NewRoc Now

I finally took the plunge and moved out of my tenement on 5 Prospect Street to the Avalon Sound East.  On 5 Prospect I had hot water sporadically at best, walked past and listened to loud youth gangs most warm nights, lived with 1 bathroom in a 3 BR apartment and froze through the winter with heat at their convenience.  Rent was only $1800 for a 3 BR, but the obnoxious landlord and lack of comfort drove me looking.

On an impulse I increased my cost of living by $1000 a month for a 2BR in the Avalon Sound East.  I was foolish and didn’t shop around at all, but after moving in and reading all kinds of whine and complaints on the Internet, I can say that except for the voluntary rent increase that I signed up for the place is nice.   I have not experienced any of the things that were mentioned on other sites such as slow elevators, loud pipes, crap service, rude employees and shoddy construction.

Elevators seem to be fast whenever I need them, apartment is in good shape, all of the minor issues I have called maintenance for were fixed in hours, staff has been friendly and easy to deal with and there is a nice youthful feel to the building.  It’s a pretty attractive crowd and very diverse - students, divorcees, rich couples living through renovations, singles, young couples, young families - it’s a nice mix.

I see where people are coming from when the speak about cheap feeling construction, but I don’t think you will find a ton better anywhere else now-a-days.  I don’t hear any neighbor noise, all of the appliances work, the flooring is nice and with the exception of no overhead light fixtures in the bedrooms I see no issues as a layman.

New Rochelle feels a lot different coming from the Avalon to Main St. then it does from Prospect to Main, but for anyone considering moving to the Avalon, as long as you sign your name to the rent, I don’t see any major issues that should drive you away.  If you want tight security you may be better off in other locations, but if you are looking for a nice building with interesting, young people, a pool and a clean environment the Avalon is for you.  Regarding parking, I don’t use their garage because I park 1 block away in the Church St. lot for 6 months for what they charge for 1 month.

Do you think you need to drive from downtown New Rochelle to Fairway or Whole Foods to get decent bread? Newsflash…. you are incorrect. If you are looking for good artisan bread your answer is only a 10 minute walk from the Library to the Bread Factory at 30 Grove Ave. The Bread Factory has about 8 types of baguette, all kids of sourdough and whole grain bread, a great selection of rolls, specialty breads, some pastries and lots more. Their wholesale business supplies many of the better restaurants in Westchester so be prepared, it has more of an H&H feel than Dean and DeLuca, but the quality is definitely there. A tad off any path, beaten or otherwise, but a nice spot if you are into the crunchy stuff.

If you ever venture to Hudson Park you will see a green dilapidated building with a pretty cool clock that was the New Rochelle Yacht Club.  I have seen some pretty rockin weddings and other loud parties there, but it looks like going on the porch of that thing is tossing your life to fate.

In any case in a stupor of boredom and happenstance I stumbled onto this article that shows how much incredible history is everywhere in downtown New Rochelle, including the old yacht club.

1) Saw my first horseshoe patrons in Sharkey Park.  To be fair, there are occasional bocce players, but I saw my first bona fide horseshoe pitcher.

2) Hudson park actually has people who aren’t fishing in the parking lot.

3) New ads about movies at the New Rochelle Library.

4) Memorial Day parade came and passed.

5) Glenn Island park is getting packed and the beach is open.

6) Sidewalk sales came and went.

7) Five Island Park has more than zero people walking around.

I think that there is an attempt to clean the fields of goose poop at some parks.

This post is not related to New Rochelle at all but it reflects two bizarre statistics that reflect the strangeness of our world.

In Myanmar, where we speculate that over 100,000 have died cnn.com reports “White House spokeswoman Dana Perino also announced Monday that the United States has offered Myanmar an additional $13 million in aid, bringing the total to $16.25 million.”

In California, where another hedge fund bites the dust, the Wall Street Journal reports that Ron Beller, a founder of Peloton hedge fund personally lost 60mil on the failure.

A strange dichotomy

The yuppie pizza champion of downtown is hereby proclaimed…..and the winner is Avellino’s on at 134 North Ave.  Mediterranean slices, broccoli rabe role’s, margherita slices and more - there is nothing else like it in downtown Nuro.  This is the 3rd pizza place in this spot and let’s hope it lasts.

Many New Rochelle residents know about Hudson Park, with it’s small and slightly dirty beach and nice park, but fewer may venture into the nicest waterside beer/lunch place in Nuro.  Dudely’s is a great place hang out on the harbor, drink beer and eat decently average food.  I love the Tuna burger and Mussels in white sauce but there is a plethora of fried food to fatten you up.  It is truly one of the nicest casual places in Nuro to hang out by the water, but only outside.  When the weather is not so nice Dudleys turns into a fairly creepy bar and it is certainly avoidable unless you are looking to fight or be intimidated. It is the only place left in New Rochelle that still lets you smoke inside so that may be a plus, or not.

Bottom line, if you are looking for a casual place to hang out by the water, drink some beer and relax, the Dudley’s dock is really a great relaxing place to check out.

I don’t know when the last time that these two groups of people were associated with each other, but there are two groups of people in New Rochelle that draw my curiosity.   They are both somewhat pervasive in the downtown area and somewhat ignored.  They both form a strong presence in downtown New Ro if you walk around the downtown area and I’m sure that you have been approached by both.  Who are these people you may ask?

The Homeless and the Mormons.

I don’t know the official homeless population of downtown New Rochelle, but my guesstimate is a fairly low number of 25-50.  I have come to recognize them by face, some by name and some by habit.    Most seem to be suffering from some severe mental illness.   They color the streets of New Rochelle and are largely ignored, but it is one of the few cities in Westchester that does have some homeless population.  There is some type of shelter at 515 North Ave and in February a homeless enclave was discovered at the New Rochelle train station in February.   It is an interesting fact of New Rochelle and hopefully one that will be addressed in a more focused way by the New Rochelle and Westchester governments.

So to the other….The Mormons.

I still remember when the Mormons moved across from 134 North Ave about 5 years ago.  They built a beautiful new building quickly and in short order downtown New Ro became cluttered with missionaries.  At first the missionaries were the typical pasty white guys from Utah, fresh out of high school.  They looked a little scared and out of place and I always got a laugh watching 2 or 3 of them corner a Mexican guy and speak in Utah accented Spanish.

Since the early days they have changed their tactics though.  I’m sure that people complained so they have reduced their presence somewhat.   What is really interesting though is that they have obviously been successful so now there is one pasty guy from Utah but now his partner is a Spanish speaking young man that is obviously from around here.  On my walk home yesterday which is only about 5 blocks I saw 3 groups of them - each 1 pasty guy and one local Spanish speaker - peppering some helpless soul with details about their contact information, pushing a Book of Mormon into their hands and cajoling them to stop by the church.

While I know that New Ro is not the only Westchester city with a homeless issue, I can say for certainty that New Rochelle is the only city that has an issue with both Mormons and Homeless.   Certainly both groups add color to the cornucopia of downtown New Rochelle and make it even more interesting.

Now that the weather is nice and Westchester County is charging $4 again to park in Glen Island Park again (get your park pass at the park, $40 for 2 years, bring a power bill for proof of address) I am running again in the park.   New Rochelle is a place with hundreds of years of history and the trip from downtown to Glen Island park will bring you by many historical and interesting places that you may never notice including Lou Gherig’s last house, the College of New Rochelle and other interesting places.  One of the least important,  but fascinating places to me is Sharkey Park, next to Neptune Park on Fort Slocum Road.

Sharkey Park is a reminder that once upon a time people played Horshoes in New Ro and they were damn serious enough about it to make a gated park dedicated to the venerable sport(?).   Sharkey Park is always locked and in 4 years I have yet to see a single person in it.   Yet despite its poor attendance, as recently as 1991 it was home to the number 2 horseshoe player in the world, none other than Art Tyson.   Here is Art Tyson being inducted into the horshoe hall of fame in 1993, and here is a small feature in the NY Times that speaks of the great Mr. Tyson.

So for the curious, take a trek down to Ft. Slocum Road and check out the world famous, and always locked, Shareky Park.  If you manage to get in to pitch a few, please leave some comments and share the ride!

New Rochelle lost two of its most incredible and inspiring residents, Rabbi Jacob Rubenstein and his wife, Deborah in a tragic fire. Rabbi Rubenstein was the Rabbi of Young Israel of Scarsdale, which is on the border of New Rochelle and Scarsdale.

Rabbie Rubenstein was a great father, a great husband a great scholar and an incredible thinker than transformed the Jewish community of Westchester along with the lives of thousands. His wife, Debbie, was his perfect soul-mate, and their marriage was a model for all of us to aspire to. They were the parents of 4 lovely young adults that are undoubtedly feeling immense pain and shock at such a tragic loss.

Rabbi Rubenstein was an incredible creative thinker, but more importantly he was a ‘doer’. He lead the Young Israel of Scarsdale through 2 or 3 building expansions and was largely responsible for creating the environment that grew the shul to over 400 families from less than 100. His deeds are so numerous that I won’t even attempt to list them as I’m sure there will be numerous personal accounts as the days pass.

He was an Orthodox Rabbi that thought ‘outside of the box’ and as such he attracted great scholars, business people, religious scholars, political leaders, family leaders and dynamic, creative people to his shul. He was able to balance a community full of great achievers with a love and warmth that was infectious and genuine.

He attracted people from all walks of life to religion because of his warmth and love of learning. He could put Jewish learning into the context of our times and brought the joys of Jewish learning to thousands that never would have experienced it.

The loss of Debbie and Jake, as they liked to be called, will reverberate around in the world and in the hearts of many thousands of people who were touched by him.  We wish his wonderful children peace and look forward to understanding the lessons that will come from their tragic loss.