Ada CalhounRosenblum is an infectiously enthusiastic tour guide. You can almost feel her pulling you up and down the Grand Concourse…giddily pointing out the sights: the absurdly opulent Loew's Paradise movie theater, say, or the daring, mermaid-bedecked Lorelei fountain.
—The New York Times
Publishers WeeklyThe Bronx's Grand Concourse, with its Art Deco structures, is one of New York City's architectural delights, and its political and social history is the worthy subject of this new book by New York Times staffer Rosenblum, who edited the paper's now-defunct City section and now writes a column for its Sunday real estate section. Stretching over four-and-a-half miles, the thoroughfare designed by Louis Aloys Risse, an Alsatian immigrant, and modeled after Paris's Champs Elysées—was completed in 1909 and saw the arrival of upwardly mobile Jews in the first five decades of the 20th century, followed by waves of Irish and Italian immigrants seeking to pursue their culture and careers in a safe environment.
