Begging the question...the brand: Riverdale, NY 10463; See the Greater Riverdale area for yourself

July 13, 2010 - Spotlights

Susan Seidner Chasky, Halstead Property Riverdale, LLC

We all wish for easy answers to what should be a logical black and white agreement on the whereabouts of a neighborhood or how a section of an area should be defined. But, no-it's not that easy in the northwestern section of the Bronx-known as Riverdale, NY 10463.
Uphill Riverdale is effectively a composition of many different communities, business districts, private estates, and enclaves within its so called boundaries. For the most part, three sides of Riverdale are easy to define thanks to the natural geography of the land and the city limits: The Harlem River to the south, the Hudson River on the west up to the Yonkers city line in the north. Now here's where it gets tricky - the question is: Where are the boundaries to the east? The lines are too blurred and fuzzy to identity for sure.
Classically or residentially speaking, Riverdale is west of Riverdale Ave., with topographical boundaries being the hill bordered by Ewen Park and the great north and south walls of Riverdale Ave. Or to some, mostly the commercial sector, "Riverdale" now extended east to Broadway from Van Cortlandt Park to Kingsbridge Rd./West 225th St. at Marble Hill.
According to the U.S. Postal Service, the main 10463 post office location is on Broadway near West 230th St., known as the Kingsbridge Station. There are also two sub stations one in south Riverdale on Kappock St. and one in central Riverdale on West 238th St. All three Kingsbridge post offices service the lower half (up to West 239th St.) of what we traditionally (and with all due respect) fondly brand as uphill "Riverdale."
Typically, Riverdale is thought of as the go between area of the Bronx sandwiched between Manhattan's Inwood section and lower Westchester's city of Yonkers, seen by commuters rushing to and fro the city via the Henry Hudson Pwy. This narrow corridor recently has gained substantial publicity being the address of the glass high-rise condo waiting to attract the well heeled New York buyer. The Hudson line of Metro north also serves the greater "Riverdale" area with three stations.
Adding to the branding of Riverdale just check out the classified section of the New York Times real estate section. In it Riverdale has its own separate sections from the rest of the Bronx. There are not one but three classified sections, one for houses, the second for coops and condos and a third for rentals.
Riverdale has been a brand for decades and is the only "affluence personified" status branded neighborhood in the Bronx. To many, Riverdale stands for the very opposite of the nomenclature of the Bronx. Riverdale is, culturally speaking, a separated entity from the rest of the Bronx; the Bronx whose image is hard to live down from "the Bronx is burning" decades ago and subsequent movie, The Bonfire of the Vanities that negatively branded the Bronx till today.
But for sophisticated New Yorkers and new-comers to New York who are searching for a new more charming life, Riverdale is a perfect balance of city and suburban/country life styles. This uphill neighborhood features lush green spaces, grand public parks, Wave Hill and the Half Moon park with stunning views over the Hudson, the Raul Wallenberg Nature Preserve along the Hudson greenbelt and Seton Park with public tennis courts, ball-fields and playground plus more...
The importance of the Riverdale brand has a significance intangible quality that adds on an extra attractive value. Riverdale is more than a specific location; it's up the hill yes but to business it's much more; there are over 120 businesses, professionals and religious institutions that use Riverdale in their title compared to 24 using Kingsbridge and 4 using Marble Hill according to the super yellow pages. The economic use of the "Riverdale" brand has nothing to do with the physical location of Riverdale itself.
What we think of as Riverdale, 10463 is really Kingsbridge, 10463. And within this area there are about six residential upper middle class to well-to-do sub-divisions known as Spuyten Duyvil, the Gold Coast on the Palisades, Riverdale on the Hudson, South Riverdale, and Central Riverdale. The use of the brand "Riverdale" is a socioeconomic term not so much a specific location.
Come see the Greater Riverdale area for yourself-we've got the whole world in less than four square miles-you'll see...it's cool to be fuzzy when it's Riverdale!
Susan Lynne Seidner Chasky is a senior vice president and associate broker at Halstead Property Riverdale, LLC, Riverdale, N.Y.
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