1. Arthur Avenue ("Real Little Italy")
A duality exists among the population of New Yorkers, both natives and transplants. They either have no idea that there is ‘another’ Little Italy or they can’t tell you enough reasons why you should go there. “The Real Little Italy” has roots in this neighborhood deeper than the one on Manhattan Island; in the neighborhood of Belmont, this community boasts as a ‘best buy’ in the coveted Zagat guide. Among the famous faces here are Dion and the Belmonts, a musical group named after a local street (Belmont Avenue). Joe Pesci was discovered by Robert DeNiro here, at a local neighborhood restaurant where Pesci worked as the maitre’d.
Arthur Avenue is best known for the Ferragosto Festival, a traditional celebration of the end of the harvest season, equated with Mexico’s Day of the Dead. The event draws between 14-17,000 visitors from outside the greater New York area. This neighborhood is also home to Fordham University, a Jesuit Campus with progressive Liberal thinkers. It is also the host for a popular public radio station WFUV, which brings indie and popular music to the area.
The center of this Little Italy is near the corner of Arthur Avenue and East 187th Street, close to Vincent Ciccarone Playground. If you pass Columbus Square you’ve gone too far. Easy to get to, take either the bus or the train here.It is a 15 minute walk from East 188th Street Station.
One critic put it best “The restaurants of Arthur Avenue make Mulberry Street’s look like stepchildren of the Olive Garden.” If you want to avoid the crowds at Ferragamo’s this is ideal. You can see old world curing methods in practice at many traditional storefronts. And people are easy to approach.
2. Yankee Stadium
Located at the official address of
1 E 161st Street, in the South Bronx, Yankee Stadium is a real icon of the borough. The original construction opened in 1923 and closed in 2008. But unlike Shea Stadium, overwhelming public outcry forced developers to keep the original namesake. Though the new stadium is about six thousand seats short of the original, seats are larger to fit a more comfortable patron. There are also less restrooms than the original, but with more elevators you can save your knees a little better. One of the best displays of baseball memorabilia sits here. The "ball wall" is impressive, with historic plays and signatures. Of course, no ball wall would be complete without a signature from Babe Ruth, but contrary to public belief his signature isn’t very valuable. Over his lifetime he signed many items, creating a flood in the market. But unique items are displayed here from Thurman Munson to Don Larsen. The museum is accessed on the lower level at Gate 6. There are over 130 concessions to choose from here, one being a fixed location for the Hard Rock Cafe. Seats within the first eight rows in the lower bowl, called the "Legends Suite", rank among the highest priced tickets in professional sports, with the average ticket in the section selling for $510 and the most expensive single game-day ticket costing $2,600. But really with Mitsubishi’s large LED display it’s hard to find a bad seat. All tickets sell out fast, from die-hard fans to tourists in town. Because all ballparks are different, unlike football fields, this stadium has a high average of home runs. Earning the reputation of a "bandbox" and a "launching pad", the propensity of home runs here is greater than other ballparks in the nation; so be sure to bring your mitt just in case.
3. Wave Hill Gardens
Located in northwest Bronx at
675 W 252nd Street, this palatial estate has amazing views of the Hudson River. West 249th Street and Independence Avenue serve as the main entrance to the property. Wave Hill provides 28-acres as a public garden and cultural center to the community. This is also a breeding ground for new talent, offering jobs and internships in horticulture, education and the arts.
In 1843 the house was built by William Lewis Morris (a jurist, not the Art Nouveau textile maker of the same namesake). Theodore Roosevelt's family rented Wave Hill during the summers of 1870-71, when the future president was an adolescent. It was thought that the country air would do him well because of his asthmatic condition. Mark Twain also rented the estate in 1900. Shortly after, George W. Perkins acquired the estate in his plan to own multiple properties in the outer boroughs of New York City. At the time this area was mostly private estates and farmland. Making this the ideal area to develop for the upper middle classes looking to escape the congestion of Manhattan.
Another notable resident of the Hill was zoologist, Bashford Dean. Dean's hobby was collecting medieval European armor, and he built Armor Hall to house his remarkable collection. A selection of 197 choice pieces was subsequently donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The Perkins-Freeman family donated the property in 1960 to the City of New York. The Glyndor House was a family home that Perkins built as his primary residence while the main house was occupied by various tenants. It was later donated as well, making this one of 33 properties gifted to the city in a small timespan in the 1960s.
The architect Robert M. Byers was involved in planning, especially the greenhouses commissioned by Perkins himself. Albert Millard, trained in Vienna, was responsible for the landscape planning, which has been restored and maintained for the public to enjoy today.
4. Mott Haven ("SoBro") (please, mention, that some say, Mott Haven is very dangerous right now. Shootings and robberies are becoming very common. A tourist would be easy to spot).
Mott Haven, in the South Bronx, has a reputation as a poor neighborhood. Some might shy away from SoBro but it does remind this writer of Fort Green, it does have great potential. Especially the stretch of Alexander Avenue, which is part of a small historic district. In the 1960s and 70s this was the place for drug activity and petty crime. But the community in recent years has been slowly taking back condemned properties, creating subsidized town houses with the help of nonprofit developers.
There are more than 12 public housing projects, making this a buzzing center for recently transplanted immigrants. The area is ripe for the gentrified picking: from between the Harlem River and the Bruckner Expressway south of East 149th Street, the area is ideal for new development. There aren’t many tourist attractions, but it would probably be best to entertain a visit here five years out. Right now it isn’t a great place to play tourist for a day, even for a local.
5. Woodlawn Cemetery
The entrance of Woodlawn Cemetery is at 517 E 233rd Street. A storied past haunts the property. About 420 residents are transplants from the Dyckman-Nagle Burying Ground, originally at West 212th Street/9th Avenue in Manhattan. Other graves were relocated from Bensonia Cemetery, otherwise known as Morrisania Cemetery. It was originally a Native American Burial Ground. There are many reasons to come here, yet another Titanic Memorial statue sits here, the Richard Hudnut Monument is an interesting gazebo style piece of stone carving, and the Reisinger Monument creates a unique pergola styled with Greek columns.
Despite the development around the cemetery, it was first established as a rural graveyard. You can organize an official tour, since there is so much to see here over 400 acres, by going to the website at www.thewoodlawncemetery.org . So many notables have come to rest here, among them include composer Duke Ellington, sculptor Anna Hyatt Huntington, writer Herman Melville, heiress and philanthropist Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, Civil War Battle of Mobile Bay hero Admiral David Glasgow Farragut, former textile merchant turned advocate for the arts Augustus Juilliard. Singer Celia Cruz was laid to rest here in 2003 after a procession in a glass coffin along the streets of Manhattan, in addition to countless others. Others include former New York City Mayor LaGuardia, and parks planner Robert Moses.
It is one of the most beautiful cemeteries in the nation, equal to Boston’s Mount Auburn. This is a National Landmark and a landmark of the City of New York. It is recommended to go through with a tour group since many graves have been rubbed smooth by the weather. This place also serves as a ground for inspiration among artists, writers and architecture students. Therefore you will see often young people here with their notebooks or sketching for classes.
6. Edgar Allan Poe Cottage
In the neighborhood of Fordham, the Poe Cottage is where one of America’s first authors resided. From 1846 to 1849 Edgar Allan Poe lived here with his wife VIrginia Clemm and his mother-in-law. At the time it is thought that Poe paid about $5 in rent per month for the cottage, which was in a very rural area. The neighborhood was made of farms and small rental homes for seasonal workers. Fordham had just recently been connected to the city by railroad. Previously the Poe family had lived in Turtle Bay. Poe's final short story, "Landor's Cottage", was likely inspired by the home. Poe also connected with the faculty at the local college, St. John's College, now Fordham University.
The cottage sold in 1889 for $775 to William Fearing Gil, Poe's first American biographer. In 1895, the New York Shakespeare Society showed interest in preserving the Cottage, first as a headquarters with the promise that it would be maintained in the condition in which Poe used it. Because of development of the area, there was a concern that the cottage would be demolished. But an article titled "Shall We Save the Poe Cottage at Fordham" was published in The Review of Reviews in 1896. Grabbing the attention of the New York State Legislature to act on preserving the home with endorsements from prominent figures of the day, among them was President Theodore Roosevelt.
The property was subject to vandalism over the first 100 years of it’s move to Kingsbridge Road and the Grand Concourse. But since the 1990s there has always been a live in caretaker of the property, mostly scholars and students. Today after a year-long restoration the cottage is open to the public every weekend: Saturdays 10AM-4PM / Sundays 1PM-5PM. To gain entry you must pay $5 per adult, $3 for students, children and seniors For group tours during the week, call ahead at (718) 881-8900.
7. New York Botanical Garden
Popular with students and tourists, this botanical garden is across the street from the Bronx Zoo. A visit to the New York Botanical Garden, on certain days, when you pay for entry you can visit the zoo for free within the same day. You can check with the office at (718) 817-8687, or organize a large group by calling ahead.
During the winter months you can still enjoy the gardens, unlike other botanical gardens this location has year long exhibits. Right now in November you can see a large impactful display of chrysanthemums and the conservatory garden. Plus this time of year the holiday train is running, complete with small scale replicas of New York landmarks.
This was the private estate of the Lorillard Family, which later became The New York Botanical Garden. Founded in 1891, some of the property was also donated from St. John’s College, now Fordham University. The effort to organize the space was spearheaded by the Torrey Botanical Club and Columbia University botanist Nathaniel Lord Britton and his wife Elizabeth Gertrude Britton who were inspired to emulate the Royal Botanic Gardens in London. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1967.
Located at 2900 Southern Boulevard, over 50 acres of wetlands and planned gardens easily merit a full day of wandering. The Bronx River still runs through here. It is the only freshwater river in New York City. It is unique, it includes a riverine canyon and rapids. Along its shores sits the landmark Stone Mill previously known as the Lorillard Snuff Mill built in 1840. Sculptor Charles Tefft created the ‘Fountain of Life’ especially for the gardens in 1905.
An active research facility, The Pfizer Plant Research Laboratory has been open since 2006. The grounds has always been an environment for developing research in flora. The Pfizer Plant in particular has a goal to answer Darwin's "abominable mystery"; when, where, and why flowering plants emerged.
8. Bronx Museum of Arts
The Bronx Museum of the Arts is the borough’s home for contemporary art, mostly from the past century. Focused on collection work from American Artists, the space has held exhibitions for Latino and Asian artists, as well as African artists. The static collection is made of over 800 pieces, from paintings, photographs, sculpture and more. First founded in the early 1970s, the collection was housed in the Bronx County Courthouse.
A decade later the collection moved to a renovated synagogue at 165th Street and the Grand Concourse. It became essential in 2006 that the museum have a larger space, fueling a large building project. Spending $19 million on a 33,000 square foot space. The architectural firm Arquitectonica was given the commission, adding space for the new services centered around education. The museum is a center for families and young children to explore their creativity, through classes and after school programs.
In 1987 the center had been given great publicity from a show displaying work by Romare Bearden, then a pioneer in digital art. The exhibit was a precursor digital art and mixed media becoming a respected legitimate art form. Recent exhibits include the 2008 overview of street-level photography by Jamel Shabazz, a Harlem-based artist.
The museum is located at the street address of 1040 Grand Concourse, you can take the D or B trains to the 167th Street station. It’s about a two block walk. Open Thursday through Sunday from 11 am until 6 pm, extended to 8 pm on Fridays.
9. City Island
City Island was once a part of Pelham in Westchester County, but has been re-zoned as a part of the borough of Bronx. It is a very small island, measuring 1.5 mi long by .5 mi wide. On all sides the island is surrounded by the Long Island Sound. It is home to about 8 marinas and 8 yacht clubs. In 1655, the Englishman Thomas Pell came to the island and purchased land from the Siwanoy. Until 1749 the island was privately owned by the Pell family.
The island was in its heyday during the second World War when shipyards produced minesweepers and tugboats. The island has a museum you can attend by appointment only, at 190 Fordham Street. Open Sunday and Wednesday only, from 1 to 5 pm. The island is the inspiration for nearly 60 paintings by professor Harold Vendervoort Walsh.
For a small area there are some amazing restaurants. Over thirty to choose from, and they all serve up seafood year round. A handy directory is available on the official City Island website at http://www.cityisland.com/restaurants.html endorsed by the New York Post.
10. Pelham Bay Park (please, mention Ocean Beach, a public beach area)
Pelham Bay Park is over three times the size of Central Park in Manhattan. Here you can horseback ride, with meandering trails for hoof or foot. This is a popular place to go hiking. There are about 13 miles of beachfront property, making Orchard Beach a welcome expanse of sea salty air. Originally the home of the Siwanoy Indians,the land had passed hands with Ann Hutchinson, and the Continental Army.
The Long Island Sound is in full view, from here you can see Connecticut and the north shore of Long Island. Here is the former private estate of the Bartow-Pell Mansion, with room to spare for two golf courses. The American Boy statue is an interesting monument, in the likeness of a greek Kouros. There are spray showers so you can easily clean up after a swim. And there are designated dog friendly areas. There are also kayak and canoe launch sites for your water sport fans.
The Bartow-Pell Mansion is just a few trees away from a bustling highway, but tucked away in the woods it is a great example of high society country living. In 1842 the house was used by publishing magnate Robert Bartow, but the house dates back much earlier to 1654. This is another land parcel that Thomas Pell purchased from the local natives. It was opened as a museum in 1946.
11. Van Cortlandt House
Built in 1748, the Van Cortlandt House is the oldest house within the original borders of the Bronx. You can find this Georgian house at the corner of Broadway at West 246th Street. Open TUesday through Sunday from 10am until 3 pm, the hours are extended to 4pm on Sundays. The interiors have been fully restored to their original condition. Some think that older homes had drab colors, but this interior sports contrasting colors of orange and slate blue, to highlight built in shelving and other features. Jacobus Van Cortlandt was a wealthy merchant, and he began purchasing land in the Bronx in 1694.
Because of the strategic position, both George Washington and General Sir William Howe occupied the house at different times during the Revolutionary War. The museum is designated a historic landmark, and the hours are as follows: Tuesday - Friday, 10am - 3pm; Saturday & Sunday, 11am - 4pm. There is an admission fee of $5. If you have a group of 15 or more it is best to call ahead at (718) 543-3344. The museum also makes money by renting to special event planners, for weddings and parties. Even used as a makeshift concert hall for rare occasions.
12. Lehman Center for the Performing Arts
A modern example of contemporary architecture, the Lehman Center is located at 250 Bedford Park Boulevard West. It is a part of the Lehman College campus. It is a destination concert hall with a not-for-profit group backing events here. Every September the center hosts a Jazz festival, this past fall the season began with Latin Jazz musician Eddie Palmieri. This was the 33rd season for the center’s event.
The space hosts an array of cultural events reflecting the neighborhood. Hungarian and Italian music, as well as popular culture and Latin American comedians. Russian choirs and Spanish language musicals have also been featured here. Acts do vary, and tickets sell out fast, It is best to call ahead at (718)960-8833.
13. Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum
The Bartow-Pell Mansion is just a few trees away from a bustling highway, but tucked away in the woods it is a great example of high society country living. In 1842 the house was used by publishing magnate Robert Bartow, but the house dates back much earlier to 1654. This is another land parcel that Thomas Pell purchased from the local natives. It was opened as a museum in 1946. Pell was pushed out after the Revolutionary War divided the land.
Pell was purchasing land at the very beginning of the Dutch occupation in the early 1620s. Most of the land was rented out to farmers, but he also set aside large palatial estates to build on for himself. In 1936 Mayor LaGuardia moved his staff to the mansion during one of the hottest summers on record, to beat the city heat. Being near the Long Island Sound, the breeze coming off the narrow strip of water funneled in through Pelham Bay, making the climate a bit more bearable. Today the site is a historic landmark and it has been fully restored.
The official street address is at 895 Shore Road, hours are as follows: Wednesday, Saturday & Sunday: 12pm - 4pm. The Mansion also makes a profit on rentals for corporate parties and weddings. If you have a large group you might be able to qualify for a discounted rate. Call ahead to find out at (718) 885-1461.
14. Fordham University Church
A beautiful example of Gothic style architecture, the Fordham University Church was once named for St. John. The lantern style tower is unique and sets this church apart from any other construction in the borough of the Bronx. Because the bells served as inspiration for the poem by Edgar Allen Poe, the tower is affectionately called Old Edgar Allen.
Built in 1845 to serve the seminary, it also served the farmers as a place of worship. The six windows lining the nave were originally gifts of King Louis Philippe of France to Archbishop Hughes for Old St. Patrick's Cathedral, but they did not fit. Thankfully they found a new home here. In 1929 on the heels of the Great Depression, the church saw its attendance numbers soar, so a large renovation project was planned.
Weekly mass starts at 8:30 am, all are welcome. The altarpiece was also donated from the old St. Patrick’s on Mulberry Street. It is a striking sight in the fall when the leaves are changing around it, but even in winter when the branches are bare the trees seem to frame the church, complimenting the architecture. Located near Webster Avenue.
15. Hall of Fame of Great Americans
Housed within the walls of Bronx Community College, the Hall of Fame of Great Americans was founded in 1900 by Dr. Henry Mitchell MacCracken, Chancellor of New York University from 1891 to 1910. The hall combines the aesthetic of Versailles Hall of Mirrors with the scale and presence of the Parthenon. The view presents a panorama across the Harlem River to the Cloisters in Fort Tryon Park and beyond to the Palisades.
A 630 foot colonnade is open to the elements, making a stunning scene in winter snow or a backdrop for fall foliage to burst into color. Bronze busts line the hall, among them are the likes of Alexander Graham Bell, Eli Whitney and George Westinghouse. 98 bronzes are housed here. It is open year round with parameters as follows: The Hall of Fame is open to the public for self-guided tours daily, between the hours of 10:00am and 5:00pm and guided tours by appointment only. Two weeks advance notice is suggested. Admission is free.
16. Loews Paradise Theater
The Paradise Theater is a classic example of what many cinemas once looked like throughout the city. It has a baroque inspired facade with a colorful plaque in front. The facade is also adorned with a clock. Architect John Eberson is credited for creating the Atmospheric theater design. This recreates the illusion of an outdoor villa courtyard under a night sky. This is the only remaining Eberson theater in the country, one similar to this one in Chicago was destroyed in 1956. A similar one made in a new construction is located in New Jersey.
Located on the Grand Concourse, push through the bronze doors and you will find three domes with elaborate murals depicting the three stages of the theater experience: Sound, Story and Film. In 1994 the building shut down as a movie theater, and in 1997 it was designated a historic landmark. Today the building is the current home of World Changers Church New York, which is led by Creflo Dollar and his wife Taffi Dollar.
17. Fieldston Historic District
In Riverdale, the Fieldston Historic District is home to the Bell Tower Park and the Hudson Hill neighborhood. It is mostly upper middle class families, making the area very safe. People are easily approachable just in case you need to ask directions. Leland Weintraub, the commissioner who moved for the district's creation, noted that "most of the features commonly associated with the American romantic suburb of the mid-19th century."
This area harkens more toward suburban Connecticut than it does New York City. It emulates Hartford more than any other borough of New York. There are also examples of modern contemporary design architecture here: the Saul Victor house, designed by Ferdinand Gottlieb in 1967. Since the beginning of 2005, Central Riverdale has been having a building boom. A lot of new apartment complexes are going up. And recently Columbia University purchased new property to house students here.
There are many references to Riverdale in various books and films, as well as television. There is a mention of it in the AMC series Mad Men, and in the 2004 film Secret Window: Mort Rainey's ex-wife lives in Riverdale. Also the iconic Tom Wolfe bestseller The Bonfire of the Vanities includes many references to Riverdale.
Comments