WELCOME TO SOBRO. A New York cab driver told me a number of years ago that a lot of international fares that he picked up at Kennedy asked to see Harlem even before they went to their hotel. He said that they were usually disappointed, and so he had some parts of the South Bronx he would show them that would meet their expectations. This weekend’s Financial Times has a regular section devoted to real estate for the very very rich or the very very trendy. There is a regular feature in the section on “Up and Coming” neighborhoods in world class cities. This weekend’s article celebrates the South Bronx, which now has a name like SoHo and TriBeCa: “It is called SoBro—short for South Bronx—by those in the know.”
Ah, New York. Phil’s parents tried to be so polite about where we lived, on then-ungentrified W. 14th St. But, at one point, we found ourselves driving with her through Harlem, through a mis-turn, she looked around and said happily, “Are we back in Greenwich Village?”