Yesterday we reported on Related and Somerset’s $700 million proposal to develop 13 acres of the Harlem River Yards in Port Morris which would include a soccer stadium and 550 affordable housing units but another proposal was submitted proposing 2,000 units of much mixed housing which would include “affordable” housing as well.
Today, Crain’s reports on L+M and Onmi New York’s proposal for the site which would cost $2.2 billion for a significant open space along the waterfront with a medical facility run by Montefiore Medical Center as well as retail and a school.
Their proposal is much more robust than just simply 550 units of housing and a soccer stadium that the community doesn’t really want and has fought against it moving here.
The unanswered question is how many units would be affordable and would they be permanently affordable? If you have to take one or the other, we’d pick housing over a stadium but it should be skewed towards affordable housing or rather truly affordable housing.
Actually, there’s no room for market in the neighborhood, it really should just strictly be affordable.
The following is a guest post by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Robert Zahn, Navy Office of Community Outreach who graciously allowed us to post the following article.
YOKOSUKA, Japan- A Bronx, New York, native and 2011 St. Raymond Academy graduate is serving in the U.S. Navy aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan.
Petty Officer 3rd Class Chelsea Serrano is a machinist’s mate aboard the aircraft carrier operating out of Yokosuka, Japan.
A Navy machinist’s mate operates, maintains, and repairs ship propulsion machinery, auxiliary equipment, and various equipment throughout the ship.
Serrano is proud to serve in the Pacific and fondly recalls memories of Bronx.
“My parents instilled a good work ethic in me,” said Serrano.
Petty Officer 3rd Class Chelsea Serrano/Image Via Navy Office of Community Outreach
“They also taught me to be more independent which has helped me in the Navy.”
Moments like that makes it worth serving around the world ready at all times to defend America’s interests. With more than 50 percent of the world’s shipping tonnage and a third of the world’s crude oil passing through the region, the United States has historic and enduring interests in this part of the world. The Navy’s presence in Yokosuka is part of that long-standing commitment, explained Navy officials.
Named in honor of former President Ronald Reagan, the carrier is longer than three football fields, measuring nearly 1,100 feet. The ship, a true floating city, weighs more than 100,000 tons and has a flight deck that is 252 feet wide. Two nuclear reactors can push the ship through the water at more than 35 mph.
Powerful catapults slingshot the aircraft off the bow of the ship. The planes land aboard the carrier by snagging a steel cable with an arresting hook that protrudes from the rear of the aircraft.
“Being deployed here is nice because I like the consistency of knowing what we are doing,” said Serrano.
Serrano is also proud of overcoming her personal battle of beating cancer. She said that going through treatment showed her that she had a strong support system from home as well as on the ship.
Sailors’ jobs are highly varied aboard the carrier. Approximately 3,200 men and women make up the ship’s crew, which keeps all parts of the aircraft carrier running smoothly — this includes everything from washing dishes and preparing meals to handling weaponry and maintaining the nuclear reactors. Another 2,500 men and women form the air wing responsible for flying and maintaining more than 70 aircraft aboard the ship.
Ronald Reagan, like each of the Navy’s aircraft carriers, is designed for a 50-year service life. When the air wing is embarked, the ship carries more than 70 attack jets, helicopters and other aircraft, all of which take off from and land aboard the carrier at sea.
As a member of one of the U.S. Navy’s most relied-upon assets, Serrano and other sailors know they are part of a legacy that will last beyond their lifetimes providing the Navy the nation needs.
“Being deployed on this ship took a while to get used to but there’s the camaraderie and there’s always someone to talk to,” said Serrano. “I really enjoy experiencing the different people I’ve met here and the bonds I’ve created.”
Seventh Fleet, which is celebrating its 75th year in 2018, spans more than 124 million square kilometers, stretching from the International Date Line to the India/Pakistan border; and from the Kuril Islands in the North to the Antarctic in the South. Seventh Fleet’s area of operation encompasses 36 maritime countries and 50 percent of the world’s population with between 50-70 U.S. ships and submarines, 140 aircraft, and approximately 20,000 Sailors in the 7th Fleet.
Two years after NYS issued a Request for Expressions of Interest to develop 12.8 acres of the Harlem River Yards in Port Morris, Yimby has revealed that a massive project to include a soccer stadium and 550 “affordable housing apartments”.
Behind this proposal is Related Companies partnered together with Somerset Partners (who spearheaded the ill-named Piano District and just a few weeks ago sold their development site for $165 million) who teamed up with New York City Football Club who, if you recall, was looking for a a soccer stadium to be built south of Yankee Stadium a few years ago.
Lower left, renderings for market-rate luxury housing at the former Somerset/Chetrit site which sold several weeks ago for $165 million to Brookfield and upper right the stadium and a 550 unit affordable housing development./Image via Rafael Vinoly Architects
If this proposal is chosen, this would be the city’s first soccer stadium and it will be designed by starchitect Rafael Viñoly who designed Manhattan’s 432 Park Avenue which is NYC’s best-selling development to date with over $2 billion in condo sales.
Viñoly is no stranger to The Bronx having designed both the housing court on the Grand Concourse as well as The Bronx County Hall of Justice in Melrose on 161st Street.
Image via Rafael Viñoly Architects
Yet again, Bronxites will be shut out from the waterfront even though the plans call for some open access. Why can’t we just have an open park like the Mott Haven-Port Morris Waterfront Planset forth by South Bronx Unite years ago which received priority status by NYS in 2014?
This is, once again, our government not listening to the community and what they want or need and instead giving handouts to local developers rather than investing in the existing community.
Image via Rafael Viñoly Architects
According to the RFP issued by Related, they would only be paying $500,000 a year in rent for prime real estate that we all know is worth far more than that. Why are they being considered for yet another sweetheart deal like FreshDirect and the Yankees where the community ends up losing?
The location is also utterly ridiculous for a stadium for a variety of reasons including that it would place it on the busy approach to the Third Avenue Bridge along Bruckner Boulevard where trucks are zooming by.
What kind of traffic will that add to an area already suffering from some of the highest rates of asthma in the nation?
The nearest subway station at 138th Street and Alexander Avenue on the 6 line is 5-6 blocks away from the site and in order to get to and from there, pedestrians have to cross dangerous intersections created by the Major Deegan Expressway and Bruckner Boulevard where pedestrian fatalities are an issue.
The best use of this site is not a soccer stadium or “affordable” housing that won’t be affordable for anyone who needs.
The best use is the proposed Mott Haven-Port Morris Waterfront Plan created BY the community NOT greedy developers who do not care about our quality of life and only offer up such “token” amenities like access to the waterfront (which belongs to the people anyway) and “community facilities.
The area was hit hard by Superstorm Sandy and was flooded considerably so why are we developing on the waterfront when we should be building resiliency for when (not if) the next big storm hits NYC?
All these renderings and proposed ideas might look cute on paper but in reality we already know that it does nothing for the poorest congressional district in the nation. It doesn’t address the existing problems or helps them except in that it will just further accelerate displacement.
The following is a series written by Diego Robayo of the Historic District Council which profiles Bronx community leaders who have contributed to our history and will be published here on Welcome2TheBronx.
The Legacy of Casa Amadeo: NYC’s Oldest Latino Music Store
Encouraged by subsidy programs that offered zero-down mortgage payments on houses in other counties, most of the middle-class had left The Bronx by the 1970’s. The borough became an enclave for working- class immigrants, African Americans and Puerto Ricans, many from East Harlem or El Barrio.
Unfortunately, an unwanted visitor was also making its debut.
An almost invisible visitor in the form of a white powder that filled people’s lungs with an acrid smoke, crack, called by some the “fast food” of drugs, brought with it an epidemic of additional poverty and crime.
In the midst of this gloomy time, Mike Amadeo found the perfect conditions to start a business. He established a store that would maintain the spirit of Latino culture in the same place where another Latino music store, called Casa Hernandez, had been functioning since 1941, before Mike took over the place. Mike named his new store Casa Amadeo, and since the 1960s until today, it has been in the same place in the South Bronx. It remains the oldest Latino music store in New York City, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.
Mike Amadeo’s affinity for music began when he was a little boy. He made a living out of this passion when he arrived to New York City from Puerto Rico. As a member of a salsa music group called Los Tres Reyes, he recorded his music with a company called Compañía Alegre (The Happy Company), which was located in the same building as Casa Amadeo. In his lifetime, Mike has composed over 200 songs.
Mike moved to the South Bronx in 1969 when he rented a shop at 786 Prospect Avenue (also known as 850 Longwood Avenue) for a price much lower than the average rent of the city. At the time, many of the longtime residents were fleeing the area, which was starting to feel more like a war zone than a neighborhood, but Mike was lured by the cheap rent and the increasing Latino community.
Photo: Diego Robayo
New York City has always been the home of diverse cultures and values, and this diversity created the perfect place for Mike to prevail and establish a profitable enterprise. The Hispanic population was becoming the majority in the South Bronx, and they became Mike’s most distinguished customers. He filled up the stalls of his store with Latino music.
Latinos love to dance, and all the countries that comprise South and Central America have their own original rhythms with the same festive cadence. They all are danced vividly, and give Latino countries a cheery ambience. This cultural bliss was sustained by Casa Amadeo, as Mike was providing the community with the most iconic salsa discs.
Large numbers of Latinos began to arrive to the South Bronx in the 1960’s and 1970’s, and they encountered a bleak atmosphere infested by drugs and decay. To uphold their culture, Latino nightclubs began to prosper, and they became a shelter for the joyous identity of immigrants coming from South and Central America.
Soon enough, these nightclubs became Mike’s privileged customers. Mike was supplying jukeboxes in Latino nightclubs with compact discs, and his customer base continued to grow, while at the same time he was paying a very low rent in a depressed neighborhood.
Only a few people had Mike’s determination to stay in The Bronx at that time. In the 1970’s, this borough lost one in five residents, and its population declined from 1.472 million to 1.169 million. As The Bronx continued to be neglected, the circumstances for Mike became harder, but his determination to stay remained strong. .
For more than two years, the building where his store is located was abandoned and no one was collecting the rent. Junkies constantly broke into the building, and sometimes into his store. Utilities were shut down, and Mike had to get water from the fire hydrant outside his building which he carried with a bucket into his space. He eventually convinced ConEdison to reconnect the utility supply.
In 1977, President Jimmy Carter visited The Bronx and walked along Charlotte Street, just some blocks away from Casa Amadeo. The New York Times covered this visit by saying that the president “viewed some of the country’s worst urban blight, rubble‐strewn lots and open fire hydrants, and people shouting ‘Give us money!’”
Amongst this bleak landscape, Mike’s business was flourishing. The store became a gathering place for Latino culture and his creativity grew delightful songs written by him on the counters of the store. The entire borough was falling apart, but the interior of Mike’s store was radiating colorful beams of imagination that united the community.
Photo: Diego Robayo
Today, Mike has a deep bond with his store, even though it does not provide him with the necessary income to cover his expenses. However, the emotional reward of having overcome those dark times is ample satisfaction.
Mike blames the decline of his store on two reasons : the disruption caused by digital music and the Giuliani administration. Most traditional businesses had to reinvent themselves in the last decades due to the arrival of the digital platforms. Mike’s business was in the center of this wide-reaching turmoil.
Additionally, in the 1990’s, Mayor Giuliani’s administration required that specifically zoned “cabaret” business apply for license renewal every two years for a fee up to $1,300. This requirement got rid of many informal nightclubs that were operating without any license. Mike believed that by doing so, Giuliani criminalized the city’s nightlife.
Casual buyers of music could now access to all the music they wanted online, and many nightclubs with jukeboxes that demanded Mike’s compact discs are now on the verge of disappearing or are gone, but Mike’s determination has remained strong. From Monday to Saturday, he arrives at 11:00 in the morning to keep his store running.
At the age of 84, he is energetic enough to pull up the heavy gates of his store, answer the phone, offer interviews, and attend to his customers; most of whom are seniors that spend a great deal of time walking around the store, staring at compact discs of old salsa orchestras that trigger a sense of nostalgia.
That same nostalgia, and perhaps melancholy, is also present in Mike, as he shows an LP record that contains the music of his father, who also was a prominent musician, and abandoned Mike when he was a little child living in Puerto Rico. Mike talks of his father with both admiration and sorrow. He proudly played the music of his father, while saying “What kind of affection could I have for someone who abandoned me when I was a child?”
Photo: Diego Robayo
Although it has national recognition, Mike’s store, and the building where it’s located, are not protected as historic landmarks. Casa Amadeo and 786 Prospect Avenue deserve to be protected as survivors and witnesses to the development of The Bronx.
In a neighborhood where there are not many surviving historic buildings, 786 Longwood Avenuewas built in 1905 and has gone through The Bronx’s prosperous and turbulent times. Currently, the Historic Districts Council is working to protect this important cultural landmark by securing New York City Landmark designation.
About the author:
Diego Robayo is a historic preservation advocate and works for the Historic Districts Council as the Spanish Language Fellow. He is a strong believer that the history and identity of all cultural groups should be acknowledged in order to advance social development. He has documented life in The Bronx and other outer boroughs through photographs and interviews. He received a scholarship to start a graduate program at Columbia University, which gave him a broad perspective on how to make cultural research and preservation.
This post comes from the Historic Districts Council. Founded in 1970 as a coalition of community groups from the city’s designated historic districts, HDC has grown to become one of the foremost citywide voices for historic preservation. Serving a network of over 500 neighborhood-based community groups in all five boroughs, HDC strives to protect, preserve and enhance New York City’s historic buildings and neighborhoods through ongoing advocacy, community development, and education programs.
Now in its eighth year, Six to Celebrate is New York’s only citywide list of preservation priorities. The purpose of the program is to provide strategic resources to neighborhood groups at a critical moment to reach their preservation goals. The six selected groups receive HDC’s hands-on help on all aspects of their efforts over the course of the year and continued support in the years to come. Learn more about this year’s groups, the Six to Celebrate app, and related events here >>
For the past 70 years we’ve been taught to never forget the genocide of six million Jews but a new survey released today on Yom Hashoa, Holocaust Remembrance Day, shows that it is fading into memory.
Thirty-one percent of Americans, and 41 percent of millennials, believe that two million or fewer Jews were killed in the Holocaust; the actual number is around six million. Forty-one percent of Americans, and 66 percent of millennials, cannot say what Auschwitz was. Only 39 percent of Americans know that Hitler was democratically elected.
“As we get farther away from the actual events, 70-plus years now, it becomes less forefront of what people are talking about or thinking about or discussing or learning,” said Matthew Bronfman, a board member of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, which commissioned the study. “If we wait another generation before you start trying to take remedial action, I think we’re really going to be behind the eight ball.”
But here’s a story about our Bronx’s past that we should never forget.
Many New Yorkers, and Bronxites for that matter, do not know that at one point, the Bronx was the most Jewish of all the boroughs. With over half a million residents of Jewish ancestry, they made up almost 57% of the population of our beloved borough in the 1930s through the 40s.
According to bronxsynagogues.org, there were over 260 registered synagogues registered throughout the borough’s landscape. Most lived in the South Bronx with highest concentration around the lower Grand Concourse.
As Israel and the rest of the world observes Yom HaShoa, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, here is an accountof a Bronx rabbi, as told by his son,
of how they saved one family.
The account begins:
“In the early 1940’s, my father was a rabbi in the Bronx, NYC. His salary was twenty dollars a week.
One day, he received a phone call. It was urgent, the man said. A matter of life and death. It was about the Jews in Europe.
The following Saturday morning, the man spoke to the congregation. He had “inside” information. The Nazis were planning to exterminate the Jews. The “relocation camps” were really death camps. Gas chambers. Gold extracted from the teeth of the dead, their body fat to be used to manufacture soap. He begged people to sign affidavits, at ten dollars each, documenting that they were seeking household help. This had to be done quickly. People could still be saved. Soon, it would be too late.
Everyone was shocked. Surely, this man was exaggerating. Maybe even crazy. Germany — the most cultured of countries — How could this be?
The man asked my parents to sign two affidavits, stating their interest in hiring a butler and maid. They would have to pay twenty dollars for the affidavits. A week’s salary – somehow they would manage. But my parents were not sure whether to believe him. And, documenting that they were hiring a butler and maid, in their small Bronx apartment? Wasn’t that fraud?
My parents gave him the money, and they put their signatures on the affidavits.
Three months later, the doorbell rang. A man and woman held a piece of paper. “We are looking for this family,” the man said, in heavily accented Yiddish. My family’s name was written on the paper. The woman bent down, and kissed the hem of my mother’s dress. “You saved us,” she said. Let us always remember and never forget.”
StreetEasy has issued a report on average housing costs and incomes broken down by NYC boroughs and as usual, The Bronx comes in the worst possible rankings.
Although Bronx renters have the lowest average housing costs in the city at an annual average of $13,176, due to an average income of $29,302 it is also the most rent burdened borough with roughly 45% of annual income going to rent.
The situation for Bronx homeowners is more on par with Brooklyn and Queens with 37% of income going to annual housing costs which average $28,548 in our borough.
According to StreetEasy, the average income for homeowners in The Bronx is $76,454.
“Renters and owners in the Bronx earn the least of any borough, and face the lowest absolute housing costs, but are significantly burdened by them. If Manhattanites earn more and pay relatively less, Bronx residents earn less and pay relatively more: The borough has the highest median-rent-to-income ratio in all of NYC, at 45 percent, meaning that the average earner in the median apartment pays a staggering 45 percent of their annual income in rent.
Exacerbating the difference is the fact that average renters in Manhattan make more than $33,000 more than average renters in the Bronx — an astounding difference of 112 percent — but pay rents of roughly just $500 more per month. Similarly, Manhattan homeowners earn nearly $66,000 more per year on average than those in the Bronx, despite paying a premium of only $642 in average monthly housing costs.”
This data doesn’t come as a surprise, however, as this has been consistently the case for the past several years with study after study.
Tucked away in Riverdale is Fieldston filled with mansions on oversized lots of which 252 of its homes were declared a historic district back in 2006.
Curbed writes today about 4730 Fieldston Road, a massive 10,000 square foot home for sale sitting on 1.3 acres and it even comes with its own badminton court (yes, I love badminton but alas I don’t have $6.65 million shekels to buy this 10 bedroom home).
But then again, what do I need 10 bedrooms for?
The home itself is gorgeous but it’s all about the landscape and lot, for me at least.
The house, currently listedfor $6.65 million, was built in 1930 and designed by architect Julius Gregory, a prolific designer whose stamp can be found on dozens of the homes in the Fieldston Historic District. This particular one is, according to the Landmarks Preservation Commission designation, “substantially intact today” and “representative of the homes built in Fieldston during the period in which the neighborhood was being developed.”
But what does that mean, exactly? Gregory, a regular contributor to House Beautiful and Home & Garden, designed this mansion in the Georgian Revival style, with a gabled, slate-shingled roof (with chimneys, and yes, there are fireplaces—three of ‘em), five front bays, and a muted facade made of fieldstone. (Of course.)
This is the beauty of The Bronx. There is literally something for everyone in our beautiful borough.
Fieldston is one of the very few neighborhoods in NYC where it’s privately owned down to the very streets itself.
In NYC Landmark’s designation report of the Fieldston Historic District, Virginia Kurshan writes, “The Fieldston neighborhood is one of New York City’s most beautiful and well-planned early twentieth century suburban communities consisting of approximately 257
houses and related structures.”
Oh and this isn’t the most expensive house to hit the market in The Bronx.
Amazon’s rival, Jet.com which is owned by Wal-Mart, has leased the former ABC Carpet & Home on Bruckner Boulevard and Bronx River Road in Soundview, a property which Amazon was considering.
ABC Carpet & Home sold the 200,000 square foot property to Prologis last year for $17,500,000 who then made multi-million dollar upgrades to the property.
Neither Amazon nor Jet.com have confirmed the transaction according to Crain’s but the publication said a source familiar with the transaction said that Amazon had been considering it but was “one-uped” by Jet.
Crain’s reports that that Prologis does not confirm the tenants but that it was leased for last-mile deliveries for a large e-commerce company.
Last-mile warehouses are becoming a hot commodity in NYC where companies like Amazon and Jet want to be able to make same-day deliveries.
Thanks to 6sqftfor letting us syndicate this wonderful historical piece on Arthur Avenue. Make sure to follow 6sqft for more great pieces on real estate and history in NYC!
This post is part of a series by the Historic Districts Council, exploring the groups selected for their Six to Celebrate program, New York’s only targeted citywide list of preservation priorities.
The Bronx’s Belmont community can date its history all the way back to 1792, when French tobacconist Pierre Abraham Lorillard opened the Lorillard Snuff Mill as the first tobacco firm in the country, and possibly the world. European influences continued to proliferate in the area, and at the turn of the 19th century, flocks of Italian immigrants moved to Belmont to take jobs in the newly opened Botanical Gardens and Bronx Zoo. By 1913, the neighborhood was referred to as the Italian “colonies” in the Bronx.
Today, Belmont’s main artery, Arthur Avenue, still thrives as a bustling Italian center, with countless restaurants, pastry shops, butchers, and more. But there’s a lot more to Belmont than just spaghetti and cannoli. From the origins of a pasta shop’s sign that’s now featured on Broadway to a Neapolitan restaurant that was born in Cairo, Egypt, the Belmont BID shares six secrets of this saucy neighborhood.
1. The storefront sign of Borgatti’s Ravioli & Egg Noodles, a long-time business on East 187th Street, is now featured on the set of the Broadway musical “A Bronx Tale.”
Thanks to their upbringing, Lindo and Maria Borgatti were both skilled pasta makers, and in November of 1935, they pooled less than $300 (all the money they had) and rented a storefront on East 187th Street. They gathered pastry boards, rolling pins, wooden benches, and knives from their home and started making egg noodles. Lindo, Maria, and their six sons took turns making the noodles from 6:00am to 8:00pm, and their first pound of egg noodles was sold for 15 cents. Business was slow at first, but eventually, they saved enough money to buy a hand-operated dough press and noodle cutter. Their now famous ravioli was created after their son George made a wooden ravioli board, and six months later they were able to purchase an electric pasta machine, which resulted in increased noodle production.
This enabled them to move to a different (and their current) storefront, and in 1949 they expanded into the adjacent store because business was flourishing. Borgatti’s has been written and raved about in highly accredited publications, but Mario remained humble and shared that it is most rewarding to see many of his customers return year after year. Today, egg noodles and ravioli from Borgatti’s have traveled across the globe, and Mario’s son, Chris, shares that a recent special moment occurred when Chazz Palminteri visited the store. Chris thought that he might want some ravioli for his restaurant, however it turned out the actor wanted to know if the Borgatti’s Ravioli sign could be used in his Broadway musical “A Bronx Tale.” Chris, of course said yes, and the sign can now be seen on stage at the Longacre Theatre in New York City.
2. Even though the neighborhood is known as an Italian community, one of the oldest businesses on the world-famous block of Arthur Avenue is owned by a Jewish family.
Upon entering Teitel Brothers you will see the Star of David in the tile work placed there by Jacob Teitel in the 1930s. Jacob and Morris Teitel settled in the Belmont area from Austria around 1913. The brothers were tailors in their homeland, but opted to make a living in the deli business and opened Teitel Brothers in April of 1915. Their strategy was to provide their customers with a variety of the finest products at the lowest prices. For over 30 years, they’ve been starting their 18-hour days by constructing a variety of their products on the sidewalk surrounding their store, which is still done to this day.
Before determining the daily cost of the merchandise, they sent a worker to research the competition and adjusted their prices accordingly (this was a common practice). Their families lived in the upstairs apartment, and if the store was ever too busy, Jacob would bang on the pipes signaling for his wife, Esther, to come down and help. Before there was refrigeration, the deli stayed open late (until at least midnight on Fridays and Saturdays) to satisfy their customers’ after-dinner shopping needs. Slowly but surely, Jacob recruited his sons, Louis, Ben and Gilbert to work on Sundays, however they all started by first learning how to push a broom through the store. Once that was mastered, the boys were allowed to sell nuts, figs and dates outside during the holidays, and they worked their way up to balancing school and deli work, full time. With the changing times, business had to keep up, as well, and electronic scales and slicers were introduced. Today the family and team, currently in their third generation, still provide a variety of the finest products at the lowest prices.
3. Mario’s Restaurant was one of the first restaurants on Arthur Avenue and has been serving first-rate Neapolitan fare since 1919, but did you know that the restaurant has roots in Cairo, Egypt?
Joe Migliucci’s great-grandfather and grandfather left Naples in the early 1900s and opened the first-ever Italian restaurant in Cairo. The restaurant was a success, but his grandfather became restless and decided to come to America. Mario’s Restaurant was opened on Arthur Avenue by Joe’s father, grandfather, and grandmother nearly 100 years ago, and while it is much bigger today, it still operates on the same site. Over the years, many well-known people have dined here, including Governor Rockefeller, Anna Moffo, Elizabeth Taylor and Eddie Fisher. The restaurant is even mentioned in the film “The Godfather.” In fact, the filmmakers reportedly wanted to shoot scenes in the restaurant, but the Migliucci family refused, fearing bad publicity.
Watch our video on Little Italy
Google Street View of Madonia Bakery
4. Peter Madonia, Sr., of Madonia Brothers Bakery, was literally born into the family business!
Mario Madonia arrived in the United States in the early 1900s from Monreale, Sicily, and settled in the Arthur Avenue neighborhood in the pursuit of a better life for his family. He started baking bread as part of a co-op known as the Reliable Bronx Italian Bakers. The building, located at 2385 Arthur Avenue, still bears the name. His son Peter’s entry into the neighborhood, however, is a bit more unique.
During Prohibition, the streets of the neighborhood were made one-way because the police wanted to make it harder for bootleggers to escape. During a car chase on May 15, 1924, a local bootlegger’s car crashed through the window of Madonia Brothers Bakery. While Mario was in the back baking, his wife Rose, who was seven months pregnant, was working in the front and the shock from the crash sent her into premature labor and she delivered her son in the bakery. The baby’s survival was doubtful, however, his parents persevered. They lined a shoe box with cotton and placed the baby in it by the oven for warmth, which effectively acted like an incubator. Each day he grew stronger and 11 days later, on May 26th, Mario and Rose finally registered their child with the Department of Health. Peter went on to run the family business, which is still family-owned and operated today.
Pushcart vendors on Arthur Avenue in 1940, courtesy of the Library of Congress
5. The Arthur Avenue Retail Market at 2344 Arthur Avenue was the first enclosed retail market in the Bronx.
Joseph Liberatore was born in Connecticut in 1919 but spent his formative years in Italy. Upon his return to the United States in 1936, he chose the Bronx’s Little Italy as his home, establishing himself as a neighborhood pushcart vendor of fruits and vegetables. His days began at 2:00am when he would take the train to the South Street Seaport to order the day’s merchandise. Once everything was gathered, he would return to Arthur Avenue where he retrieved his cart from a basement warehouse.
This six-day-a-week routine continued until 1940, when the Arthur Avenue Retail Market was established, enabling Joseph and more than 100 other street vendors to rent indoor stands to sell their products for a fee. Some vendors were afraid of the change and thought customers wouldn’t want to come inside to shop, but Joseph always had pride in the quality of his products, which kept his customers coming. At the age of 80, Joseph decided it was time to pursue a less strenuous business and began selling plants, flowers and vegetable seeds from Italy in the Market instead. Because of his 75 years of working in the neighborhood, Joseph was aptly named the “Mayor of Arthur Avenue” and he continued his plant business until his death in 2011. Today, the business is run by one of his five children.
The Bronx Beer Hall, courtesy of the Belmont BID
6. The Bronx Beer Hall, located in the Arthur Avenue Retail Market, celebrates Bronx heritage; its tables are even made from reclaimed wood from a farmhouse upstate owned by Jonas Bronck himself.
When Anthony Ramirez II and Paul Ramirez started promoting the Bronx over a decade ago with the launch of their borough-branded apparel and accessories business, FromTheBronx.com, they never thought it would lead them to open a bar in the heart of Little Italy. After a particularly long day, the brothers were in search of a place to relax and enjoy a beer, but couldn’t find such a place. They then set out to establish a bar that would showcase their love of the Bronx while fostering a sense of community pride within the historic Arthur Avenue Retail Market.
An instant classic when it opened in 2013, the Bronx Beer Hall features new age beer and an original menu sourced from their Arthur Avenue neighbors, many of whom were initially skeptical of the idea. Yet, two years later, in 2015, the Bronx Beer Hall was voted as the Readers’ Choice Best Bar in NYC by Time Out New York. Patrons appreciate how the bar celebrates and honors the Bronx in its many details, including tables made of reclaimed wood from a farmhouse that Jonas Bronck owned upstate and a logo that includes a deconstruction of the Bronck Family crest and the colors of the Bronx County flag.
About this Six to Celebrate group:
The Belmont Business Improvement District (BID) is committed to promoting and expanding the economic well being of the business community, and the community at large, by promotion of the “Little Italy in the Bronx” brand, the area’s strong ethnic heritage and leadership in the culinary marketplace, and by leveraging the mercantile, social, political and cultural assets within and around the community.
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This post comes from the Historic Districts Council. Founded in 1970 as a coalition of community groups from the city’s designated historic districts, HDC has grown to become one of the foremost citywide voices for historic preservation. Serving a network of over 500 neighborhood-based community groups in all five boroughs, HDC strives to protect, preserve and enhance New York City’s historic buildings and neighborhoods through ongoing advocacy, community development, and education programs.
Now in its eighth year, Six to Celebrate is New York’s only citywide list of preservation priorities. The purpose of the program is to provide strategic resources to neighborhood groups at a critical moment to reach their preservation goals. The six selected groups receive HDC’s hands-on help on all aspects of their efforts over the course of the year and continued support in the years to come. Learn more about this year’s groups, the Six to Celebrate app, and related events here >>
Starting this month, Boogie Down at the Zoo will celebrate Bronx culture at the zoo with a series of events each weekend straight through June and for the occasion, Hip Hop legends Melle Mel, Grandmaster Caz, The Sugarhill Gang, and Scorpio ‘Furious Five’ have recorded an anthem for The Bronx Zoo.
The sounds of Hip Hop, Salsa, and Doo Wop, all musical genres from The Bronx, can be heard at the zoo this year as part of the celebrations along with Bomba dancing and Puerto Rican, Cuban, and Italian cuisine.
According to a press release from The Bronx Zoo:
For more than 120 years, the Bronx has been the birthplace of culture that has changed history and created movements. From humble beginnings, the Bronx is the home of global legends and leaders that have had a profound influence on the world through hip hop, breakdancing, doo wop, street art, salsa, AND wildlife conservation. The Bronx has it all!
Boogie Down at the Bronx Zoo presents a variety of many cultural contributions that have resonated from the Bronx. Starting on Saturday and Sunday, April 21 and 22, and continuing weekends from May 5 through June 3, artists and performers from a diverse representation of Bronx cultures will be on-site to celebrate the Bronx Zoo, Bronx culture, and wildlife.
Artwork from graffiti legends like Crash and Tats Cru will be on display as well along with that of Andre Trenier some of whom had help from some of the animals who “painted” on some surfaces which the artists then used to finish their own pieces.
Painted by a low-land gorilla at The Bronx Zoo, Bronx Graffiti artist Crash then finished the piece./Image via The Bronx ZooCrash’s finishing touches on the lowland Gorilla’s piece/Image via The Bronx Zoo
Bronx artists Kay Love will be leading a workshop for children with another Bronx artist, Lovie Pignata where they will learn a brief history of graffiti and will learn, “…how to create an animal tag incorporating simple graffiti lettering and animal characters they can take home.”
A few weeks ago we posted about a new condo development coming to City Island on the eastern end of Marine Street and we since have learned that it’s actually double in size with 32 units not 16 as previously reported.
According to the marketing website, all units at 41°N will have 2 parking spots for cars and a private slip for your watercraft too (this is City Island, after all and what would any new development be without having your own private dock for your boat?).
Units range from 859 square foot 1 bedrooms estimated at $488,000 to 1,571 square foot three-bedroom duplex units for $888,000.
All units will have at least one private terrace as well as access to a rooftop pool and private common areas.
No set date has been listed for groundbreaking.
I’m not gonna lie, I’d live here if the quality of the development is actually good AND if City Island had its own ferry service.
Who wouldn’t want a nice rooftop pool AND their own boat slip?
It’s that time again for New York City Council’s Participatory Budgeting where you get to vote on which projects should get funding in your City Council District.
From now through April 15th, make your voices heard on what projects should receive up to $1 million in funding in your district.
Once again, all Councilmembers in the East Bronx have opted out of providing this truly democratic service to their constituents (shame on Councilmen Mark Gjonaj, Ruben Diaz Sr, and Andy King) as well as Councilman Fernando Cabrera in the West Bronx.
Residents of Districts 8 (Councilwoman Diana Ayala), 13 (Councilman Andy Cohen), 15 (Councilman Ritchie Torres) 16, (Councilwoman Vanessa Gibson, and 17 (Councilman Rafael Salamanca Jr) are eligible to vote on a variety of projects like upgrades to playgrounds in Riverdale to upgrades for a local school auditorium in Longwood.
So how do you find out and see which projects you can vote on and how do you vote?
It’s simple.
Head over to the Participatory Budgeting website and you can do it straight from the comfort of your own home or wherever you are with your mobile device.
You will be asked to enter your address so that you can be directed to your district’s page where you will see a list of projects up for PB voting of which you can select up to five.
This year you can also use the LinkNYC kiosks to vote on participatory budgeting too.
According to a statement from LinkNYC:
“LinkNYC once again demonstrates that technology is a powerful tool for public good,” said Samir Saini, Commissioner of the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications. “We’re honored to work with the Council to put democracy at New Yorkers’ fingertips. This year, more than 1,500 Link kiosks present that many more opportunities for residents to vote for the neighborhood projects that matter the most to them. I look forward to introducing New Yorkers to even more ways the Link platform can be used to foster civic innovation within our great city.”
“With Participatory Budgeting, Link is helping to bring the democratic process to the streets,” said Jen Hensley, President of Link. “We always envisioned Link as a platform for civic engagement and are thrilled to support the City Council’s Participatory Budgeting efforts this year, providing another way for New Yorkers to vote for projects that will directly improve their quality of life.”
Anyone who lives in a participating district can approach a Link in any neighborhood and vote directly on the Link tablet. The vote will be submitted to Participatory Budgeting, and then the information will be deleted from the Link tablet after every session. There is also advertising on the 55-inch digital displays on the sides of each Link to alert New Yorkers to this partnership and direct them to vote on the tablet.
Of course, if you prefer the old fashioned method or know someone who doesn’t have access to the internet, you can head over to a number of voting sites throughout the districts.
The best use is the proposed Mott Haven-Port Morris Waterfront Plan created BY the community NOT greedy developers who do not care about our quality of life and only offer up such “token” amenities like access to the waterfront (which belongs to the people anyway) and “community facilities.
Photo via 
Inside Teitel Brothers, photo by 
Mario’s via 
Google Street View of Madonia Bakery
Pushcart vendors on Arthur Avenue in 1940, courtesy of the 
Arthur Avenue Retail Market via 
The Bronx Beer Hall, courtesy of the Belmont BID
