There’s an admission fee for most events at Gaelic Park on West 240th near Broadway, but I was able to sneak in for a couple of photos. Named in honor of Riverdale’s large Irish-American population, it has been home to soccer, softball and hurling for decades; my father attended matches here. It has been home to Manhattan College Jaspers soccer team since 1991, when the school purchased the grounds. There is a dance hall and cultural venue as well. In the 1970s Gaelic Park was a lively rock venue; the Grateful Dead, The Allman Brothers and Deep Purple have all appeared here.
“Because it’s in the Bronx – and in a way, its not in the Bronx – it creates a space where things can happen. I was also amazed that an immigrant culture involved so many performances in everyday life. I mean, yes it was just a pub, and a field, but it was also a theater pit, and an arena – it can become all of these things, depending on the need and the occasion. No other ethnicity in New York has a cultural space that is anything remotely like it.” Irish Echo (the link has been removed online)
Behind the field we see some traincars laid up in the 240th, or Van Cortlandt, NYC subway yard. The yard is celebrating its 114th anniversary along with the Broadway el, as operations began in 1906.
Check out the ForgottenBook, take a look at the gift shop, and as always, “comment…as you see fit.”
4/10/20