I read this NY Times article and envisioned the worst.
Writer Sam Dolnick’s depictions of rats and roaches and cracks in bedroom walls so deep residents “can look through and see the sunshine” -- littering the house that birthed Hip Hop -- were equally horrifying and enraging.
For decades 1520 Sedgwick Ave was one of the South Bronx more desirable working-class residences. The one time state run public housing building was superbly maintained, with a lobby so clean you could “see your face in the floor.”
Residents were more than just neighbors, they were a community -- celebrating Christmases and Halloweens and birthdays together in the Community Room located on the building’s first floor.
It was in that Community Room that DJ Kool Herc hosted Hip Hop’s first parties, spinning the vital beginnings of The Culture that consumed the globe.
1520 Sedgwick Ave was sold to private investors in 2008 during the height of the real estate bubble in hopes that city wide gentrification would extend past Manhattan and into the South Bronx. The building and others like it were prime targets for acquisition specifically because of how well they were upheld.
READ THE FULL ARTICLE @BROOKLYNBODEGA.COM
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