Will City Island ever go back to its nautical roots? From clam exporters to fake fried seafood.
When you think of NYC… you think of Manhattan. The big skyscrapers, the busy streets, the city that never sleeps. You think of the yellow taxi cabs and the subway system. Well City Island is a little town hidden in one of the five boroughs of NYC. City Island looks like an old New England town. I even heard that they call City Island as “Hidden Gem of the Bronx”
City Island is a nautical themed town. To enter City Island, you must drive over a bridge and to the left and right you see water. The place is beautiful. The island is only a mile and a half. The community is small and very close together. It seems like everyone knows each other and the families have lived here for many generations.
There are two types of people, you can either be someone who was born and raised on City Island “mussel sucker” or someone who has moved to the island after birth called “clam digger”. The community is welcoming however I felt as an outsider. While everyone was welcoming, I could feel that I was an outsider. The residents were making plans of a local block beach party.
The one complain the islanders have is the summer traffic. Since the island has only one lane in and one lane out, the summer traffic is horrendous. Why the summer traffic…well City Island is filled with seafood restaurants all on the main ave from the very beginning to the very end. In the summer, it feels as if the entire NYC is trying to drive over this tiny bride and cram their cars on this tiny mile and a half long island. The residents complain that it can take over an hour to get over the tiny bridge and then get stuck on multiple street lights until they finally reach their house.
Regarding healthy lifestyle.. well the only thing I can see is the nautical themed environment. The residents are either members of a yacht club, kayak club or participate in their block beach activities. Otherwise its fried seafood.
I am trying to find out what the residents are doing regarding this awful traffic. Will they try to abolish and ban these restaurants from ruining the community and go back to its nautical roots or accept the commercialization.