The Bronx

The Ultimate Guide to New York City's Beautiful Borough

By Lloyd Ultan and Shelley Olson

SERIES: Rivergate Regionals Collection

Rutgers University Press

Often overlooked by most tourists and locals alike, the Bronx—one of five boroughs that comprise the city of New York—is rich in cultural and historical attractions. From the Bronx Zoo (the largest urban zoo in the United States) to the New York Botanical Garden (one of the most visited botanical gardens in the world), this borough has something for everyone. Visitors can explore historical locations (including where George Washington slept and where Edgar Allan Poe lived and worked), watch a game in one of the most famous baseball stadiums in the United States—Yankee Stadium—and sample delicious Italian food in New York’s real “Little Italy” on Arthur Avenue and New England style seafood at City Island along the edge of Long Island Sound. Author and foremost historian of the Bronx Lloyd Ultan and educator Shelley Olson have teamed up to create a handy guidebook with detailed maps that will provide all the information prospective visitors need for planning their adventures to famous and little-known sites, including the hours, admission fees, and directions to featured attractions.

The Bronx—which includes thirty-six color photographs—provides visitors with informative chapters on more than twelve of the borough’s extraordinary destinations as well as self-guided walking tours of some of the most ethnically, architecturally, and historically diverse neighborhoods. History buffs will find beautifully preserved eighteenth- and nineteenth-century homes, the Hall of Fame for Great Americans (which pays homage to many familiar faces in American history), and Woodlawn Cemetery (the final resting place for prominent Americans including Duke Ellington, Joseph Pulitzer, Gloria Vanderbilt Whitney, and Thomas Nast). In addition to the botanical garden, nature lovers can enjoy the beautiful Pelham Bay Park and Van Cortlandt Park. The Bronx also highlights the surprising number of art galleries, museums, and performance venues that visitors are sure to enjoy, further demonstrating the borough’s cultural prominence. .

Lloyd Ultan and Shelley Olson have put together an amazing and authoritative guide to the history and culture of our borough, one that’s incredibly useful for natives and visitors alike. Be it a look at our history, our tremendous cultural institutions or examining our borough through guided walking tours, The Bronx: The Ultimate Guide to New York City’s Beautiful Borough is a tremendous resource for lovers of the northern borough, and something I’m proud to have on my own bookshelf! Ruben Diaz Jr., Bronx Borough President

The parks, the Yankee Stadium, the Bronx Zoo, New York Botanical Garden, the shopping streets and boulevards, the architecture, the historic neighborhoods, the museums… This guide book sets the record straight with its beautifully detailed descriptions and history of the Bronx attractions. Lloyd Ultan and Shelley Olson wrote a beautiful book, giving the reader a much needed user friendly guide to the beautiful Bronx, our much overlooked borough. Arlene Alda, author of Just Kids From the Bronx

You're preaching to the choir with this book. The Bronx is my home, and I love sharing its beauty. It holds a very special place in my heart. I’ll love sharing this book. Rock on! Dion F. DiMucci, performer, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee

A delightfully researched and intelligently written guide to the varied and worthwhile attractions in the Bronx that visitors to New York City—and even residents of New York City—might overlook. The Bronx has the much needed guidebook it deserves. Avery Corman, author of My Old Neighborhood Remembered

Touring the Bronx With Lloyd Ultan, a Borough InstitutionMr. Ultan, 77, born and raised in the Bronx, has served as the borough historian since 1996 and has become, to many, as synonymous with the Bronx as the landmarks and institutions that he knows by heart. A history professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey, Mr. Ultan has made a second career of documenting the borough’s often overlooked past. His vast knowledge of Bronx minutiae — shared with irrepressible, often corny humor — has earned him generations of fans.

Full article <http://nyti.ms/1d8nVlf> Winnie Hu, New York Times

Leaves no corner or crevice of the Bronx uncovered. There are chapters on famous sites like Yankee Stadium and Woodlawn Cemetery along with lesser-known locales like the Valentine-Varian House. The Riverdale Press

Included is a section on walking tours that contains detailed instructions. Readers can chose from tours of Little Italy, various historic art deco houses, or City Island, with its rich maritime history; each trip is brimming with historic detail as well as suggestions of other nearby places of interest and local dining options. The final section lists museums, galleries, theaters, and other places of interest, serving as a handy quick reference. VERDICT Thoroughly researched with straightforward directions and information, this is a great reference for sampling the highlights of this borough of New York City. Stacy Shaw, Library Journal

LLOYD ULTAN holds the appointed government position of Bronx Borough Historian. He is a professor of history at Fairleigh Dickinson University, and the author of over 1,000 articles about the Bronx and ten books including The Northern Borough: A History of the Bronx, and The Birth of the Bronx, 1609–1900.

SHELLEY OLSON taught at the University of Houston, the University of North Carolina’s Center for the Advancement of Teaching, and Wake Forest before relocating to New York City, which inspired her to write this book.

List of Maps

Acknowledgements

Why Visit The Bronx?

Part I. Attractions

The New York Botanical Garden

The Bronx Zoo

Yankee Stadium

Wave Hill and the Mansions of Riverdale

Van Cortlandt Park and the Van Cortlandt House

The Bronx County Building: The Art of Democracy

The Edgar Allan Poe Cottage: Poverty and Poetry

Woodlawn Cemetery: Beauty for Eternity