As a born and raised New Yorker, I fancy myself quite the expert on all things New York-related. Want to know where to get the best bagels? I got a place for you. Confused about how to navigate the subway system? I got you covered. I also thought myself quite the Manhattan/Bronx neighborhood expert. That was all up until three months ago. I was with a group of new people, and as sixteen-year-olds do when they meet each other for the first time we were all sharing where we lived. As it turned out there were two other kids from New York, one who lived on the Upper West Side, like me, and another who said that he lived in Marble Hill. Now, I’ll confess that until that point I had not heard of Marble Hill, but since my fellow Upper West Sider knew a lot about Marble Hill, I feigned knowledge.
With my curiosity piqued and my superiority complex in tow, I set out on a mission: find out as much as I can about Marble Hill and visit it.
Marble Hill is an enigma of sorts, technically considered to be part of Manhattan, but connected to the Bronx landmass. The place plays with our sense of topography. Originally connected to Manhattan, Marble Hill became its island in 1895 when the construction of the Harlem Ship Canal separated it from Manhattan. In 1914, a landfill was built connecting Marble Hill to the Bronx. Marble Hill is often associated with the Bronx due to its shared geographical connection.
But do not be fooled. Marble Hill may have a Bronx zip code, make use of a police department headquartered in the Bronx and its inhabitants carry Bronx area codes, but Marble Hill is not a part of the Bronx. As per the decision made in 1914 when Marble Hill became geographically connected to the Bronx, it was declared a part of New York County or Manhattan. Whether Marble Hill is a part of the Bronx or Manhattan has been contested for years, though the residents wish to remain Manhattanites.
As the 1 train rolls into the 225 street station, I see Marble Hill for the first time through the rectangular subway windows. A mixture of shingle roof houses and rust-colored pre-war builds catch my eye from outside the subway window opposite where I am sitting. The subway window directly above my head showcases a different view, one of the complexes containing a light gray, sleek box-like structure that houses a Target and an Applebees. Directly next to the boxy building is a small parking lot facing the Harlem River.
Stepping out onto the outdoor platform, I find myself directly under one of the looming steel towers of the Broadway Bridge. From my place near the platform railing, I look down and see a neat row of one-story stores each with signs of colorful block letters. From my aerial point, I can see that every store has a sign on the sidewalk with the same colors as its awning.
Almost immediately I’m entranced by the aromatic, mouth-watering smell of fried carnival food. Hungry and curious as to the source of the smell, I descend the many stairs until I reach the street level in search of the heavenly scent. When I make a right, I find myself on a small sidewalk that is surrounded on one side by a row of shops, each of which has a distinctive personality and colorful sign. One such shop is the Game Depot Jr., which has a sign in Spanish and windows decorated with green LED lights to show off the variety of gaming consoles they carry. The Game Depot Jr. is next to Taveras Food Center, the source of the excellent frying scent. The Taveras Food Center is a small deli with a hot food bar that specializes in Hispanic foods. It has an unremarkable silver tin awning with faded red block letters that read “Taveras Food Center.” When you enter, you will see a variety of different types of rice, as well as beautifully arranged charred meats and beans in silver serving trays.
I make my way to the neighborhood grocery store, C-Town, by continuing along the same route. If you were to ask me what best describes a neighborhood, I would respond that it’s the grocery store. Aisles and aisles of the same canned food, prepackaged ingredients, and other items may be found in every other grocery store, but if you look hard, you can uncover items unique to that neighborhood. Walking in, the store is dull with ruddy walls and a muted emerald green ceiling. Recessed lighting brightens up the place, making it seem lively. I make my way to my favorite aisle in any grocery store, the baking aisle. Immediately I notice delicacies that are not available in my local grocery store, ranging from canned flan, a variety of sweetened condensed milk, and aromatic prepackaged loaves of bread such as Galletas Mocana, a bagel-shaped bread and Pan Sobao, which is shaped like little hot dog buns.
While exploring the area, I found that most of the shops are located adjacent to the subway, while the bulk of the residences and multifamily buildings are located in the neighborhood’s center. Marble Hill, a little enclave in a circle, has a distinct sense of identity. Van Corlear Place is an oval-shaped street that is ideally situated. The multifamily red-brick buildings with staircases and the standalone cream-colored shingle dwellings with dark wooden frames make up the oval’s core. On the outskirts of the neighborhoods is an abundance of large, red apartment complexes titled in toward the central oval on the edges of the neighborhoods that look like they were constructed in the 1980s.
When I think back to the conversation where Marble Hill was first mentioned to me, I am reminded of my friend Max, a resident of Marble Hill, and the hard sell he made for his community. “None of my friends ever want to come to Marble Hill,” he says. “They think it’s too dangerous, but it’s not.” “Marble Hill is an understated urban gem,” says Mr. Montera, whose daughter Rose attended the Marble Hill Nursery School. “A number of teacher families have had kids there and as a result, they got to know the neighborhood. It’s an active hopping place. The elevated train is the lifeline, and, as a result, every store seems to be open 24 hours! But if you walk one block west of Broadway, you are struck by the quiet and small town feeling of each street.”
Given that I routinely travel the 1 train from Van Cortlandt Park to 86th and Broadway, I feel a little embarrassed that it took me so long to see Marble Hill. It is a charming little area with pleasant residents and a strong sense of neighborhood. I wholeheartedly encourage everyone to visit Marble Hill, a tiny sliver of Manhattan located on the Bronx landmass.
