Boulevard of Dreams

by Rosenblum, Constance

• ISBN13: 9780814777244
• ISBN10: 0814777244
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-03-18
• Publisher: New York Univ Pr

Summary

Stretching over four miles through the center of the West Bronx, the Grand Boulevard and Concourse, known simply as the Grand Concourse, has gracefully served as silent witness to the changing face of the Bronx, and New York City, for a century. Now, a New York Timeseditor brings to life the street in all its raucous glory. Designed by a French engineer in the late nineteenth century to echo the elegance and grandeur of the Champs Elysees in Paris, the Concourse was nearly twenty years in the making and celebrates its centennial in November 2009. Over that century it has truly been a boulevard of dreams for various upwardly mobile immigrant and ethnic groups, yet it has also seen the darker side of the American dream. Constance Rosenblum unearths the colorful history of this grand street and its interlinked neighborhoods. With a seasoned journalist's eye for detail, she paints an evocative portrait of the Concourse through compelling life stories and historical vignettes. The story of the creation and transformation of the Grand Concourse is the story of New Yorkand Americawrit large, and Rosenblum examines the Grand Concourse from its earliest days to the blighted 1960s and 1970s right up to the current period of renewal. Beautifully illustrated with a treasure trove of historical photographs, the vivid world of the Grand Concourse comes alivefrom Yankee Stadium to the unparalleled collection of Art Deco apartments to the palatial Loew's Paradise movie theater. An enthralling story of the creation of an iconic street, an examination of the forces that transformed it, and a moving portrait of those who called it home, Boulevard of Dreamsis a must read for anyone interested in the rich history of New York and the twentieth-century American city.

Author Biography

Constance Rosenblum, the longtime editor of the New York Time's City section and former editor of the newspaper's Arts and Leisure section, is the author of Gold Digger: The Outrageous Life and Times of Peggy Hopkins Joyce and editor of New York Stories: The Best of the City Section of the New York Times and More New York Stories: The Best of the City Section of the New York Times, the latter two books available from NYU Press.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
A Promenade for the Bronx
ôA Drive of Extraordinary Delightfulnessö	p. 15
ôGet a New Resident for the Bronxö	p. 41
ôI Was Living in 'a Modern Building'ö	p. 59
The Golden Ghetto
ôSomething That Everybody Had in Aweö	p. 87
ôAn Acre of Seats in a Garden of Dreamsö	p. 125
ôBy the Waters of the Grand Concourseö	p. 141
The Grand Concourse of the Imagination	p. 159
To Hell and back
ôThe Borough of Abandonmentö	p. 177
Who Killed the Concourse?	p. 201
ôBends in the Roadö	p. 215
Sources	p. 229
Bibliography	p. 243
Index	p. 253
About the Author	p. 267
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