowner, but nonetheless... New York Times, you have let us down. Well, maybe not The New York Times as a whole, but more specifically Andy Newman and Richard Perry's joint multimedia piece, "The Curious World of the Last Stop." This uninspiring article and accompanying photos, as the title would suggest, examine the neighborhoods that exist (although by Newman and Perry's point of view, barely so) at the terminus of each subway line.

The article is pretty long and all over the place, but I encourage everyone to at least look at the photo slideshow for each nabe. If you live or hang in an end of the line hood, let us know if these pics accurately represent your environs.

Firstly, didn't Time Out New York already do a piece very similar to this, except much more thorough and much less insulting? Oh yeah, they did. It was called "Subway Tour of New York." Check it out if you're interested in learning more about those dreaded outer boroughs.

Now, about those dreaded and lonesome outer boroughs. I took one look at the photos associated with Norwood, the neighborhood directly north of us where we often stroll and shop and it was unrecognizable. Three of the seven shots of Norwood where just of straight-up graffiti, one of strange Mexican figurines, one of Virgin Mary posters on a store front, one nondescript photo of a window with a balloon and a Puerto Rican flag, and one of a young lass riding her tricycle from the bowels of hell into Williamsbridge Oval.

Were we walking in a different nabe all along? I became so distressed I almost put our co-op on the market tonight to flee to the safe haven of Midtown, or at least somewhere further from the end of any subway line in the whole city. It looks like every terminus hood only has chain-link fences to peer through, graffiti of which to take photos, a few open fires, and a couple pairs of abandoned gloves.

I get it, they were going for some edgy, artsy-fartsy point of view with a lot of their photos. But I can't help but get the feeling that Newman and Perry set out to research their story with the singleminded goal of digging up the grittiest, most ghetto-fabulous images from each neighborhood to which they traveled.

Although we write many of our posts to attempt to break down the "Bronx is Burning" 1970s mentality of our beloved borough, I took offense at this article on behalf of Queens, Brooklyn, and even Northern Manhattan residents as well. A few examples of Newman and Perry's outrageous depictions of the few neighborhoods left in this city where working class people can actually afford to live are as follows:

• Jamaica Center (Queens) : Singular picture of an NYPD "Wanted" poster featuring a sketch of a rapist - yikes!


• New Lots Avenue (Brooklyn): A looming NYPD watchtower


• Wakefield (The Bronx): A burned-out car in a McDonald's parking lot


• 207th Street (Inwood): My personal favorite, an open fire in a trashcan on the street!

As for the article written by Newman, it reads like a poem scratched out by a first year undergraduate student at Touro College. One of my favorite excerpts:

"At the city’s often-threadbare fringes, there is an inescapable sense of lonesomeness. There might be a Last Stop Deli, a forlorn bar, a maintenance yard populated mostly by rows of empty trains. There is, surprisingly often, a cemetery." [NY Times]

Or another of my favorites:

"Beyond the station gates, a priest dreams of a vineyard. A car bursts into flame. An ancient sign in a boarded-up window opposite the platform reads “Wrestling Weight.” A stuffed bear mans a betting window in a struggling OTB parlor. The dead lie in rows uncounted, and the living mourn and wait and work and love and strum guitars on the front stoop, annoying the neighbors." [NY Times]

The dead lie in rows uncounted? Is this guy Hemingway writing about the Spanish Civil War?

If anyone has ever exited the D train at 205th (it actually lets you out on 204th) Street, I'm sure they'd agree that what you'll find is a bustling thoroughfare alive with restaurants, bakeries, salons, and delis (as well as, according to Newman and Perry, a hell of a lot of graffiti). Where are the pics of the Mosholu Parkway's green pathways? Where are the pics of St. Brendan's Church? Where are the pics of the Valentine-Varian House? What about a pic of the tennis courts or the newly renovated astroturf playing field in the Williamsbridge Oval, instead of just an ominous tunnel?

I'm not saying that the outer boroughs (and termini of subway lines) do not each have their own quirky sights and sounds (some good, some bad). However, I certainly feel that Newman and Perry could have, and should have, painted a much more balanced picture of these communities where working class residents raise their families and live their lives.

Way to cut your teeth on a non-story, fellas. Now go take some pictures of the hookers in Hell's Kitchen, through a chain link fence.

~ErLu

Listing of the Day: Size Matters

1855 Grand Concourse - 2 Bedroom, 2 Bathroom $199,000

1,440 square feet. Stop and contemplate how much room that is. That's bigger than some houses.

This massive apartment is located on the border region of Morris Heights and Tremont, but like a lot of Bronxites, you'd probably just say you lived "on the Concourse" instead of giving some neighborhood.

If you ever got bored of each of those 1,440 square feet or alternating between your two bathrooms you could enjoy one of three parks in walking distance. Roberto Clemente State Park, which incidentally is not run by the parks department, but by the state - go figure with a name like that - is a 25 acre waterfront park on the Harlem River. The smaller Claremont Park is the closest but also most low key. The biggest and best in the hood is Crotona Park. Crotona Park even has a lake and twenty tennis courts that play host to the the annual Bronx Pro Tennis Classic... take that Queens, with your fancy-ass Arthur Ashe/US Open nonsense!

Transportation couldn't be more convenient. You have your choice of the B/D at Tremont, the 4 at 176th or even the Metro North at Tremont and Park Ave.

Just remember that your broker is lying to you if she tells you size doesn't matter. Once you close on that 300 square foot studio in Bed-Stuy for the same price, she'll be laughing about it with her friends behind your back.

Full Listing

~ErLu

Food Coop in the Bronx Needs You!

The South Bronx Food Coop is an organization focused on providing fresh, organic, fair trade, and most importantly, cheap meat and produce to residents of the Bronx and the rest of NYC.

As a cooperative, the SBFC is a community organization that relies on the help of ordinary people in order to thrive. You can become a member for a one time fee of $120, but non-members are welcome to shop at SBFC as well. The only difference is a discount on purchases. Members would pay $25 for 20lbs of food, while non-members would shell out $30. In addition, members would be required to provide 3 hrs of service to the coop per month. Remember, this whole thing revolves around ordinary people pitching in.

SBFC aims to provide a 'green' alternative to what is usually offered in the Bronx. I am not sure if you've ever shopped at a Pioneer or C-Town, but anything is better. Customers would know where their food was coming from and be able to taste the freshness.

Currently the SBFC operates on Saturdays from 11am - 5pm out of Nos Quedamos (Downstairs) @ 754 Melrose Avenue (Between 156th & 157th St), but is seeking a permanent retail center of its own. Please support SBFC by helping to get it off the ground and into its own space. For Bronxites this is a no-brainer, but even those Harlemites across the river could pitch in.

Here is SBFC's contact info if you have any further questions:
Phone: 646.226.0758
Email: info@sbxfc.org
Mail: South Bronx Food Cooperative P.O Box 484 Bronx NY 10458

Or you can check out their website. South Bronx Food Cooperative

~ErLu + Jay O.

Treasures of the Grand Concourse – Loew’s Paradise Theatre

For those interested in seeking a true experience of the opulence and artistic splendor the Bronx had to offer in its prime, a visit down the Grand Concourse is a must. The famous boulevard was, in its heyday, the Park Avenue or the Champs Elyseé of the borough, a wide tree-lined street flanked by some of the most glorious architectural sights to be seen in all of the Bronx - from Art Deco and Art Moderne to Italianate and Renaissance Revival and beyond.

One of the outstanding destination spots back in the day was the incomparable Loew’s Paradise Theatre, built in the late twenties at a remarkably staggering cost of $4 million!. Opening in 1929 with The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu, the 4,000-seat theater was part of Loew’s magnificent “Wonder Theatre” series, so named for the installation of the ornate Wonder Organs in each of the 5 “Atmospheric Theatres” in different boroughs and neighborhoods of NYC. Former patrons remember being so dazzled by the Italian Baroque Garden ornamentation (with flickering stars on the ceiling, hanging flowers and vines, cypress trees, stuffed birds and classical statues) that they often “forgot to watch the movie”! I think I even read once about live goldfish in the lobby fountain!

Sadly, the decline of the property started in the 1960’s when the theatre began to be partitioned off and much of the opulent, carefully crafted “atmosphere” was concreted over. By 1994, it was closed completely until an attempt was made in 2000 to begin restoration. However, due to an ownership dispute, work halted and it wasn’t until 2005 that the Paradise was once again reopened – as a live theater and special events venue. It is now a NYC registered Landmark.

I haven’t yet had the opportunity to venture inside, but will definitely make a point of doing so and will share what I find with the Boogiedowner audience!

Loew’s Paradise Theatre is located on the Grand Concourse at 184th Street. Take the B/D to 183rd to gawk at opulence.


A special thanks to Dave Beckerman for allowing Boogiedowner to use his beautiful black and white photo of Loew's. Please check out his other black and white, New York-centric work. David even has a section of his website dedicated to the Bronx for all the die-hard Boogiedowners.
DaveBeckerman.com

~Simone Davis

Listing of the Day: Rent for Less than a Hostel

WALTON AVENUE at 165TH STREET - Studio $850/mo

No need to deal with annoying roommates in this studio near Yankee Stadium. In this bargain basement edition of the Listing of the Day, I do not bring you luxe and glam, but stone cold affordability. If the rent was pro-rated over a normal 30 day month, you'd be paying $28/day. That's more than your college roommate living in Cleveland pays for gas everyday to get to work from his mom's house. It's just plain dollars and cents people.

Technically, this nabe is called Highbridge, but let's just call it by what any agressive real estate broker would: Yankee Stadium area. Did I mention they're building a new one?

Obviously, the City and the Yankees want this
hood to do well. It's probably one of the most heavily visted outer-borough attractions for tourists. Expect an already decent hood to flourish.

Joyce Kilmer Park on 161st Street is a nice stretch of green across from the courthouse with a nice lorelei statue (A lorelie is like a German siren. If you don't know what a siren is I can't help you. Read some Homer). South of the courthouse is the hidden Franz Sigel Park, which park dwellers actually have to ascend to enjoy. It is pretty cool to be elevated over the nabe - a little green oasis in the sky. The Bronx Museum of the Arts is up on 165th and the Grand Concourse, but there is art up and down the Grand Concourse in the 160s and 150s with beautiful Art Deco architecture.

Lots of choices for transportation. For those who work on the West Side there is the B/D at 161th (express) and 167th (local). For those who work on the East Side there is the 4 at 167th. And for those who don't work at all, well, you can probably still afford this apartment just with the checks that nana sends you for your birthday. Cool your unemployed hours bowling at Ball Park Lanes on 160th and River Avenue (literally across from the soon to be old Yankee Stadium).

Game days are fun, and with rent this low you can always afford a ticket, or at least a few beers at one of the dive bars on River Ave.

Full Listing

~ErLu