Construction cranes working on St. Anns Terrace in the background. Foreground: Another construction project rising.
Ed García Conde
The "Mayor" of Melrose
917-532-7504
http://www.welcome2melrose.com
Picture of the Day – Melrose Rising
Melrose Murals and the Arts
Over the next few months, Welcome2Melrose will be featuring photographs of local murals as well as works of art by graffiti artists. While some may disagree that graffiti is not art and is vandalism, it is our goal to open your minds to see it as a form of expression. Not all forms of graffiti are vandalism…just voices yearning to be heard. Melrose, along with Mott Haven, Port Morris and Hunts Point, is the heart of the artistic side of the Bronx with such wonderful institutions as Bruckner Bar and Grill which hosts cultural events, BAAD (Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance) over in Hunts Point, Teatro Pregrones, the Bronx Museum of the Arts, Longwood Art Gallery @ Hostos. Even Coqui Mexicano, a local Puerto Rican-Mexican fusion restaurant, supports the arts by displaying and selling artwork in addition to their fine cuisine. Then there’s PeaceLove Cafe which serves up organic and fair trade coffees and teas, home made desserts like all natural sweet potato pie, bread pudding and amazing ALL NATURAL soups, salads and freshly made sandwiches…with a side of LIVE JAZZ on Friday and Saturday evenings and Poetry on Thursdays from 4:30PM – 7:00PM.
So you see, Melrose and our surrounding neighborhoods are bursting with the arts in all of its expressions and we just mentioned a fraction of what is available to all of us.
And now for our first picture in our series documenting Melrose Murals and the Arts.
“When it Hits…You Feel No Pain”
Located on E 162nd Street Between Melrose and Courtlandt Avenues
(Click photo for larger image)
Picture of the Day
Typical Sunday at BJ's in the Gateway Center Mall…after only 3 weeks from opening, this location became the third HIGHEST grossing store in the entire COUNTRY!
Ed García Conde
The "Mayor" of Melrose
917-532-7504
http://www.welcome2melrose.com
Welcome2Melrose Continues to Get Around in Local Media
As most of you already know, welcome2melrose.com has been featured in such local papers and TV like the Bronx Times, Mott Haven Herald and News 12 The Bronx (video is archived) to name a few. Well the last few weeks have been pretty exciting for welcome2melrose! On December 26, 2009, I was quoted in The New York Times for their coverage of the old Ebling Brewery Beer Caves which were rediscovered during construction on St. Ann’s Terrace as well as this week’s edition of New York Magazine’s “Approval Matrix” for the week of January 18th, 2010 which is in print as of this past Monday which placed the beer caves rediscovery as the most “brilliant” bit of news for the week.
A big Melrose THANK YOU is in order for all of YOU the fans and readers who have made this blog such a highly visited site as well as all the residents, business owners and people of Melrose for without you, there would be NOTHING to talk about.
Home Run at Yankee Stadium…In the Middle of Winter!
Last Wednesday on January 6th, 2010, history was made at Yankee Stadium: Laughter brought down the house that Ruth Didn’t Build with the Championship Comedy Series. For the first time ever, a comedy show was held at Yankee Stadium at the ritzy NYY Steak, hosted by Davian Velez of mun2 and featuring such great talents as Cory Fernandez of Def Comedy Jam, A. G. White of The Comic View and special guest Talent of 98.7 Kiss FM.
Fret not if you did not make it to the first show for there is more to come. Rumor has it that NYY Steak and Yankee Stadium will be home to not only the greatest franchise in baseball history but will place The Bronx, The Concourse area and Melrose which is 2 blocks and a 5 minute walk from the area on the world comedy stage with the first, only and best comedy club in our great borough. It has also been mentioned that shows will be held during baseball season immediately after a home game – to either continue celebrating if victory is had by the Yankees or drown their sorrows in laughter after a losing game.
NYY Steak is definitely the ritziest restaurant in the greater Yankee Stadium and Melrose area. The ambiance is great with very tasteful decor. Food is great, moderately priced and the staff is very friendly and welcoming and welcom2melrose approved place to go for lunch, dinner or cocktails.
The next show is scheduled for February 10th at 8:00PM and will once again be hosted by Davian Velez and this time guest comics will be Rich Vos, Sara Contreras and Gerald Kelly. Advanced purchases and reservations are HIGHLY recommended as last week’s show was sold out and people were turned away at the door. For tickets and reservations call Davian Velez at 646-271-1595 or Joe De Jesus, NYY Steak manager at 646-265-5447.
A big Melrose THANK YOU to Davian Velez for hosting such a great show and all at NYY Steak who made this show a success and possible as well as giving everyone yet another great reason to visit the South Bronx!
Davian Velez
Cory Fernandez
A. G. White
Pre-Show dinner
Melrose Rising: New Developments on the Horizon
A simple walk or drive through Melrose will leave you wondering – Is there really a recession going on? One would think that the economy is in full boom with the number of construction sites and cranes visible throughout this small village. And now another development is set to begin on one of the larger remaining vacant lots in Melrose Commons section of the area.
The Briarwood Oganization, the developer behind the nearby Solara with 160 cooperative apartments, has been chosen to develop the $90 million dollar, 260 mixed-income/mixed use project in conjunction with CPC Resources and The Bridge. Briarwood’s proven track record in The Bronx with the success of The Solara where over 4,000 applicants applied for an opportunity to purchase one of 160 co-op apartments, is sure to construct another winner.
The 260 unit project, which has yet to be named, will consist of middle income as well as low income units and continue to add to area’s growing stock of QUALITY affordable housing. The project has been designed for LEED Silver Certification and will add an additional 27,500 of retail space to Melrose. According to James Riso, Briarwood principal, “Briarwood’s goal is to constantly have several projects under way regardless of how the economy is faring.”
Stay tuned to more updates on this wonderful addition to the neighborhood as we will continue to provide you with exclusive info on the development of the project, ground-breaking ceremonies as well as architectural renderings as they become available.
A big Melrose THANK YOU is in order for The Briarwood Organization, CPC Resources and The Bridge for this wonderful soon-soon-to-be new addition to our great neighborhood.
The project, which will also will contain several green roofs,
will rise directly across from Boricua Village.
So Who is the Melrose Person of 2009???
Stay tuned as tonight we unveil the First Annual 2009 Welcome2Melrose Person of the Year!
Spelunking in Melrose – Old Ebling Brewery Beer Caves
When people think of The Bronx and Melrose in particular the last thing on their mind’s are the words brewery and caves. According to local histories it seems that Melrose had its share of both as was first mentioned this past week on NY1 as reported by Dean Meminger.
On Wednesday, I had the privelage of touring the caves that once were a part of the old Ebling Brewery Co. (one of New York City’s oldest breweries of the time and opened in 1868) located on St. Anns Avenue and East 156th Street where a massive 600 unit low to middle income apartment project is currently rising. The tour was led by Site Safety Manger, Steven Hanges of Joy Construction and along for the tour was New York Times journalist, Sam Dolnick and New York Times staff photographer Ruth Fremson who “was part of the AP team that won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography covering the Clinton impeachment.”
Walking into the caves which were built by the Ebling Brewery Co was like walking back into time once you entered since they had been out of site for the most part of the last 70 or so years. Few people in the neighborhood even recalled the caves since the brewery was closed for so many years. They were used as storage for Ebling’s beers where they claimed that they were aged and after the construction crew unearthed the caverns it was obvious that it was a factual claim and not just tall tale told to customers to entice them to purchase their brew. Ebling’s continued to brew their beer even during Prohibition which cost them and the 150 or so employees the ability to manufacture “near beer” for a period of 1 year costing the company $250,000 which was what it was making a year for the production of “near beer” back in 1925 when they were padlocked by the Court for “manufacturing, sale and possession of real beer.” Hupfel Brewery, another local Melrose company, chose not to enter the bootleg business like so many others and instead turned their brewery into a mushroom farm – the neighborhood is just full of surprises.
The day was quite chilly with bitter winds occasionally ripping by but upon entering the caves, the deeper we went in the warmer the air was which confirmed what Charlie Cofrancesco, assistant supervisor at Joy Construction said about the temperature being a constant 58 degrees throughout the year. One of the remaining 7 caves which had been rediscovered we could not enter through its main entrance since half of it was flooded so we had to go through the northernmost tunnel, down a hill towards the back to get to it. At the end of this particlular section was a sealed off wall of cinder blocks which was erected to seal off the part of the tunnel which extended below Eagle Avenue and under P.S. 157 which was constructed in the 60’s.
Steven Hanges jokingly said that whenever people asked if they found any artifacts he disappoints them by saying no, not a thing except a bottle of beer and an oar which was used to move the barges of kegs back and forth. Mr. Hanges also went on to say that when they first found the caves they immediate
ly stopped construction and called City officials in to investigate whether or not they had perhaps encountered a burial ground of sorts or remnants of local Native American tribes. Once confirmed that that was not the case, they proceeded with construction. The only unfortunate part of this is that for engineering purposed the caves must be filled in. A few of them had already collapsed as construction continued along and with the exception of local media, the construction crew, city officials and myself, the caves will be gone from Melrose and a bit of old New York history will be gone.
ly stopped construction and called City officials in to investigate whether or not they had perhaps encountered a burial ground of sorts or remnants of local Native American tribes. Once confirmed that that was not the case, they proceeded with construction. The only unfortunate part of this is that for engineering purposed the caves must be filled in. A few of them had already collapsed as construction continued along and with the exception of local media, the construction crew, city officials and myself, the caves will be gone from Melrose and a bit of old New York history will be gone.
But it doesn’t entirely end there for Steven Hanges said that a landscaper out in Long Island has purchased quite a large amount of the rocks found in and around the caves so a bit of Melrose and The Bronx will now be decorating someone’s landscaping around the region – the irony that a part of the South Bronx will beautify a wealthy family’s front lawn when so many people still frown upon the area and do not realize the rebirth that has happened in Melrose.
So with that, my fellow readers, I leave you with some more photographs of my journey. A big Melrose THANK YOU is in order for Steven Hanges, Joy Construction and all who made it possible to allow for a tour of the caves and record a part of our local history before they are gone forever.
New York Times Staff Photographer Ruth Fremson looking down from the top of a hill within one of the caves.
Steven Hanges holding one of two artifacts discovered in the caves – an oar.
Notice the tag line above Ebling – “Aged in Natural Rock Caves”
There is still debate whether or not the caves are natural. Popular consensus
is that the caves were probably created by hammer and chisel as well as dynamite blasting.
Ruth Fremson
Melrose Beer Caves
Welcome2Melrose just had the privilege of taking a tour of the former Ebling Brewery's beer caves along with The New York Times. Here are just a few pics taken just moments ago.
Stay tuned for more pictures and more on the brewery!
Ed García Conde
The "Mayor" of Melrose
917-532-7504
http://www.welcome2melrose.com
Two Local Buildings in The Hub Receive Landmark Status
The Heffen Building and the Dollar Savings Bank, both on Third Ave between 148th and 147th streets, have now been added to the local roster of landmark buildings.
Holiday Lights in Melrose
Entrance to Gateway Center Mall @ E 149th Street and River Avenue
Garden Apartment @ Maria Lopez Plaza On E 151st Street and Morris Avenue
Maria Lopez Plaza – Garden Apartments
Maria Lopez Plaza – Garden Apartments
Building on E 157th Street between Melrose Avenue and Elton Avenue