Boulevard of Dreams: Heady Times, Heartbreak, and Hope along the Grand Concourse in the Bronx

by Constance Rosenblum

Overview

An enthralling story of the iconic Grand Concourse in the West Bronx

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 Times editor 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 Elysées 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 York—and America—writ 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 alive—from 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 Dreams is a must read for anyone interested in the rich history of New York and the twentieth-century American city.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814776360
Publisher:	New York University Press
Publication date:	11/21/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	282
Sales rank:	803,092
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Constance Rosenblum, most recently the author of the Habitats column published in the Real Estate section of The New York Times, was a longtime editor of the paper’s City section and a former editor of the Times’s Arts and Leisure section. She is the author of Boulevard of Dreams: Heady Times, Heartbreak, and Hope Along the Grand Concourse in the Bronx.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments Introduction Part One CharactersFrances KiernanLaura LonghineJohanna Baldwin Roy HoffmanJohn Freeman GillCassi Feldman Richard FirstmanAdam B. EllickRebecca Flint Marx and Vytenis DidziulisHelen BenedictPart Two Places in the City’s HeartRobert Sullivan Edwidge Danticat David McAninchJake MooneySuketu Mehta Kevin BakerMitch KellerMark Caldwell Mark Kingwell Sara GranAlexander AcimanDavid Masello Alex Rose James AngelosKatherine Bindley Part Three Rituals, Rhythms, and RuminationsColin Harrison Laura Shaine CunninghamEmily Brady Caroline H. DworinJocko WeylandMax PageBen GibberdKatherine MarshFrancine ProseNathaniel RichSaki Knafo Jonathan RosenRandy Kennedy Mac Montandon Jennifer Gilmore David Hajdu Roxana RobinsonPart Four Excavating the Past Ellen PallAmy Fox Manny Fernandez Dorothy Gallagher Gregory Beyer Christopher SorrentinoLeslie NipkowWilliam ZinsserAbout the Contributors About the Editor 

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“For those of us to whom the neighborhood in the city was not just an idea, but a reality, its sweetness and sadness precious, Boulevard of Dreams is a book one must long reflect upon.”

-Haaertz

,

“Rosenbaum has told a harrowing story of construction and destruction, ending with the realistic requirement for changes in attitudes to restore the happy days that once made the Bronx a desirable place to live.”
-National Jewish Post & Opinion

,

"Constance Rosenblum's account of the history of the street is evocative and informative."-Jewish Book World,

“For anyone who has ever loved a great street or neighborhood as change after change swept over it and dreams and challengesconverged. So in fact this is a book for anyone who has ever lived anywhere. It’s a rich, sometimes wild ride through a century of history, beautifully written by a gifted observer.”
-Tony Hiss,author of The Experience of Place

“A must read for anyone who cares about the history of the city. Rosenblum writes with deep feeling and an acute eye and the result is a rare, unsentimental look at a much maligned borough.”
-Laura Shaine Cunningham,author of Sleeping Arrangements

Editorial Reviews

Rosenblum is an infectiously enthusiastic tour guide. You can almost feel her pulling you up and down the Grand Concourse…giddily pointing out the sights: the absurdly opulent Loew’s Paradise movie theater, say, or the daring, mermaid-bedecked Lorelei fountain.
—The New York Times

Ada Calhoun

The Bronx's Grand Concourse, with its Art Deco structures, is one of New York City's architectural delights, and its political and social history is the worthy subject of this new book by New York Times staffer Rosenblum, who edited the paper's now-defunct City section and now writes a column for its Sunday real estate section. Stretching over four-and-a-half miles, the thoroughfare designed by Louis Aloys Risse, an Alsatian immigrant, and modeled after Paris's Champs Elysées—was completed in 1909 and saw the arrival of upwardly mobile Jews in the first five decades of the 20th century, followed by waves of Irish and Italian immigrants seeking to pursue their culture and careers in a safe environment. While Rosenblum explores various aspects of Jewish communal life near the boulevard, she also dissects the rivalry between West Bronx affluence and the working-class East Bronx, and the racial tensions that led to white suburban flight and the decline and neglect of the area. The author also draws attention to the many noteworthy characters who lived on or near the Concourse such as Edgar Allan Poe and fallen NBA star Jacob Louis Molinas. A seminal recounting of the rise, fall and current revival of a major landmark, this book, with many archival photos and drawings, is a must for those interested in the cultural history of the Bronx and New York City. 43 illus., 1 map. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

"Rosenblum peels back the layers of time, grime and glory that have made this majestic boulevard all that it is and was to generations of immigrants . . . Each chapter unearths new thoughts and shares the fascinating history of the Grand Concourse and its passage through time."

Bronx Times-Reporter

"A must read for anyone who cares about the history of the city. Rosenblum writes with deep feeling and an acute eye and the result is a rare, unsentimental look at a much maligned borough."

Laura Shaine Cunningham

"She takes us through the different generations of immigrants who made Concourse neighborhoods their home, looking at the big picture and the changing details of peoples lives."

The New York Post

"Rosenbaum has told a harrowing story of construction and destruction, ending with the realistic requirement for changes in attitudes to restore the happy days that once made the Bronx a desirable place to live."

National Jewish Post & Opinion

"Rosenblum has written with real thunder about the Grand Concourse and the wild dreamers who once lived there. Boulevard of Dreams is a passionate and deeply elegiac book."

The Wall Street Journal

"Rosenblum, a writer at the New York Times, traces the earliest days of the Concourse and its surrounding neighborhood, its decay during the 1960s and '70s, and its current renewal."

The New York Times Book Review - Ihsan Taylor

"Boulevard of Dreams is a carefully researched and beautifully written work that reads with all the drive of a well-crafted novel. At once broad and detailed, Rosenblums descriptions will resonate with the diverse array of New Yorkers who have called the Grand Concourse home, and fascinate anyone with an interest in the evolution of American cities."

Thomas Mellins

"Pride in the Grand Concourse and West Bronx remains alive. This affectionate volume will help keep it that way by serving as a tangible reminded of what is very much saving and restoring in the Bronx. There was and still is something special about that & boulevard of dreams"

History News Network

"The book is a beautiful act of re-creation, untainted by nostalgia, and too varied, too accurate to be only despairing . . . Rosenblum has a fine feel for the everyday people who walked the Grand Concourse."

Columbia Magazine

"For those of us to whom the neighborhood in the city was not just an idea, but a reality, its sweetness and sadness precious, Boulevard of Dreams is a book one must long reflect upon."

Haaertz

"Like the Grand Concourse itself, Rosenblums Boulevard of Dreams is stately and elegant, proud and poignant. Building by building, block by block, character by character, she leads us on what is not just a tour of an epic thoroughfare, but of a city, a culture, and an era. People who love New York will devour this bittersweet and beautifully written book. Then they will make a bee-line to the Bronx for a shpatzir along the Concourseto ponder how spectacular it once was, and to savor every bit of what remains."

David Margolick

"For anyone who has ever loved a great street or neighborhood as change after change swept over it and dreams and challenges converged. So in fact this is a book for anyone who has ever lived anywhere. Its a rich, sometimes wild ride through a century of history, beautifully written by a gifted observer."

Tony Hiss

"Like all great documents and painstaking works of love, Boulevard of Dreams is a portal. It opens up the Grand Concourse and, even if weve never lived there, gives us an imaginary address and lets us think what the world was like growing up with Stanley Kubrick and E.L. Doctorow."

André Aciman

"Boulevard of Dreams traces the evolution of the area surrounding the Concourse from orchard and farmland to inner-cityscape."

The New Yorker

"Thanks to Rosenblums work, the Bronx glorious past will not be forgotten while a new, positive chapter for the neighborhoods future is being written."

BeyondChron

"Constance Rosenblums account of the history of the street is evocative and informative."

Jewish Book World

"Rosenblums book looks at the history of the Grand Concourse over its entire life, from a vibrant area dominated by upper middle-class Jewish families during the early and middle 20th century to the largely black and Latino communities who live there today."

The Berkshire Eagle

Like all great documents and painstaking works of love, Boulevard of Dreams is a portal. It opens up the Grand Concourse and, even if we’ve never lived there, gives us an imaginary address and lets us think what the world was like growing up with Stanley Kubrick and E.L. Doctorow.”-André Aciman,author of Out of Egypt: A Memoir

“
Boulevard of Dreams traces the evolution of the area surrounding the Concourse from orchard and farmland to inner-cityscape.”-The New Yorker

From the Publisher

"Boulevard of Dreams traces the evolution of the area surrounding the Concourse from orchard and farmland to inner-cityscape."

The New Yorker