The Bronx Chronicle has just reported that beloved Bronx activist and environmentalist, Morgan Powell was found dead in Brooklyn (the circumstances of which have yet to be provided). Powell, founder of the Bronx River Sankofa which “celebrates the 350+ years journey of African Americans with an emphasis on ecological culture & history along the Bronx River”, was a powerful force for change in The Bronx and how we viewed our own history through his walking tours.
You may remember earlier this year when we interviewed Bronx born and raised artist Christopher Estrada when he launched his first single and video. Well almost 9 months later, he’s getting ready to launch his first album titled ‘1414’ and In anticipation of the album, he’s launched the video for his song, ‘Goodlife’ and it’s definitely a keeper. Filmed entirely in The Bronx — in Co-op City to be exact — the video is a fun, upbeat, and playful montage of Estrada just being himself and having fun.
New York City Department of City Planning recently made headlines with the announcement of the Cromwell-Jerome Study Area that straddles the Bronx neighborhoods of Highbridge, University Heights, Morris Heights, Mount Hope, and the Concourse. The study encompasses a massive 57 block corridor with Jerome Avenue as its spine.
DCP invites the public to join Community Walking Tours of the study area. The first tour is scheduled for Saturday, October 18th from 11AM-12PM and will provide a general overview of the study area. The second tour is scheduled for Saturday, October 25th from 11AM-12PM and will focus on transportation and parks in and around the study area. The tours will begin at the NW corner of the Grand Concourse and East 167th Street in front of the High Life Deli and Grocery.
From our friends at The Bronx Artist Documentary Project: Imagine a book filled with beautiful…
Tomorrow, Tuesday October 7th, Bronx resident William Casari, Assistant Professor (and College Archivist and Instruction Librarian) at Hostos Community College will be presenting on Hostos Community College and its history in the South Bronx. The event is FREE and open to the public, just make sure to RSVP.
So finally we got to see The Bronx on CNN for Anthony Bourdain’s popular Parts Unknown series. The show focused on some expected cultures and cuisines and lacked in others that represents the borough. Overall, based on twitter feedback and social media, many folks liked the show but others absolutely hated the portrayal of our Bronx in the episode. Personally, I loved the episode despite its flaws and it was a fun journey to parts KNOWN to this and many other Bronxites.
Watching our legendary Bronx Borough historian, Lloyd Ultan, aka the Professor, wax nostalgic about the birth of hip hop and various other Bronx Facts was a delight as well as watching our culinary ambassador, Baron Ambrosia join forces with Bourdain.
Bally’s gambling complex proposal at the former Trump Links in Throggs Neck relies on getting state approval to alienate parkland, but lacks local leaders’ support as the legislative session winds down. By…
“In December of 2013, Denisse Chavez and her husband were stopped by two unmarked white cars while driving north on the highway out of Reynosa in the Tamaulipas state of Mexico. The vehicles had been tailing her own car, a worn-out 2002 model that her mechanic’s tools permanently called home, for four or five miles. It was a scene she had witnessed many times before.
A small-time importer and business owner in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the Bronx, Chavez, forty-nine, had been traveling by car from New York to Puebla, driving over 5,000 miles each trip, for almost six years. Along the route she’d seen gunfights break out before her eyes, as well as robberies and kidnappings. But she always escaped unscathed. Typically, she made the trip to stock her Bronx bodega, El Atoradero. This time, she had gone to Monterrey to purchase equipment for her then-forthcoming restaurant.
Anthony Bourdain was intereviewed by WNYC just in time for Sunday’s premier of his Parts Unknown Bronx Episode. He told WNYC that about The Bronx that, “…for no reason at all I know so little about it…I was and still am largely ignorant of this awesome space filled with good stuff.
Listen to his interview as he talks about eating Garifuna delights and watch yet another new sneak peek of Sunday’s episode featuring our official Bronx Borough Historian, Lloyd Ultan:
In anticipation for this Sunday’s premier of Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown Bronx episode, CNN’s Kat Kinsman — managing editor of the channel’s Eatocracy and writer and editor for CNN Living — has written a piece on 9 ways to get to know The Bronx.
She writes:
“About 8.4 million people can rightfully call themselves New Yorkers, according to 2013 census data. There are no official numbers to back this up, but it’d be a pretty solid bet to say that an awful lot of them have never spent much time exploring the Bronx beyond Yankee Stadium, the Bronx Zoo, the Bronx Botanical Gardens and maaayyybe going out for a plate of manicotti and some tiramisu on Arthur Avenue.
And that’s a friggin’ shame.
The deadly virus known as Ebola has been diagnosed for the first time in US history in the state of Texas. While this may seem faraway from The Bronx, along with the African countries where the epidemic has broken, it is important to remember and be sensitive to the fact that our borough is home to the largest population of Africans in New York City.
This Friday, October 3rd at 8PM, join my father, Israel Garcia and myself as we host the kick off tribute to New York’s labor force as part of Pregones Theater Puerto Rican Traveling Theater’s 2014 run of ‘EL APAGON’! We are very humbled to have been selected by this important cultural organization for this event. Tickets can be purchased by using the link below. If you can’t make it to see us on Friday, October 3rd, please do make sure you get to the play at any of the other dates!
There’s no stopping development and construction in the Melrose neighborhood of The Bronx. From the early planning stages, to actual construction, a quick walk through the area reveals a flurry of activity in the borough’s fastest growing neighborhood and 3rd fastest in the city.
655 Morris Avenue at E 153rd Street is the latest development under construction and will rise 15 stories providing 175 affordable units for low and middle income families.
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