since it's 90+ degrees already we went up to orchard beach in the bronx yesterday to beat the heat!

 

first up is the 8:30am #6 train subway ride --- after it finally comes up out of the ground at whitlock ave station. 

 

note: east facing views only & sorry about the window schmutz/scratchitti/haze  :-P

 

 

To the left you can see the front of the train winding around the bridge

 

 

Heading over the highway at parkchester

 

St. peter’s church (1693) near westchester square -- this one is the 3rd church built here (1856)

 

1970’s Brutalist Lehman hs even more bizzarely spans over a highway (the hutch)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_H._Lehman_High_School

 

 

last stop at pelham bay park station

 

Some Co-op city views on the beach bus ride (1968-71); aww what the heck-- here’s the wiki trivia:

 

"Co-op City is on the site of Freedomland, a former amusement park. Prior to housing that theme park, a small municipal airport was established there.

 

Co-op City: 35 high rise buildings and seven clusters of townhouses, make it the largest single residential development in the United States. It sits on 320 acres but only 20% of the land was developed, leaving many green spaces. The apartment buildings, referred to by number, range from 24 floors to as high as 33. The 236 townhouses, referred to by their street-name cluster, are three stories high and have a separate garden apartment and upper duplex three-bedroom apartment.

 

This "city within a city" also has eight parking garages, three shopping centers, a 25-acre educational park (including a high school, two middle schools and three grade schools), power plant, a 4-story air conditioning generator and a firehouse. More than 40 offices within the development are rented by doctors, lawyers, and other professionals and there are at least 15 houses of worship. Spread throughout the community are six nursery schools and day care centers, four basketball courts and five baseball diamonds. The adjacent Bay Plaza Shopping Center has a 13-plex movie theater, department stores, and a supermarket.

 

The development was built on landfill; the original marshland still surrounds it. The building foundations extend down to bedrock through 50,000 pilings, but the land surrounding Co-op's structures settles and sinks a fraction of an inch each year, creating cracks in sidewalks and entrances to buildings.

 

Riverbay Corporation, is the co-op's core body and is lead by a 15-member board of directors. As a cooperative development, the tenants run the complex through this elected board. There is no pay for serving on the board. The corporation employs over 1000 people and has 32 administrative and operational departments to serve the development.

 

The complex has its own Public Safety Department with 89 sworn officers, which include field patrol, plainclothes detectives and EMT/AED certified members of the force. All members have also attained Peace Officer status by NY State because of their special training. In December 2007, the cable television company Cablevision gave Riverbay permission to use its fiber optic cables in order to install additional surveillance cameras throughout the complex to be viewed at the Public Safety Command Center. In 2008, trained supervisors were granted the power to write summonses for parking and noise violations and Segways were acquired to-- along with bikes-- help the officers patrol during the warmer months.

 

Co-op City has been managed by Marion Scott Real Estate, Inc. since October 1999. Before then, the property was run by in-house general managers.

 

There are two weekly newspapers serving the community: Co-op City Times (the official Riverbay paper) and City News.

 

 

as we leave co-op city and head into orchard beach, here is some background:

 

"Parks Commissioner Robert Moses created the Bronx's only public beach -- running 1.1 miles and covering 115 acres -- on Long Island Sound. Built in the 1930s, Orchard Beach, nicknamed, "The Riviera of New York," consists of a sand beach, a promenade, a pavilion with food and shops, playgrounds, picnic areas, and multiple basketball, volleyball, and handball courts."

 

here we are at orchard beach at last, it’s still early so not too many people are here yet

 

northeast  view

 

southeast  view, city island in the distance

 

before we headed down to the beach, a look back west

 

massive co-op city is framed in the distance

 

here is half of the decaying 1930’s deco-era pavilion

 

nothing much going on in the main sections, it’s open to the elements

 

 

a view of one half of the u-shaped pavilion from the beach

 

Beach views….the people keep coming…& coming….& coming….

 

 

foreshadowing the next thread  :wink: ….that’s city island bridge in the background

 

getting crowdy as we get ready to go

 

the boardwalk is hopping now….and hopping hot too!  :-P

 

practice for the parade today?

 

last up are a couple more 11:30am-ish crowd views from the pavilion

 

northeast view again

 

southeast view again

 

heading back out the main entrance

 

and finally more of that unusual & striking co-op city view on the bus ride out

 

*** coming up in the next bronx thread is the charming, new england-ish city island ***

 

Interesting.

I can't believe you had the balls to go to Orchard Beach.  That has got to be the nastiest beach.  I don't know what its like today, but the last time I was there in 2002 it was straight gangsta and nasty.

we get down like that papa :mrgreen: :laugh:

Summer in the city! Looks like an interesting ride and an interesting place.

Just looking at those pictures makes me sweat.  Nothing like NYC when it's hot outside--ugh. But, a good time for Italian ice. How long did the ride take from your place? 

 

 

we get down like that papa :mrgreen: :laugh:

 

We'll I hope you didn't contract a disease going to that man made petri dish!

I wish there were Puerto Rican guys pulling shaved ice trucks around Edgewater beach.  And guys with coolers selling ice cold cans of beer for a dollar.  These are two phenomena I´ve seen at NY beaches but never in Cleveland. 

 

Shaved ice guy! Come to Cleveland! I will buy your goods!

as an aside: last fall I took the #6 to the Westchester Square stop (to see an optician who supposedly repairs broken eyeglass frames--a wild goose chase) and discovered the station contains stained glass windows designed by artist Romare Bearden. Impressive. Now if they could only clean up the station. http://www.lehman.edu/vpadvance/artgallery/publicart/bearden.htm

^Wow, I had no idea about the Bearden windows- very cool.  I think that's more likely to get me to ride the 6 that far than the beach is...  But great photo tour, mrnyc.

^Wow, I had no idea about the Bearden windows- very cool. I think that's more likely to get me to ride the 6 that far than the beach is... But great photo tour, mrnyc.

 

Go to city Island instead!  You'll thank me later.

pull up you e-chair there is no need for anyone to go anywhere, we went to city island too. the thread is on the way!

 

also, i work near westchester square on occasion so i know the stop well. i'll do a thread sometime.

Mrnyc, you're trying to tell me that the 6 trains aren't sparkling clean?

i wouldn't say sparkling, but it's fine considering all the traffic it gets.

 

in fact the #6 rates better than average in cleanliness and in other areas too:

 

http://www.straphangers.org/statesub07/6.pdf

 

now the windows, well, that's another story!

 

Haha yeah, the 6 isn't bad at all (excluding the overcrowding).

The 4, 5 & 6 are the worst!  The six is slow and ridiculously crowded.  I would take the metro north before taking the 4, 5 or 6.