Neighborhoods of the Bronx
Last Stop on the Line
Sunday, August 24th, 2008I love the NYC subway system. You pay one fare to go anywhere in the city, unlike Philadelphia or London (the only other cities whose public transportation I know about) which charges you based on how long you ride.
Here’s a fascinating story by Andy Newman in the Aug 22, 2008 New York Times called The […]
My Favorite: The Bronx
Saturday, June 7th, 2008Before the summer of 2005, I’d never been to the Bronx on my own. My parents had taken me to the zoo once when we visited the relatives but all I remember from that visit was that I got a helium balloon and lost it. What I saw in summer 2005 has made me always […]
The Bronx? Yes, Thonx!
Friday, April 18th, 2008My title for this post is a famous snarky poem by Ogden Nash called “Geographical Reflections” that everybody used to know.
Everyone probably laughed back when Nash wrote his little ditty, but New Yorkers aren’t laughing at the Bronx now. I saw this in the New York Observer by Tom Acitelli:
From 2001 through 2006, over 23,380 […]
The People Behind the Traffic Report
Tuesday, April 1st, 2008When I listen to the traffic reports, I always hear the same names: Major Deegan, Van Wike, the Kozkewsko, etc. I’ve always wondered who those people were and how people get big things named after them. I found out that knowing someone helps (no surprise there), and sometimes it helps to be a hero.
Major […]
Bronx and Brooklyn: Women’s Street Names
Saturday, March 15th, 2008 It took me awhile, but I found some street names in Bronx and Brooklyn that honor women. I found this info from a lot of different websites and books.
Cooper Street, Brooklyn: Bushwick resident Hannah Cooper once owned the land through which this street was cut.
Coster Street, Bronx: Named for Julia Coster who was married […]
Manhattan and the Bronx: Where the Irish met Africans and Tap Dancing was Born
Monday, February 25th, 2008Five Points, the area near Columbus Park in downtown Manhattan so lovingly portrayed in The Gangs of New York, is nowadays part of Chinatown. The movie faithfully shows you the violence, squalor, filth, and poverty of The Points, but it missed the vibrancy of NYC’s melting pot. In the movie, Leonardo DiCaprio and […]
NYC is Really a Dutch Town
Tuesday, February 12th, 2008This town we love was first settled by the Iroquis and Alaconquin tribes, and later (1625) was invaded by Dutch members of the West India Trading Company — businessmen! Isn’t that soooo New York?
Our town was called New Amsterdam until the English took over and re-named it New York. Here is a list of words […]
Morris Park, Bronx: The Last Poets and the Birth of Hip Hop
Friday, February 1st, 2008I first heard this record back in the days of vinyl. It came from a friend’s older sibling’s or maybe parents’ record collection. I was in 10th grade in Alaska at the time, and this music and was the strangest thing we’d ever heard. We all loved it even though none of us knew […]