Author takes public Back in the Bronx
Stephen Samtur loves the Bronx. Since 1992, he has edited and published the quarterly magazine Back in the Bronx about his boyhood home.
Readers from all over the country send him stories about their personal history with the New York borough, home of Yankee Stadium and Alexander’s department store. “The magazine celebrates the experience of growing up and living in the Bronx in the decades of the ’40s, ’50s, and ’60s,” he said via email.
Samtur, 74, began traveling with a slide show about the Bronx four years ago, speaking at Jewish centers around the country.
He’ll be stopping by Central Florida to deliver his 90-minute presentation, which includes more than 450 photos, vintage videos and celebrity interviews with the likes of such famous Bronx natives as actor Chazz Palminteri, talkshow host Regis Philbin and comedian Robert Klein. (2 p.m. today, Chabad of South Orlando, 7347 W. Sand Lake Road, and 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Chabad of The Villages, 13030 County Road 103, Oxford, $15 per person, $25 per couple, 800-727-6695, backinthebronx.com).
We spoke with Samtur, now a Scarsdale, N.Y., resident, about his presentation and what makes the Bronx such a unique place. Questions and answers have been edited for length and content.
Question: What inspired you to create Back in the Bronx?
Answer: My wife, Susan Samtur, is the Original Coupon Queen. … She started publishing [a] magazine in 1973 and continued publishing for 40 years! I said, ‘If she can publish a magazine, so can I!’
Q: What is special about the Bronx, particularly to Jewish communities?
A: You don’t really have to be Jewish to enjoy the magazine, but in the 1950s, of the 1.5 million residents of the borough, 600,000 were actually Jewish. However, the Bronx does not have one Jewish cemetery. Ethnically during the ’40s-’60s, the Bronx had mostly Irish, Italian and Jews.
Q: What are the biggest changes that the Bronx has undergone?
A: The Bronx has turned the corner from the ‘Bronx Is Burning’ decade of the ’80s. The Bronx is expected to exceed $2 billion in construction starts for the third straight year.
Q: You’ve spoken with a lot of celebrities from your town. What is it about the Bronx that has made them who they are?
A: Everyone living in neighborhoods basically appreciated one another because they were like family. No entitlements, no pretentiousness. They had friendships that involved sports, school, religion and family. Everyone looked out for one another.
Q: What should people know about the Bronx?
A: Of the five boroughs, the Bronx is the only borough that has the majority of its area on the U.S. mainland. It has one of the best zoos in the U.S. Within blocks of the Bronx Zoo is the New York Botanical Gardens and a National Historic Landmark containing 250 acres, a verdant landscape which supports more than 1 million living plants in extensive collections.