This is the borough I was born in, but only lived in for about a year. I first saw light at St. Francis Hospital on East 142nd Street off of St. Ann’s Avenue; my first residence was 511 East 148th Street, at Brook Avenue. I don’t really have any conscious memory of that time.
However, even though I would not be living there, I would spend more than enough time visiting there. My dad's relatives did not follow him to Queens so we did more than enough time visiting. In fact, there was so much time visiting, going by public transportation until high school, usually dressed up, and then cooped up in an apartment all day that I got to absolutely hate visiting. Yes, it is true that familiarity breeds contempt.
The things in the Bronx that I remember when I did not have to be there were Freedomland, now the site of Co-Op City, and of course Yankee Stadium. My first ballgame there was in 1957, and 50 years later still remember a few things: who they played (the White Sox), sitting in the bleachers near the Yankee bullpen and saying hello to Whitey Ford, one of my favorite Yankees then.
Since Freedomland is gone, as are the relatives, the only thing there now for me is Yankee Stadium. Even that was replaced by a new ballpark in 2009.
