Parkchester

Fascinating … Vintage photos of the neighborhood and its people enhance the narrative, and snippets of interviews and conversations with former and current residents emphasize the story’s human element. * Foreword Reviews *
Parkchester is a page turner, a history lesson, and a Bronx tale about a community and the various ethnic cultures who reside there. * Bronx Times *
Parkchester was the largest privately-developed housing project in American history when it opened in the Bronx in 1940. With 171 buildings and 40,000 residents in a well-planned arrangement around a spectacular oval, it has now survived for almost 80 years and continues to stand as a successful attempt to integrate Irish and Italian Catholics, Jews, Protestants, and more recently blacks, Latinos, Bangladeshis, Parkistanis, and Indians into a peaceful environment. And now Jeffrey Gurock has given us a grand book worthy of its exceptional subject. If you ever lived in Parkchester or know anyone who did, you must read this book, which is well-illustrated, well-written, and almost lovingly argued. -- Kenneth T. Jackson, Editor-in-Chief, The Encyclopedia of New York City
"Illuminates important questions regarding housing, ethnic succession, race and community. -- Robert Snyder, Director of American Studies, Rutgers University
The only word to describe Professor Gurock’s book is superb. It is a “no-nonsense” look at Parkchester, with all its contrasts—the “city within a city” that offered the best of city and suburb together, but also the hard years when it saw unfortunate decline; the beauty of the Oval, but the ugliness of racial discrimination in the early years. What comes alive in these pages is that Parkchester had and indeed has what Professor Gurock calls “an enduring get-along spirit,” especially in Jewish-Catholic relations . Is it just a coincidence that a Catholic pastor writes these words in praise of a book written by a Jewish professor? That itself captures the true “Parkchester spirit,” a spirit that continues today as new ethnic groups are welcomed as they make Parkchester the same “special place” that it has been for so many others before them. If you know Parkchester, this is your book because it reminds you of who you are. If you do not know Parkchester, the Professor will enroll you in his class and teach you about this “special place” which is still magic for all of us who call it home. -- Msgr. Thomas B. Derivan, Former pastor, St. Helena Catholic Church
Few people know and understand New York City as well as Jeffrey Gurock, and in Parkchester he has again brought his savvy eye and intelligence to bear on an iconic neighborhood. . . . He unflinchingly traces its jagged history as a sedate enclave, one that in its earliest years excluded black Americans. He also chronicles its ethnic and racial transformation in recent decades, revealing both the relative harmony in how its inhabitants grappled with the changeover and episodes when tolerance was limited. The book is a must for anyone interested in the complexity of urban dynamics and for aficionados of New York. -- Joseph Berger, veteran New York Times reporter
Jeffrey Gurock has done it again! One of our most prolific and insightful ethnic historians has written another gem of a neighborhood study. His well-crafted narrative presents a convincing history of Parkchester’s transition from a whites-only melting pot to a complex and racially diverse alternative to suburbia. Gurock raises significant questions that are persuasively answered by his solid research and clear-eyed analysis. His chapters throb with real life tensions and controversies and finally with lessons about how reason and comity ultimately can prevail over intolerance. -- Thomas Kessner, Distinguished Professor of History, CUNY Graduate Center
Gurock’s research foregrounds tenant experiences and provides valuable data on the factors that contribute to community building. Parkchester is useful for collections specializing in New York City, housing, the formation of social classes, and the late 20th century, and also for anyone seeking support for the thesis that what benefits the working class benefits everyone. * Choice *
Jeffrey Gurock, who himself grew up in Parkchester, chronicles the evolution of Parkchester and its conflicts in considerable detail. His history of life in Parkchester is made interesting by the many profiles of its residents from the earliest to the more recent (many of whom are immigrants). * Journal of Urban Affairs *
Parkchester is a worthy addition to the literature on efforts to create and keep affordable housing in New York City. * The American Jewish Archives Journal *