BRONX W www.BXTimes.com EEKLY October 13, 2019 14
BY RACHELLE ANTHONY
Parkchester opened in 1940,
around when throngs of working
class Jewish families and other
groups were immediately drawn to
the development’s convenient location
and expansive landscaped setting.
Next year, 2020, marks
Parkchester’s historic 80th anniversary.
It’s while waiting for the #6 IRT
on the Parkchester train station
platform that one sees a spectacular
view of the Parkchester community
and the Cross Bronx Expressway
from the other side.
This Bronx neighborhood is as
close as you can get to a ‘city within
a city,’ designed and constructed as
a balanced community of residential
units, retail stores and eateries.
T
he architecture and beauty of
Parkchester is also unique to not
just the borough but all of the city.
The center of attraction is the
Metropolitan Oval which has an
exquisitely landscaped garden design,
boasting a beautiful array of
fl owerbeds and an awe-inspiring
fountain.
Despite its appealing aesthetics,
there was a seething undertone of
racial bias.
The Parkchester community we
know today has come a long way
from when it was ‘segregated racially’
before the 60s in the height
of civil rights activism.
Jeffrey Gurock, in his latest
captivating literary work,
‘Parkchester: A Bronx Tale of Race
and Ethnicity,’ tells the story and
history of one of the largest housing
communities in New York City
dating back before construction began
in 1939.
Gurock, a Libby M. Klaperman
professor of Jewish History at Yeshiva
University, has written and
edited 22 books that focused on semetic
history in and around the
metropolitan area for the past 43
years.
His works also include urban
history, inter-ethnic history and
what it means to be a Jew in New
York.
Gurock’s fi rst book was his Doctoral
Dissertation almost 40 years
ago which delved into the history of
the Jewish community of Harlem.
During that time, he became
interested in the relationship between
Blacks and Jews enough
so to start studying communities
where Blacks and Jews lived near
each other.
That fi rst book, ‘When Harlem
was Jewish’ examines the movement
of the NYC Jewish population
from the lower east side to upper
east side of Manhattan.
Jewish culture has always been
the focus of his books, however in
his latest tome he says, “The Jews
in this book are not the focus of this
story, they are part of the story,”
said Gurock.
The difference between his latest
work is that it tells the story of
a community which was Irish, Italian
and Jewish and segregated racially
until 1968.
“Today the community is (made
up of) Bangladeshis, Malaysians,
African Americans and Latinos,”
said Gurock.
This latest introspect is
about race and ethnic life in the
Parkchester community and about
people getting along with their ethnic
neighbors.
The Bronx County Historical
Society, which Gurock considers a
gem, provided much of the research
and photos he needed to complete
his work.
Gurock now lives in Riverdale,
but he is proud to say he lived in
Parkchester for the fi rst 25 years
of his life with his parents among
the fi rst residents to ever call
Parkchester home.
He refl ects on growing up in
Parkchester when his father was
a fi refi ghter and his mother was a
bookkeeper who worked at the Empire
State Building while remembering
going to his orthodox synagogue
in Parkchester too.
He points out that one of the
six mosques located around
Parkchester today was formerly
Young Israel of Parkchester, the
synagogue Gurock and his family
attended.
“In the book there is some personal
stuff, but it’s all rooted in
solid scholarship. It’s important for
the book,” Gurock said.
“Parkchester is about to celebrate
its 80th anniversary,” said
Gurock. “I thought I would write a
book to both celebrate the community
but also to look at it critically.
It’s time for us to look at this community
very seriously. Parkchester
is a delight to all ethnic cultures as
they strive “to get along, to live well
together as neighbors and hopefully
as friends,” said Gurock.
While researching and writing
this book, Gurock also met some
wonderful people in Parkchester.
“Writing this book has been a
‘labor of love,’” said Gurock. “It’s
nice to return to where you came
from,”
During a summer concert at
the Metropolitan Oval, he gave
out autographed copies of his
book, became friends with the
Bangledeshis; made a very good
friend in one of the area’s Catholic
priests, and met a young Muslim
man. “One of the marvelous things
is I’ve now met some of the fi rst African
Americans who moved into
Parkchester and they remind me of
my parents,” said Gurock.
Parkchester: A tale of Race and
Ethnicity is a page turner, a history
lesson, and a Bronx tale about
a community and the various ethnic
cultures who reside there.
Gurock’s next book signing
event is on Monday, October 14
at his local synagogue, The Hebrew
Institute of Riverdale, in the
Bronx.
The book will be released on
Tuesday, October 15.
Parkchester revisited
through the eyes of an
early Jewish resident
Parkchester: A Bronx Tale of Race and Ethnicity by Jeffrey S. Gurock, published
October 2019 by NYU Press. Rachelle Anthony
Jeffrey S. Gurock (l) and Tamzidul Islam outside the Parkchester Islamic Center, summer 2018.
Courtesy of the Yeshiva University Offi ce of Communications and Public Affairs.
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