06 December 2012

A Good Sign: Columbia Florist


A family-owned florist on 231st Street in Riverdale, The Bronx, Columbia has been in the neighborhood for decades. The newer awning does nothing for me, but the older sign on top does.

3 comments:

therealguyfaux said...

There ya go again, dude, W 231st and Broadway is Kingsbridge. That's why they've got all those BID banners along Broadway and W 231st St telling everyone "It's all under the 'Bridge!"-- just so you can call it Riverdale!

Brooks of Sheffield said...

OK, OK. But you have to admit that this matter is often confused. A lot of businesses in Kingsbridge are described in many sources as being in Riverdale.

therealguyfaux said...

Just a little joshin'. Actually, to some extent, the reason for this geographical "expansiveness," if you will, is as much an attempt on the part of some businesses in KB to attract trade both from Riverdale itself by highlighting the proximity, and to attract trade from other parts of The Bronx and Upper Manhattan where buses to "Riverdale" run and the #1 train runs. Riverdale Av, at 231st St, can be said to be the western boundary of the KB district, and the Bx1 bus is marked "231st St- Riverdale"; the Bx7 bus which runs from Riverdale proper into KB along 231st Street is similarly marked "263rd-Riverdale," and the bus along Broadway to the Yonkers City Line is marked "262nd-Riverdale"; since any directions given to someone from outside the area will involve their having to take a "Riverdale" bus, the "Riverdale" name has some practical use as well as being a somewhat "puttin'-on-airs" kinda name. The lah-dee-dahs who claim "riverdaliness" do so because, in point of fact, owing to the scarcity of shopping in the Riverdale-proper area, much of the trade of the businesses in KB (even down to Marble Hill and the "Tar-zhay" there) comes from Riverdale, and some merchants remind them of the proximity in the name. "If they come here 'slumming'," goes the reasoning, "we can appropriate their name." Actually, a similar phenomenon occurs in Los Angeles, where certain neighborhoods and shopping areas are "BHA" = "Beverly Hills Adjacent," and the presumption of such a name is the subject of much humor, a good part (but not all of it) gentle ribbing.