East 149th Street, west from Bergen Avenue, as seen across the trestle of the Third Avenue Elevated Line. In the right back is visible the Immaculate Conception Church at the northwest corner of Melrose Avenue and East 150th Street, 1926.

Bronx Theatre, 1909. Opened in 1909 the Bronx Theatre was not only a live performance venue. The wide corner building included the auditorium, two large storefronts on Melrose, a large assembly hall, and office spaces on the third floor. Designed by W.F. McElfatrick, the theatre presented a classic but restrained facade, while the interiors were elaborately paneled and highly decorated with ornamental plaster, murals, and imitation marble. The technology installed was said to be "especially adapted to the needs of modern vaudeville." When opened it was lauded for its excellent sight lines; supposedly any seat in the house provided a complete view of the stage. The theatre was sold to the RKO circuit in 1912, became the Miner’s in the Bronx Theatre in 1917, and finally closed in 1947 under the name the Central Theatre. Today the Cookies children's clothing store that occupies this corner looks to have the same shape as the theatre and likely includes the the original exterior walls, with the windows either filled in or covered over.

Late night fire at the Brook Avenue facility of Morris & Co., a "meat concern," April 13, 1933. Around 10pm, a fire broke out in rail a tunnel beneath the Morris & Co. building, a cold storage facility for meat products. The tunnel, which led to the New York & Harlem Railroad freight yards then on located on the east side of Brook Avenue, "creating a draught, spread the flames through the building quickly." With the fire partially suppressed, some FDNY resources were redirected to another active blaze, some four blocks south at 506 Brook Avenue.

"370 and 376 E. 154th Street, south side, between Courtlandt and Melrose Avenues. No 370 is the 2 story frame house set back from the sidewalk. No. 376 is the 1 story Miller's Machine Shop building."

My Archive Summer 2019