Undebatably, one of the most notorious neighborhoods in New York City. From the various gems The Bronx contains, to the kryptonites that repels the citizens away from its soil, you have to respect everything this neighborhood has been through. My obsession with The Bronx’s history, in addition to the many movies I’ve seen that have conveyed the many problems the Boogie Down has faced in the past, led me to write this piece. Although this already might seem cliche to some readers, you just can’t turn your head on this.
The Bronx is fascinating.
One film that, in my opinion, greatly shows the many things The Bronx has gone through, is none other than “Juice” (1992), which stars Tupac Shakur and Omar Epps. For those of you who have not seen this film, it’s about four Harlem kids who discover what having power is like in the streets. Although it may not have been filmed in The Bronx, the many situations that the characters face in the movie reaches out to those in The Bronx because these problems were so real. Throughout the length of the movie, I noticed how the cars, apartments, and streets looked. Back in the day, they looked so dull and beaten, yet these people loved their homes and cars. If you had a car, you’d either get carjacked or gain attention from people. Nothing in between. The soundtrack of this film was so rich in Hip Hop, I honestly feel it was the main reason I got hooked on the movie. Hip Hop, no matter who you were in The Bronx or Harlem, brought people together. Let’s not forget that The Bronx was the birthplace of Hip Hop, at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, the creator being DJ Kool Herc. After the birth, you’d hear about underground DJ parties trying to replicate what DJ Kool Herc did and try to attend them with all your friends. Despite all the problems people had back in the day, a party or just a good time with your friends temporarily fixed your problems. You can’t deny that unity was one of our biggest feats back in the ‘70s-90’s.
Drugs on the other hand, were our kryptonite to the people that were trying to move into The Bronx. The Crack Epidemic, which started in the ’80s, destroyed the Bronx neighborhood, specifically the South Bronx. Crack was so cheap and easy to obtain in this time that people were easily addicted. In addition to people getting addicted, people also contracted AIDS through drug use. This was a time where you’d see people either roaming the streets late at night looking for some crack, or people standing in the corner of the bodega ready to sell some. It was a business that the police were happily ready to stop at first sight.
The plethora of vacant lots and/or abandoned buildings is what interests me the most. I think (since I wasn’t alive to be able to experience this) this was a time of discovery for younger people. They had all this space to just hang out with their friends or start a brawl with people. Since no one was doing anything about the abandoned buildings at this time, you’d either see gangs in there, plotting a scheme or counting their money from the cocaine they sold in the past week, crackheads with nothing but a floor to sleep on, or horny teenagers trying to get some in privacy. It was one of those things you’d be surprised by seeing, even though you expected to see it at the same time.
Looking at The Bronx in the present, we’ve gone through so much progress. The new Yankee Stadium, which opened in April of 2009, vacant land being filled with modern apartment buildings, and the revitalization of the Concourse Plaza on 161st Street (which definitely needed a modern look). Overall, The Bronx has been more and more prosperous lately. But, is that a good or bad thing? (Read my earlier piece “Gentrification of The Bronx”)
- Joel
Sources: http://ny.curbed.com/2016/4/11/11404772/bronx-new-york-history-timeline
