Block Party: Rombouts Avenue

group hug, block one

There are over 50,000 blocks in New York City, each a tiny but pivotal fragment of what makes this city the multifaceted wonderland that it is. For every edition of group hug, I'm choosing one block at random, one block in the sense of a section of one street between two others, one block where we can have a Block Party.

My first draw? Rombouts Avenue between Boston Road and Conner Street. I had mixed feelings upon drawing this block. It's about as far from my Brooklyn apartment as you can get – but at least it's near the subway. An appointment earlier in the day meant that I could get there by taking the 5 train from one end to the other, which I've always wanted to do on a non-shuttle train. It was a remarkably uneventful train ride (no panhandling, no musical performances, only one brief delay), but it was fun.

Today's block is entirely industrial. To get there from the Eastchester–Dyre Avenue, I walked down Light Street (which, it turns out, is also known as Jamaica Progressive League Way) and turned right on Rombouts, filled with two-story brick and clapboard houses. But once you cross Conner Street, nary a house can be seen. Did someone say zoning laws? (Yep. I said it. It was me. Our block is in a M1-1 district, designated for "light industrial" use, unlike the block to the north.)

It turns out that industrial blocks are possibly even more interesting than residential ones. Most residential blocks have no trucks containing foam insulators, but this industrial block had no fewer than five. Well, I can't tell you for sure what these trucks contained, but I have a pretty good guess.

Not having any writing on the cargo box, or any company name or address, is a bit of a bold move, but I must say that I find it appealing. I would order foam insulators from these people, whoever they are. Some of the trucks do have delightful vanity license plates, featuring the word "INSUL8" followed by a number.

Most residential blocks also don't have food trucks parked at the side of the road, but this one does, although it sadly wasn't open for business. Google Street View tells me that Chez Joly Fine Cuisine & Catering Service has been parked on this block for at least a year. I feel enlightened knowing about their award-winning food and Orlando area codes, but I'm left with several questions:

1. The side of the truck lists a "Tel." number, presumably short for telephone, as well as a "Chef." number. What is chef short for?
2. What does a food truck do on Snapchat?
3. Who is this man and what is going on in his brain?

As I kept walking, I came across some wonderful graffiti, like this:

and this:

I also came across a parking lot for buses:

After my visit, I cheated a little bit and went around the corner to get a better view of the buses:

I'm glad the buses have such a nice place to stay and get repairs, but bus provider NYCSBUS has abysmal reviews on Google, with lots of problematic bus drivers. New York, do better!

Near the bus parking lot I found a giant mountain of trash. This was a bit disheartening, but I realized that it was invited by the vanity license plate of the truck behind it:

A man with a brightly-colored shirt came out of the next building. "What is this building?" I asked him, assuming that it would otherwise remain a mystery forever. He told me that it was an annex for the nearby car dealership. It turned out that the building opened up about thirty feet later, allowing me to simply look inside and see that what looked like a normal brick building was actually a large garage, but it's always nice to make conversation.

Finally, I reached Boston Road – part of U.S. Route 1, which stretches more than 2,000 miles from Florida to Maine! – and, not wishing to spend too long thinking of that inferior city, turned back. Here are some other highlights from the block:

Ultimately, Rombouts Street gave me a delightful glimpse into the industrial area of Eastchester, a wholly new neighborhood for me, and I'm excited to see where the Moirai bring me next.

---