A resurgence in symbol only; the Bronx died in the mid-60s.
In the late 60s and early 70s I drove ambulances around the area from northern Westchester down to north Jersey and across from the Connecticut shore to the Poconos, mostly in Westchester and down into the Bronx. At the time a big section of the Bronx was known as "Fort Apache." The name fit.
I was covering for a friend on an ambulance based out of Yonkers and we took a call for a pick up at a brownstone in the Bronx. We got to the address, parked the rig (a modular on a truck chassis) in front of the building and started to get our stuff out of the back. There was this loud crash and we looked around to see the cab of the truck crushed under a huge cast iron sink. The call was a fake and some folks had hauled this thing that weighed several hundred pounds up on the roof and, when we got there, they'd thrown it off. I don't know if they intended to let us get out of the cab before they threw it or not.
That's the only ambulance company I ever rode for that kept a shotgun under the drivers seat of the rig.
I moved away from there in the late 70s, but was back in the area (central New Jersey) for three years in the late 80s. I never went into the Bronx for any reason while we were there that time, but I was under the impression that it had "gentrified" and come back some. Is that not the case?
The things I miss from NY are the restaurants, particularly the good Italian ones, the little markets scattered around, including the easy access to all sorts of great ethnic stuff, the festivals, particularly San Genero, and just the general access to more variety of everything. Memphis has NY knocked for barbecue, the ease of getting around (if you have a car) and as a much safer place to raise my kids.
It's a mixed bag.