Pelham Bay, The Bronx : NYC Tourist Guide

Pelham Bay

Pelham Bay is a neighborhood in the borough of the Bronx, in New York City. It is named for Pelham Bay Park, New York City's largest park which lies on the neighborhood's northeastern border. Pelham Bay is part of Bronx Community Board 10, which also covers Throgs Neck and Co-op City. Pelham Bay, along with other areas of the East Bronx, is home to a large Italian-American population; at the same time, it is also quite diverse with people of many ethnicities calling the neighborhood home. The neighborhood contains a mix of apartment buildings, smaller retail stores, and one- and two-family homes.

Pelham Bay's boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise, are as follows:

Pelham Parkway (the road, not the neighborhood)
Pelham Bay Park
Eastchester Bay
Fairmount Avenue
Bruckner Expressway
East Tremont Avenue
Waters Place
Amtrak railroad tracks

Note that Pelham Bay includes the residential enclave of Country Club, which occupies the portion of the neighborhood east of I-95. The core of Pelham Bay is the portion west of I-95 and north of Middletown Road

Despite the name, the area covered by this neighborhood was never actually part of the historical Town of Pelham, which consisted of the modern-day town of Pelham in Westchester County as well as the entirety of Pelham Bay Park and City Island. The latter two areas were annexed by the City of New York in 1895. Similarly, the Bronx's Pelham Parkway was never part of Pelham either as it was named as such simply because it leads to Pelham Bay Park (and is actually a contraction of "Bronx and Pelham Parkway", with Bronx Park and Pelham Bay Park being the parks at each end of the parkway.) Most of the neighborhood consists of land purchased by Thomas Pell in 1654, part of an original grant to the Dutch West India Company.

A variety of stores and eateries line the streets of this neighborhood, including Westchester Avenue (which runs under the 6 train), Buhre Avenue, Middletown Road and Crosby Avenue (these two cross to form one the main intersections of the neighborhood). Pelham Bay Park is the last stop on the IRT Pelham Line (6 <6>), which in Manhattan comprises the Lexington Avenue Local of the New York City Subway system. The neighborhood has two other stops as well, the Buhre Avenue and Middletown Road stops on the Pelham Line. The IRT Pelham Line was immortalized in the movie, "The Taking of Pelham 123," starring Walter Matthau, which involved the hijacking of a subway train leaving Pelham Bay Station at the scheduled time of 1:23.

The neighborhood is home to the elementary schools Public School 71 (named the Rose E. Scala School to honor a former principal) and Public School 14, as well as to Herbert H. Lehman High School (right on the neighborhood's border). Several private and parochial schools also serve the neighborhood, including the Roman Catholic elementary schools associated with the churches of Our Lady of the Assumption and St. Theresa. The neighborhood is home to a number of active civic and community associations, including the Pelham Bay Little League.

Pelham Bay was the site of the December 2005 slaying of off-duty police officer, Daniel Enchautegui, by actor Lillo Brancato and an accomplice. The shooting took place on Arnow Place, a small street between Westchester Avenue and the New England Thruway (I-95). In 2006, the street was renamed Daniel Enchautegui Way, in honor of the fallen police officer.