Hispanic Population Surges on E.
204th Street By HANNAN ADELY
"There were 10 or 12 bars right along here," said Mike, a patron at McMahon's Bar, one of the few remaining Irish neighborhood institutions. "The one up the corner is gone, the one across the street is gone. The Green Isle [on Bainbridge Avenue] just closed." Mike says his favorite spot, Molly's, a bar-restaurant that thrived at the corner of Webster, is long gone and that McMahon's has become his regular spot. Mike is one of a handful of Irish old-timers who can still be found enjoying an ale or Guinness at the local bars. The strip of stores and nightlife on 204th used to rival Woodlawn's McLean Avenue, which is today known for its bustling Irish activity, and would attract the Irish from all over the New York area. But over the past 10 years, the bars and bakeries of the busy street gave way to a new cultural flavor and a new population. Visitors to 204th Street now find a cluster of joints for rice and beans and for Latino music. Since 1990, when the last Census took place, the population of Hispanics rose throughout the Bronx, and throughout Norwood. But few places felt the increase as sharply as the blocks on 204th between Webster and Hull avenues. Standing as its own Census tract , #425, this area's Hispanic population jumped 164 percent since 1990. Altogether, the area saw a rise from 1,406 Hispanic residents to a total of 3,716. Hispanics now make up 57 percent of that area. Meanwhile, the area's non-Hispanic white population dropped 60 percent from 3,152 residents in 1990 to 1,301 today. Now, whites account for just 20 percent of the area's 6,530 residents. Most of the non-Hispanic white population was either Irish or of Irish ancestry. "I've been here 20 years," says Neftali Guadalupe, a Hispanic resident, as he relaxes during midday at Mariano's Pizzeria at 347 E. 204th St. "I've seen the transformation from Irish to the mix we have now. I was the fifth Hispanic person in my building [on Decatur Avenue] when I first moved here 20 years ago. Now, there's a lot of Mexicans, Pakistanis, Puerto Ricans and Dominicans." Mariano's Pizzeria is a more subtle sign of the neighborhood's transformation. On the outside, it looks like a typical pizza place; on the inside, glass windows stock pastelitas (fried dough filled with meat or cheese), chicharon de pollo (fried chicken rinds), and other typical Latino foods. Olga Pichalgo, who works at the store, is one of Norwood's more recent Latina immigrants, having moved here from the Dominican Republic one year ago. At the eastern end of the street, where 204th meets Webster Avenue, La Nueva Estrella also offers popular Hispanic foods, and features live romantic Spanish music at its piano bar on weekends. One block up, at California Market, Latino shoppers can pick up spices and chiles popular in Central America and the Caribbean. Market aisles are also flooded with Latino peculiarities like guayaba, aguacate leaves and pickled pork rinds. At the north end of the tract, at 204th and Perry Avenue, sits Cholula Records, a Mexican-owned music store that specializes in Latino music and home-style Mexican sounds. The popular music store recently expanded into a bigger location. Another sign of the times is the growth in Latino-owned businesses.
Some "My customers tell me this used to be a bar 10 years ago," said Edgar Collazo, who works at A Touch of Ink. "Even the dental office across the street was a bar." Neighbors speak of the area's Irish history in sort of legendary terms, but everyone also seems to agree that the neighborhood's changes came gradually. "It was little by little," Mike said. "You see one bar gone one day, another gone another day. Then one day you say, 'where did they all go?'" There's also a local consensus that the transformation isn't over just yet. Collazo and colleague James Morales are living proof of that, since they just moved into the neighborhood last year.
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What a difference 10 years
can make. Shoppers and neighbors along 204th Street recall a time when
their street was packed with Irish eateries, bars and bakeries. It was a
time when you couldn't walk too far without hearing a brogue, the accent
characteristic of the Irish.
examples are Prestige Car Service, Clean Jeans Dry Cleaners, and a
handful of bodegas, all occupying the same few blocks. A Touch of Ink, a
tattoo parlor and body-piercing store at 366 E. 204th St., is a Puerto
Rican-owned business that opened a year and half ago.