NYU Press Boulevard of Dreams: Heady Times, Heartbreak, and Hope Along the Grand Concourse in the 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. Review 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 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.-- "Publishers Weekly" 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, architectural historian and author Boulevard of Dreams traces the evolution of the area surrounding the Concourse from orchard and farmland to inner-cityscape.-- "The New Yorker" Constance Rosenblums 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 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, author of The Experience of Place 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 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, author of Out of Egypt: A Memoir Like the Grand Concourse itself, Rosenblums Boulevard of Dreams is stately and elegant, proud and poignant. Building by building, block by block, c