Guide to the Bronx

DISTRICT OF NEW YORK, unlike NYC Daniel Reynolds Riveyro, essayist, lecturer Three o'clock in the morning, I leave the subway and dipped into the vague smell of the night streets. In the windows of men's barbershop burns bright light. Through unsecured blinds can be seen that in the room, even at such a late hour, there are about half a dozen men. They gossip and laugh, while one of them is sitting with his chin raised, and a man with a face the color of mahogany, without haste, cut the hair off his face, forming a perfect goatee. It was one of the first thing that surprised me the Bronx: Hairdresser here are never closed. Many other offices - yes, but not barbershops. For all my life I've never tried to go to the grocery store after nine o'clock in the evening or wash things in the laundry on Sunday. New York may be the city that never sleeps, but the Bronx - it's not New York. Although perhaps this is New York, a real New York, even more than Manhattan. Wrong place to shoot the TV series "Sex and the City" Unfortunately, the Bronx is one of the last places in the ranking of the average traveler. But for some people, perhaps those who would burn with glee "Lonely Planet" (one of the most famous guide to independent travel), the Bronx would be a more interesting destination. This region is the American metropolis rarely appears in the guidebooks. But just think what the South Bronx. There once was a lot of fires. This is the cradle of hip-hop, and such well-known people like Colin Powell, Al Pacino and Jay-Lo had here their childhood years. The northern part of the district to view is pretty simple: guides explain how to ride a bus from Manhattan to the famous Bronx Zoo, or get to the botanical gardens in New York, stretching for several kilometers. More brave travelers book is recommended to visit the "little Italy" in the Bronx, with its restaurants and pizzerias, appreciated by rating Zagata, there is a guide to New York fashionable "catering". Some guidebooks explain that a quarter of the Bronx - it's green areas and recommend to see the Lake Van Cortlandt Park or the hills Woodline cemetery, where rest in peace Duke Ellington, Herman Melville and Joseph Pulitzer. However, the description of the South Bronx does not usually take a guidebook many pages. In this area, few decent hotels, which could stop or five (or four, or three, or even two-) star restaurants, or any attractions. Although the local way of life is very different from other corners of the globe. Here, there is full of ethnic diversity: more than half of Bronx residents were born abroad, so this area and indeed can be called an immigrant enclave. Africans play the drums in a park in the Bronx The local folk very rich. According to The New York Times, the Bronx - the poorest county in America. Almost a third of the nearly half million population of the district live below the poverty line. On the other hand, it is undeniable that the Bronx has a history, a rich and deep. All these factors mixed, intertwined and created the interesting "salad", which can not be perceived from the words of a guide, one has to understand all the subtleties of the local being just yourself. Now the instructions for beginners. Take the bus or subway, next to any area of ??the Bronx. Get off anywhere, it does not matter. Do not use the card. Do not worry too much about your safety: common sense and end your trip in an hour or two before dark to help you stay unscathed and did not become a victim of crime. Take your time. Look around. During the summer holidays people of all ages sitting on the fence lawns, on sidewalks, talking to each other and look around. From the windows of the sound of funk, hip-hop and salsa. Cheerful singing sounds of the street kitchens, parishioners sit on the steel chair under the shaded tents. The parks on the drums playing Africans. Women prefer to walk in the park, elderly men playing dominoes on tables made of plastic boxes and defective sheets of plywood, and the kids blow bubbles, cycling and being moved to one another tennis ball straight through the busy street, paying no attention to passers-by. Everyday life everywhere: people scream loudly news from the balconies hung with svezhevystirannym linen. Near a grocery store between two drunken men fastened a fight. One unsuccessful effort of another French baguette. Teen hours practicing skills of hip-hop, again and again singing his song with Britney Spears. Drop into store. If you are not very rich, in the Bronx means that you can visit the small wine shop where the owner runs from himself by the seller, instead of French luxury restaurants. You buy some fruit instead of big boxes of fruit. Vym have to read a book instead of Mr. Martinez creations Barnes and Nobel. Sale of clothing on the sidewalk African shops sell colorful fabrics and pirated DVD with movies from Nigeria. Dominican hiromantki await visitors in the darkened room. Mother traded in an attempt to buy one of the shirts offered for sale at the chain link fence. Look at all this together, and then try to pay attention to detail. Try to feel like a short but expressive strokes of history is constantly breaking through the abyss of poverty, poverty and hopelessness. Most of the buildings the Bronx - it is quite decent homes, neighborhoods ordinary apartment buildings. But a closer look and you'll find details that are not expected to see: ornate stonework on the dilapidated windows, mosaics, united with graffiti, stunning murals on abandoned buildings. "Runner" from the Bronx Go to the hairdresser to do her hair or visit the nail salon. Formed in the Bronx lifestyle suggests that men's hairdresser - a brotherhood of men, and women's shop - a society for women. Well, a mixed society can be seen in trendy bars and luxury cafes, to their fullest in each quarter. Manicure I was definitely not needed, but the hair - it's a cultural event in itself. Be prepared for the fact that you have to call out your wishes to master the Spanish language, while all around you is a lot of conversation and debate, and possibly in other languages. In any other American city barber is usually a woman or a very effeminate man, but here hairdressers all polls painted with tattoos and inspire at least respect. Looking at them, we can assume two diametrically opposite things. Either the master can process an acute "hazardous" razor your neck up, competing with nanotechnology, or he could easily cut it as the throat. The choice will largely depend on the size of the tip. When I last visited a hairdresser, a master of doing two things. He cut off my unruly curls and also discussed with the seller the price of MP3-player, which he tried to sell directly to customers at work. We have such seylsmenov called "runners". Tall, broad man of about twenty were asking too high a price for the player, who, moreover, has been unpacked. Barber said that so much can be paid only for the iPod. The guy nodded, took his player and said that he would return with the iPod in twenty minutes. Walk and watch you must walk along the boulevard Grand Competition. Once on site the Bronx, there was nothing but heath and hills, but then came a three-band boulevard, similar to the famous streets of Paris Champs-Elysees. Construction and design of the boulevard was finished in 1909. Grand contest quickly became a place where wants to go to those who care about "high-style architecture," the magnificent buildings in the Art Deco and Art Nouveau. Despite the fact that many of the buildings were replaced by modern and more comfortable homes after a wave of arson, swept the Bronx in the seventies of last century, there remained a significant collection of buildings in Art Deco style. This year's Grand Competition celebrates its one hundredth birthday. Despite the fact that more modern buildings evoke nostalgia for the townspeople, tired of the tedious and soulless "urban jungle", due to constant renovations boulevard managed to keep a few pieces of incomparable stories. At the corner of 161st Street and Grand Boulevard contest is a luxurious marble statue of the mythical hero German folklore named Lorelyay. Media of the fountain is simply amazing. The wavy lines of water composition highlights a novel by the figure of the hero is surrounded by dolphins and seashells. «Die Lorelei» - a work of Heinrich Heine - one of the most famous works of German poetry. The fountain by the sculptor Ernst Herter was executed by order of Princess Elisabeth of Austria in 1899 as a symbol of recognition of the greatness of his poetry. Since Heine was a Jew, because of anti-Semitism in his native Dusseldorf, construction was prohibited, so the location for the masterpiece was chosen Bronx. Sculpture of a mythical hero named Lorelyay at the corner of 161st Street and Grand Contest Pass in the northern part of Grand Boulevard contest and find a house with number 1150. This so-called "fish house", a beautiful building in the Art Deco style, which is lined with a massive mosaic of tropical fish that adorn the undulating concrete wall, symbolizing the ocean. Fish building at the Grand Competition 2064 is First United Church of Baptists. Although the massive organ inside the church helps parishioners praise of Jesus, outside of this 100-year-old buildings are giant columns in korinfyanskom style. At the corner stone engraved dates relating to the days when more than half of Bronx residents were Jews. If you go farther north, you can see two interesting churches in the architectural sense, more similar to the synagogue. First Baptist Church combined was originally a synagogue on the Grand Competition, 2413 is a theater Lovz Paradise ", built in 1929. This is one of the last "atmospheric" theater, where through the wide openings in the walls of clear sky. The main lobby can accommodate three domes, painted murals depicting the world of cinema. Hall takes viewers into the sixteenth century Italian garden, complete with stars and clouds on the ceiling. Theatre Lovz Paradise At the intersection of Grand Competition and Fordham had once delivered a speech John F. Kennedy. Today is the modern market. It sells all sorts of things, such as belts and sunglasses. Goods laid out on a small folding table, a few difficult approaches to the entrance of a small family shops with clothing and electronics. Family shops are called, not because they sell products for the whole family, but because their owners and staff - some small family of entrepreneurs. Grocery tent on the sidewalk if you walk a few blocks west on Fordham to Jerome Street 2500, you will notice an interesting temple with a carved red door. This is the Episcopal Church of St. James, built in 1863. Creates a lasting impression that this building moved by air from medieval England. On all sides of the temple many pawn shops and grocery stores. After a few blocks down the street towards the north of Jerome, you can see the famous building of Arsenal Kingsbridge, constructed in 1913. The building has an interesting history, the key point of which was paredacha his military department to the municipality in 1974 under the program to reduce the National Guard. Construction has nine storeys and has a width of four whole city blocks. Architecture construction is impressive. The central elements of composition are two huge towers with conical roofs. The whole building can best be described as a castle in the Romanesque style of red brick. In years when the military held sway here, Arsenal, Kingsbridge, was the world's largest drill hall for training. In addition, the building was used as a warehouse for ammunition and ammunition and a hangar for military equipment. During the peaceful use here lectures, concerts, pop groups, basketball games and even dog shows. In 2006 the building was on for seven months, rented a movie company Warner Brothers "for the filming of the blockbuster with Will Smith's" I - The Legend. " Rental cost of a round $ 350 thousand dollars. True, given the fact that the first three day show in the U.S. and in Canada, the picture has collected 76.9 million dollars, this sum is just looks funny. Multipurpose Building Kingsbridge, constructed in 1913, turning toward the Grand Competition, Kingsbridge street will lead you to the park Poe, Edgar Allen Poe's cottage. He rented it, when the Bronx was the only suburb in the hope that fresh air would help his tuberculosis patient wife. It was here that he wrote the famous "Bells and Bells," "Eureka," "Annabel Lee". Edgar Allan Poe Cottage is located outside the official territory of the Bronx. It's time to get a guide, and by studying it, go to the zoo, sit in the little square or, if hungry, a meal in an Italian restaurant. Hopefully, the walk through the Bronx will remain a wonderful page of your biography traveler. See also: Pretty good and friendly island, on which twelve million lives, former New Amsterdam, and today - the Big Apple