Adventures of Urban Life

For my first attempt at becoming a flaneur I visited Bay Plaza shopping center located in my home borough of the Bronx. It’s a place that I have visited many times throughout my childhood, teenage years, and current “adulthood.” Often times I would go to Bay Plaza with my mother on weekends when we would have the time to take the two busses that it takes to get there. Usually the trips were out of necessity; food shopping, clothing shopping, etc. There are about 30 shops in the center, including about 10-15 big name brand stores such as JC Penny, Toys R Us, Old Navy, Staples, and Barnes & Noble. In addition to all the shopping areas Bay Plaza also has a movie theater and an Applebee’s, which appeals to the younger crowd of people. There have been countless times throughout my high school years that I have been invited to Bay Plaza to see a movie, not just because of its convenient location, but also because it is quite easy to see two movies for the price of one.
The day that I chose to observe Bay Plaza was a Sunday, which often proves to be busier than most of the other days since a lot of people have off on Sundays. Since the Plaza is outdoors, there is not really a centralized location that everyone has to pass through. You can actually go to one side of stores without even having to go near the other side of the plaza, which makes it easy for quick stops and purchases. On this day, the extremely large parking lot, located right in the center of the Plaza was almost completely full. Although there were a lot of cars, I noticed that many of the shoppers used local transportation to get to and from the shopping center.
The people that were shopping on this day were mostly of minority descent, predominantly African American or West Indian. I figured that this was because the shopping center is located right in the middle of a section of the Bronx called Co-op city. Co-op city made up of very tall Co-op houses in about 5 or more sections. Co-op city is also a predominantly black neighborhood. Most of the people I observed were traveling in groups with either their friends or families. The families that I saw usually had about one to two smaller children with them and maybe a teenager. However, most of the teenagers were in groups with each other, speaking loudly or laughing.
Bay Plaza is a place that I am familiar with, therefore I felt comfortable in the environment. I had basically grown up in this middle class area with my friends who were of the same “class” or situation as I was. It was interesting to see sit on the sidelines and peer into the lives of the people that I associate myself with on a daily basis.
Desireé B. Caro