Boulevard of Dreams

Heady Times, Heartbreak, and Hope along the Grand Concourse in the Bronx
by Constance Rosenblum

Stretching over four miles through the center of the Bronx, the “Grand Boulevard and Concourse” has gracefully served as silent witness to the changing face of New York City for a century. Now, to coincide with the Concourse’s centennial, a New York Times editor brings to life the street in all its raucous glory.

Designed by a French engineer in the late nineteenth century to echo the elegance and grandeur of the Champs Elysées in Paris, the Concourse was nearly twenty years in the making and celebrates its centennial in November 2009. Over that century it has truly been a boulevard of dreams for various upwardly mobile immigrant and ethnic groups, yet it has also seen the darker side of the American dream. In Boulevard of Dreams Constance Rosenblum unearths the colorful history of this grand street and its interlinked neighborhoods. With a seasoned journalist’s eye for detail, she paints an evocative portrait of the Concourse through compelling life stories and historical vignettes.

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