This not to be missed event tomorrow at Casita Maria will sure be yet another cultural milestone for the Bronx. The works of famed and award winning photographer, Ricky Flores – one of the Seis del Sur, will be on display in his largest exhibit to date with over 150 photographs.

Flores is a born and bred Bronxite who documented the devastation that the Bronx endured during the 80s and a true inspiration which we can be proud of so don’t forget to come out and join the festivities!

Thursday, April 26th
7pm-9pm
Casita Maria
928 Simpson Street
Bronx, NY
Subway: 2 and 5 trains to Simpson St
6 train to Hunts Point

What does an Irishman and latinos have in common? Well a lot more than you may think. For starters director, Macdara Vallely of the Bronx and a native of Northern Ireland is married to a Puerto Rican and he speaks fluent Spanish.

Tonight, Vallely’s Bronx based film, “Babygirl” – a coming of age story with a twist, will have its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival according to the Daily News. 2 years ago, I had the pleasure of reading Vallely’s script which was completely engrossing and am now more than ecstatic that it has made it to the big screen.

Don’t forget to catch Babygirl at the festival or you can watch it online for a limited time only as well as vote for the film.

A big CONGRATULATIONS to Macdara Vallely, the cast and all who contributed to making this wonderful Bronx based film!

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 account of 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.”

Read the rest of the account here.

It was a picture perfect day for the Yankees’ home opener yesterday against the Los Angeles Angels. Not only was the sun shining and the temperatures milder than the beginning of the week but the Bronx Bombers beat the Angels 5-0.
As early as 11am, thousands of loyal fans had gathered at the stadium and for the next two hours thousands more kept coming. Due to Spring Break many children were in tow with their parents.
One little fan in particular was Mario Gomez, Jr from New Jersey who was visibly jubilant at the experience of opening day with his father, Mario Gomez who is a Bronx native.

At 12:58pm, two F18 Fighter Jets flew over Yankee Stadium in honor of opening day but many local residents expressed their disapproval of what they felt was unnecessary. Several commented on Facebook saying that their apartments were rattling and car alarms going off all over the place was quite the nuisance.

Overall, whether you were a kid enjoying his first game or opening day, a couple on a date or just one of the gang hanging out, it was certainly a great day to be a Yankee fan.

“Magical.”
“Phenomenal.”
“Speechless.”

These were just some of the words I kept hearing throughout what many consider to have been the event of the year and perhaps the new century for the Bronx. The event presented by No Longer Empty – the non profit entity that converts empty spaces into art exhibits and connects them to their neighborhoods is “This Side of Paradise” and has transformed the old Andrew Freedman Home on the Grand Concourse into a veritable art scene.

The evening began as I had gathered the troops and we walked over to the Home from my neighborhood. As we approached the massive palazzo, I began to feel a bit anxious for I knew that this evening would be one of the most important in the borough’s history and I wanted it to go smoothly. Here was one of the borough’s grandest buildings that sat so forbidding with its gates for so many years as myself and residents alike always wondered what the history of the building was – which we eventually found out that it was a retirement for the formerly wealthy so that they continue to live in the lifestyle in which they were accustomed to. But that all went out the window as I saw so many people walking in through the front gates of the estate. Ladies and gentlemen wearing period costumes of Prohibition speakeasy era greeted visitors or were seen carefully dusting the gates and signage. Later on through the evening, I noted that dozens upon dozens of ladies and some gents who were just visiting were also garbed in the fashion of the Roaring 20’s as they were getting into the spirit of the Home and the fundraiser at the end of the night.

As I walked through the gates and stepped off the Grand Concourse and onto the grounds of this imposing limestone beauty it was as if I stepped back into time. Already there was a substantial crowd on the front steps, milling about, socializing with drinks in hand. The people were a great, diverse mix of backgrounds and as colorful a palette as the colors of the exhibit indoors. A true representation of the rich, ethnic diversity found throughout the Bronx was well reflected in the throngs attending this opening reception.

We walked through the front doors – gorgeous masterpieces in their own right, and the sheer number of people was overwhelming. Literally hundreds could immediately be seen walking about this way or that trying to get from one room to another. Working our way through the crowd and rooms on the ground floor, we made it to the beautifully appointed bed and breakfast located in the south wing where we learned that you can stay in a room exam for as little as $125 per night.

After leaving the bed and breakfast wing we made our way towards the stairs to ascend to the second floor where all the buzz was with over 30 rooms all designed in their own unique way by each artist. The exhibits beautifully tie in the past history of the Andrew Freedman Home with the present realities of the Bronx. Outside one of the rooms was a board with the original keys to some rooms, along with the names of the former residents of the retirement home of the formerly wealthy who had fallen on hard times. Walking through the halls, you could feel the air thick with history, lore and perhaps the ghosts of some of the original residents walked along with us too.

Photographer Lisa Kahane of Fashion Moda fame who documented the South Bronx during the 80s with riveting photography that showed how bad things were during that dark era, is one of the many artists that you will find here.

Room 246, designed by Silvia Plachy, a photojournalist who had once visited the Andrew Freedman Home over 30 years ago, recreated the room to feel as it had back in the days when she was documenting its storied past.  Once again you get that feeling of traveling in time when you walk into her exhibit with furnishings and personal effects of the artist that pertain to that period.  While in Room 246 we spotted her son, Academy Award winner, Adrien Brody who was taking in the opening reception and enjoying his mother’s work.

Our very own Bronx Documentary Center has a chilling display where a documentary by the late war  photojournalist Tim Hetherington who was killed in the line of duty, is shown on a wall of a room that was created to make you feel as if you were in the middle of action. To say that it made a profound impact and connection with these unsung heroes who risk their lives daily to report the truth is an understatement.

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By 8pm, which was closing time of the exhibit upstairs, the crowds had no sign of dwindling. In fact, my friend, Danisha Nazario who was just leaving the event quickly sent a text message stating that, “… TONS of people are begging to be let in – LITERALLY!” She later told us that a second security guard was posted at the entrance of the stairs to prevent anyone from getting in. This was confirmed as well made our way down and saw the hundreds of people still waiting to get in – all disappointed that it was closed too early. No one had anticipated the well over a thousand people who came last night, certainly not No Longer Empty for had they imagined the turn out would be so huge we’re sure the hours would have been extended. Perhaps they underestimated the thirst Bronxites have for the arts?

The evening ended with the fundraiser in the north wing’s ballroom, complete with a latin band playing the dulcet tones of salsa and love ballads. The air was charged with dancing and merry making as the visitors mingled with those alive and the ghosts of residents past who once walked the halls of this mansion. It was a night full of who’s who of Bronx society, every other minute being stopped by acquaintances, friends and colleagues.  Beaming with pride were not so much the artists but Bronx residents who came out in full force to support our borough’s moment in the limelight.  For many, it felt that finally, our time out of obscurity and darkness had arrived.

This is an exhibit that you should allow yourself ample time to experience and absorb.  Should you not be able to fit it all in one day as it happened with me, fret not for it runs straight through June 5th, 2012 so you’ll be able to enjoy this free adventure on multiple visits.  You can visit the Andrew Freedman Home on Thursdays through Sunday from 1pm – 7pm. (hours extended on days with special events).

As I stepped off the estate of this grand palazzo and onto the Grand Concourse, the glitter strewn sidewalk gleamed in the street and moonlight as if paved with gold.

For decades, the Andrew Freedman Home, described by the New York Times in 1999 as, “… the Grand Concourse’s grandest building, a broad limestone palazzo…”, sat in relative obscurity between 166th and McClellan Streets – local residents and passerby alike wondering what the history of this seemingly out of place mansion was. The home, was built in 1924 as a retirement home for the formerly wealthy who had fallen on hard times. Talk about an “only in New York moment”.

Now the non-profit group, No Longer Empty (NLE) , has turned 30 rooms of the old mansion into a new and exciting exhibit called “This Side of Paradise“. NLE describes the presentation on their site as:

“On April 4, 2012, the gates of the Andrew Freedman Home will open to the public. The Home was once built to be a haven, a paradise, for the rich elderly who had lost their fortunes. Bequeathed by millionaire Andrew Freedman, the Home provided not only food and shelter but all the accoutrements of a rich and civilized life style – white glove dinner service, a grand ball room, a wood-paneled library, billiard room and a social committee who organized concerts, opera performances and the like.

Referencing this quixotic history, This Side of Paradise will reference the past and reconnect the vision of Andrew Freedman to today’s Bronx and its realities. The exhibition and its extensive public programming onsite and offsite will draw together the economic and social history of the Home with the present day realities of the Bronx and its residents.

The selected artists’ will work in a site-specific manner and will respond to such issues as memory, immigration, storytelling, aging and the creation of fantasy that the original concept of the Home “being poor in style” suggests. This Side of Paradise will celebrate human ingenuity, the strength of the human spirit and the resilience needed to fashion beauty, hope and rejoicing.”

Tomorrow’s opening reception is not to be missed as it will be an important moment in Bronx history. Check out NY1’s video of the exhibit.

Opening reception is on Wednesday, April 4th at 6pm to 8pm followed by a speakeasy fundraiser beginning at 8:30pm and the exhibit runs through June 5th, 2012. Throughout the two months of the exhibit there will be over a dozen programs related to “This Side of Paradise” including Easter related events for children on April 7th. The Andrew Freedman Home is located at 1125 Grand Concourse at the corner of 166th Street and is easily accessible via the B, D and 4 trains to 167th Streets and bicycle valet will be available.