TheBronxRocks.com

 Nothing to be melancholy about here. The former opulent Grand Concourse Plaza Hotel, built in the twenties, is now a very well run home for the elderly.  Rumor has it that with all the development going on around the area, the City and/or developers approached the current owners about buying the property with the intention of returning it to its former state - a luxury hotel.  “No deal”, was the answer they got.  Can we all not agree - those folks are living in some seriously glorious digs!

The formerly opulent and majestic Loew’s Paradise Theatre (recently restored), sitting seemingly forlorn on the Grand Concourse. Can’t you just imagine this place in its heyday!  And though from the outside, it looks like it has seen better days, I bet when the curtains goes up, it is just as mesmerizing as it was when it opened in 1929. For more information, please visit here to read my article on The Boogiedowner Blog - ”Treasures of the Grand Concourse”. 

I cannot wait to get inside.    (Picture courtesy of the NY Times…)

While not as ornate or seemingly grand as some of the other buildings along the Grand Concourse and in other parts of the Bronx, these streamlined, simple and quintessentially Art Deco buildings hold great appeal for me.  This was taken this evening and is located just across from the Court House along the Grand Concourse, near Yankee Stadium.

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The Mario Merola Building, or Bronx County Courthouse, one of the largest court houses ever built in the United States dominates the landscape where it sits majestically overlooking The Grand Concourse and the adjacent park.  Although not technically Art Deco, there are enough of the design’s influences to include it here. This is the first sight most visitors see when they step out of the Yankee Stadium subway stop - its size and scope is mesmerizing!

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Two of these beautiful sculputres flank the Court House.

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Just another simple deco building similar to others scattered throughout the Grand Concourse and surrounding area.