that is the Grand Concourse in the Bronx has certainly seen better days.
But there is still an awful lot of life there. Crews are installing new sidewalks and new medians separating the wide boulevards (2 lanes and a service road in each direction). They need a tree inspector to make sure no harm comes to the gingkos and zelkovas lining the avenue.
You’ve got wonder about people in the city, the way they love to lean things up against trees. Why? They can be told again and again not to and still you find a clutter of debris around the base of a tree. In this case it’s actually condoned. Huh?
But if you’re in the neighborhood, why not enjoy the local scenery?
I like hand lettered wall art.
Bronx residents love fruit, judging by the number of produce stands, including this one that has the owner peeling your orange for you.
There is still some of the past. The Grand Concourse was built in the late 1800s to rival the great boulevards of Europe, and it soon became a middle class haven, before the advent of white flight and the deterioration of the Bronx in general. Once in a while you meet someone who tells you their old Jewish granny used to live on the Concourse.
Glimmers of the past exist.
And most amazing, a hulking, barely visible grand building.
Behind the scaffolding stand, the Paradise Theater, built in 1929 and used for various types of entertainment since, even since it fell on terrible times – supposedly a church holds forth there now, though that’s hard to believe.
The ticket book evokes times gone by, as does the ceiling above it.
But really, the Concourse is contemporary.
Concerned with the important things.
Fresh.
And the home of thousands of grand pit bulls. This one snarls, then comes in for a pet.
I’m not sure about his manners, but he’s a handsome devil.
I wonder if pit bulls were the breed of choice at the turn of the century? Helen Keller had a pit bull named Sir Thomas. She was born in that era, so maybe the Grand Concourse was teeming with them.
Jean Zimmerman 