Yesterday was my last day of work for the summer (yay!) so I took the camera up to the bx with me.

 

Hunt’s point is interesting neighborhood cut off from the southeast Bronx by the Bruckner expressway. Of course it’s much more than just it’s notorious reputation for drugs, prostitutes, asthma & industrial pollution. For one thing it has the city food terminal markets, including the new fulton fish market that moved up from downtown manhattan:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunts_Point,_Bronx

 

 

 

more about Hunts Point:

The native inhabitants of this peninsula jutting into the East River called it Quinnahung, "the long high place." As at neighboring Clason Point, there was a large Indian settlement and burial ground here. Sale by the Native Americans in 1663 was followed by sparse development: only in the nineteenth century were the Legget and Hunt farms replaced by estates such as that of Col. Richard Hoe, inventor of the rotary press. The sections north of Hunts Point filled with apartment houses in the nineteen- twenties, as the new IRT lines made it possible for renters to move to the "East Bronx," bypassing the crowded neighborhoods of Mott Haven and Morrisania. Today, the industries of Hunts Point have been joined by New York's produce and meat markets, displaced from their old Manhattan locations:

http://www.lehman.edu/vpadvance/artgallery/publicart/neighborhood.htm#anchor1754728

 

american bank note factory (1911), founded in 1790’s, now home to artist studios & also since 1972 it is home to wildcat hs for troubled students

 

nice, if short rows along this side of hunt’s point avenue

 

along the ave

 

 

greek revival sunnyslope mansion (1860), built by peter hoe, a founder of hunt’s point

it became a synagogue in 1919 & is today home of the African Methodist Episcopal bright temple

 

 

 

 

the old ny, new haven & hartford hunt’s point station (1908-1937) -- designed by cass gilbert:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE2DA1E31F937A35751C0A966958260

 

from the above nytimes article:

 

"The Hunts Point Avenue Station is also elevated, but early French Renaissance in style, and this is the one known to most New Yorkers. Its picturesque roofline must excite the curiosity of thousands who use the northbound Bruckner but never get off to investigate.

 

As originally built, the Hunts Point Station had a long, sloping slate roof with elaborate copper cresting punctured by a dozen pointed, lacy dormers. The ground floor was faced with panels of plain stucco alternating with terra cotta piers and decorative work in bright colors - yellow, azure, green, Chinese red and cream.

 

In 1918, the Real Estate Record & Guide called it ''a building of marked architectural beauty.''

Montgomery Schuyler, writing in Architectural Record in the same year, noted that he had seen the station before stucco had been applied to the underlying red brick and thought that the contrast between the terra cotta and red brick was so attractive that Gilbert would have changed his design had he seen it.

 

Notwithstanding that, Schuyler called the stations ''great fun'' and said that ''the architectural pilgrim who gives a whole day to the branch will find himself not only repaid, but rewarded.''  :|  :whip:

 

 

 

 

 

i snuck a treacherous pic of the backside of the station  :wink:

it hangs over the tracks still used by freight, amtrak & metronorth

 

across the bruckner & into the longwood neighborhood is the hunt’s point ave subway stop

 

a nice story from forgottenny:

 

"the crossroads of Southern Boulevard, Hunts Point Avenue and East 163rd Street, a.k.a. Monsignor Raul Del Valle Square. Del Valle (1926-1998) fled Fidel Castro's Cuba in 1961, arriving in the Bronx, and rehabilitated and revitalized local parishes St. Anselm and St. Athanasius. he became a beloved local activist, setting up homeless shelters and food stations. Upon learning he had cancer, he wished to see his native land once again; John Cardinal O'Connor interceded with Castro, and the prelate returned to Cuba before returning home, where he died a few months later."

 

 

forgottenny did not know what this was, perhaps an old auto dealer?

 

lots o' shopping along southern blvd, but per forgottenny here is the first old theater:

 

"Loew's Spooner, 961 Southern, opened independently by the Spooner Stock Company owned by actress Cecil Spooner in 1910 but was soon scooped up by Loew's. It hung in there until the 1970s."

^more trvia: pretty much behind this theater on simpson st is the old 41st precinct aka "fort apache"

 

"Boulevard Theatre, 1032 Southern, was designed by the great theatre designer Thomas W. Lamb and opened in 1913 for vaudeville and live acts with films becoming prominent in 1917. Like the Spooner it was opened independently, by the Picker family, and was taken over by Loew."

 

another nice story:

 

"When comedian [Jan] Murray was a boy, his mother would take him to burlesque shows and to the 25-cent vaudeville performances at Loew's Boulevard Theater. After she became ill and could not leave the house, he would memorize the acts and perform them at her bedside." New York Times via cinematreasures

 

 

"The little Art Theatre (550-600 seats) at 1077 Southern was perhaps the most recognizable along the row, since its evocative sculptures (the lady above seems to be in some distress) could easily be glimpsed from the passing IRT elevated, as they are today. It is presently a Pentecostal church."

 

 

maybe this tattoo parlor next door fits in with the fire & brimstone sermons? :-o  :evil:  :laugh:

 

southern blvd at westchester

 

poor westchester ave can’t catch a break, the #2/5 el subway peels off here,

but a few blocks north and the #6 train el shades it again!

 

a walk along westchester south under the train to one last pun-ishing destination  :wink:

 

 

 

 

decent/modern new infill  :clap:

 

 

we’re almost there now…..

 

Oh yeah boyee! There it is! THE BIG PUN MURAL!  :mrgreen:  :shoot:

http://www.bigpunforever.com/

 

 

 

*** coming up next: the longwood historic district…hang on for new yankee stadium ! ***

 

remind me not to get a tatoo there, chuck is one scary dude.

Ya did good.

Good Stuff!

Try doing this at night!  :-o

 

 

^ haha! good advice, but actually i have been around there at night. i work at two sites along this tour.

^ haha! good advice, but actually i have been around there at night. i work at two sites along this tour.

I've been to a party once in that area.  Never again!  Those Jibaros actually scared me.  When I see Latin Kings....I bounce.  Period!

Ya did good.

 

Is this your new thing now? If you could change it, it would be greatly appreciated.

 

 

mrnyc, great pics of the NYC as always ....

Ya did good.

 

Is this your new thing now? If you could change it, it would be greatly appreciated.

 

 

mrnyc, great pics of the NYC as always ....

 

And if you could change that fact that you are alive, that'd be appreciated.  Thanks.