Woodlawn

By Patrick Verel | Special to amNewYork

February 8, 2007

When Robert Moses started laying down mile upon mile of road in New York in the 1940s, he carved up many a poor neighborhood in the Bronx.

As a result of his extending the Bronx River Parkway southward, Woodlawn was completely cut off from the rest of the city--it already abutted Woodlawn Cemetery on one side and Van Cortlandt Park and Yonkers on the others.

Woodlawn has all the trappings of a suburban village. People actually greet each other on the sidewalks, and in a city constantly referred to as a melting pot, it has held onto a distinctly Irish identity.

"It's a very small community, and from the 1920s on, places have been passed on from generation to generation," said Jane Mosello, who's lived in the area since 1958 and now sells real estate from her office in Yonkers. "Everyone more or less knows each other and watches out for everyone."

Unlike Riverdale, which is across the park, or Wakefield, across the Bronx River, Woodlawn doesn't have easy access to a subway. And even though the two commercial streets have a plethora of the banks, dry cleaners and Irish specialty stores, major shopping is typically done at the Cross County Shopping Center in Yonkers.

What Woodlawn lacks in accessibility, it makes up for in authenticity. Nearly 20 Irish pubs are clustered around Katonah and McLean avenues, and the distinct brogue of first-generation Emerald Isle natives can be heard on the street corners and shops.

Find it
Westchester County (McLean Avenue) to the north, the Bronx River Parkway to the east, Woodlawn Cemetery to the south and Van Cortlandt Park to the west.

The Buzz
The Irish are leaving, the Irish are leaving! That's the alarm being sounded in Woodlawn. With Ireland's economy on the rebound and post-9/11 immigration restrictions making it harder to, say, get a driver's license, residents fear the spigot that once brought immigrants has been slowed to a trickle. Combine that with younger folks being lured back by high-tech jobs, and the neighborhood may be losing its ethnic identity.

"Anecdotally, we do hear this, but it's very hard to quantify," said Siobhan Dennehy, executive director of the Emerald Isle Immigration Center, which has offices in Woodlawn and Woodside, Queens.

She noted that the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform is planning a rally in Washington next month to press Congress and President Bush to overhaul immigration laws to allow easier movement between the two countries.

"We're hoping the community will be able to rejuvenate itself with some positive immigration reform," she said.

Q&A
Orla Kelleher, a native of County Kerry in Ireland, has been the executive director of the Aisling Irish Community Center on McLean Avenue for the past year, and has called Woodlawn home for 2 1/2 years.

What drew you to Woodlawn?
I'd been coming here to work since I was a student, and then I came back every year on vacation for about 10 years, to New York and other states. It was only when I came to Woodlawn to visit some friends that I could see myself living in New York.

What do you like best about it?
It's a home away from home, but at the same time we're only a 25-minute ride on the train from New York City, where you can do the New York City thing. There's a great community spirit here.

What would you change if you could?