OUR COMMUNITY
THE BRONX
The Albert Einstein College of Medicine is located in a quiet residential area of the northeast Bronx surrounded by private, attractive middle-class homes and apartment buildings that comprise the neighborhoods known as Morris Park, Eastchester and PelhamParkway.
Within a 15-minute drive of the medical school is the world-renowned Wildlife Conservation Park (better known as the Bronx Zoo) and the exquisite and serene New York Botanical Garden and its magnificient Haupt Conservatory. Also
nearby is the fishing community of
City Island, replete with picturesque marinas
and such a broad selection of seafood restaurants, it might take
all four years of medical school to sample them.
On the way to City Island stop off at Orchard Beach, where more than a mile of white sand meets the shoreline of beautiful Long Island Sound, gateway to the Atlantic Ocean. With lifeguards on duty, you can enjoy swimming and body surfing. Neighboring the beach is sprawling Pelham Bay Park, one of the area’s premier spots for running, hiking, swimming, horseback riding, golfing, bicycling and bird watching. You can also step back in time to the 1700s with a visit to the Bartow-Pell Mansion, located within the Pelham Bay Park system, located along the Shore Road. You can also enjoy hiking along trails on the property.
Offering panoramic views of the Palisades along the Hudson River is Wave Hill, a 28-acre public garden and culture center located in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. Also in Riverdale is the Uptown Coffeehouse, a folk music venue at the Riverdale - Yonkers society for Ethical Culture, where you can see the likes of Ellis Paul and David Massengill.
For other affordable, first-rate entertainment, be sure to check out the offerings at Lehman College's Lehman Center for Performing Arts and Lovenger Theatre. Performances have included Ladysmith Black mambazo, Brian McKnight, Gladys Knight and Natalie Cole, among others.
The Bronx Museum of the Arts, or BXMA, is located on the famous Grand Concourse, and is the only fine arts museum in the Bronx. The museum's focus is on contemporary art by artists of African, Asian and Latin American descent, and also includes works by artists who live/have lived and/or work/have worked in the Bronx, and for whom the Bronx has been critical to their artistic development.
The Bronx is also the locale of historic Yankee Stadium (and the soon-to-be new Yankee stadium), home to the Bronx Bombers, champions of 26 World Series. 
While we are on the subject of sports, New York has more major league teams than any other community in the country. The Mets play baseball across the river at Shea Stadium in Queens, and the NBA Knicks and NHL Rangers can be found in Manhattan at Madison Square Garden (aka "the Garden"). For tennis fans, the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament is played each year at the National Tennis Center, also in Queens. And, just short ride over the border into New Jersey will bring you to the Meadowlands Sports Complex, home to the Giants and Jets football teams, and the NBA Nets and the NHL Devils.
Of course, there is more to Manhattan than "the Garden".Mahattan's unrivalled array of theaters,
museums, art galleries, concert halls and restaurants offer boundless choices to keep you entertained when you're able to take a break from your studies. Broadway, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, MOMA, The American Museum of Natural History, the new Hayden Planetarium, Greenwich Village, Times Square, Soho, Noho, Chinatown, Little Italy, The Empire State Building
- are just some of the many venues from which to choose. And when it comes to dining, Manhattan's restaurants offer foods from around the globe - all a short 30-45 minute ride away by car, express bus or mass transit.
You can receive a discount at many of the Bronx venues with a Bronx Cultural Card, available to students in Dr. Lazar’s office. For more information about the card, which is provided via the Bronx Council on the Arts, visit http://www.bronxarts.org/cultural_card.asp. You can also take in many of the venues offered through the card by boarding the First Wednesdays Bronx Cultural Trolley. See the web site for further information.
Neighboring the Bronx to the north is Westchester County, with the nearest town of Pelham just six miles from the Einstein campus. By car, Pelham is less than a fifteen-minute drive away, offering a variety of restaurants along Fifth Avenue and Wolfs Lane. It is also home to the Picture House Regional Film Center, where first-run, foreign, and independent films are screened at a discounted rate. Plans are underway to renovate the Picture House into a multi-screen venue that also offers courses and special events similar to the offerings of the Jacob Burns Film Center, in Pleasantville, 40 minutes away in northern Westchester County.
Many towns in Westchester – among them Bronxville, Greenburgh, Larchmont, Mamaroneck, New Rochelle, Port Chester, White Plains and Yonkers – have multi-screen cinemas offering first- and second-run films. New Roc City in New Rochelle combines 18 screens (including IMAX) with restaurants, an arcade including both games and amusements, a billiards hall, go carting, and glow-in-the-dark mini-golf and bowling.
During summer months, Rye Playland is less than an hour away and is among the longest running amusement parks in the area. Roller coasters, a fun house, and a log flume ride are among the amusements. Plus, there is a beach adjacent to the park for swimming and picnicking, as well as an indoor ice skating rink, mini-golf, and boat rentals (on the Long Island Sound). Most evenings, free entertainment also is provided.
The County has numerous venues for theatrical and musical entertainment. These include the Emelin Theatre, in Mamaroneck, and the Performing Arts Center at SUNY Purchase (home to the Westchester Philharmonic). Additional venues can be found under “Arts & Entertainment” in the Westchester.com web site. Also not to be missed during the summer months are the plein aire offerings of Shakespeare at various sites throughout Westchester and in neighboring Dutchess County (Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival) and Fairfield County (Shakespeare on the Sound).
If getting out in nature is your preference, Westchester has nearly 50 parks and recreation areas that allow you to enjoy the great outdoors. Visit the Westchester Parks web site for further information.
And if satisfying your taste buds is what interests you most, but you’d rather not head into Manhattan, Westchester has lots to offer to meet your gustatory needs. Check out "Restaurants” under Westchester.com, or simply “google” the type of restaurant you’re seeking to find.
Morris Park
The Morris Park section of the Bronx that the Albert Einstein College of Medicine calls “home” is a residential, working class neighborhood, located centrally within the borough. 
It is also the site of Einstein’s neighbor and hospital affiliate Jacobi Medical Center, and is best known for its pizza. Made up of small one- to two-family homes, Morris Park is a tight-knit community comprised predominantly of individuals with Italian-American heritage, with smaller Albanian, Irish, and Hispanic populations contributing to its cultural diversity. Most of the homes were built between the 1920s and the 1970s.
There are some who say that Morris Park is named after Henry Lewis Morris (d. 1915), who was a prominent landowner in the area, and among the last property owners of the Morris family hailing from Morrisania. Mr. Morris also was a direct descendant of Lewis Morris, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and he was the founder of one of America’s oldest and most prominent law firms, Morris & McVeigh, established in 1868. There are others who attribute the “Morris” in Morris Park to John A. Morris, whose Westchester Racing Association acquired 152 acres on the outskirts of the old Bear Swamp, in 1888, and built a huge racetrack and clubhouse there. The track was in operation from 1890 to 1904, and burned to the ground in 1910.
The Neighborhood
Morris Park’s boundaries are Pelham Parkway to the north, the Amtrak railroad tracks to the east and south, and the Bronx River Parkway to the west. The neighborhood is served by the Morris Park station on the IRT Dyre Avenue Line (5) and the Bx8 and Bx21 local bus lines, as well as the BxM10 Express Bus to Manhattan. The IRT station, which is at 180th Street, was constructed in the style of a grand Italian villa in 1912 and has landmark status.
Some popular Morris Park dining spots include: Ann Clair’s Salumeria, Coals, Frankie and Johnnie’s Pine Restaurant, Historic Conti’s Pastry Shop, Mamma Maria Ristorante, Enzo’s Restaurant, Emilio’s Pizza, Captain's Pizza, Patricia's Pizza and Pasta Restaurant, La Casa del Caffe, G&R Italian Deli, and Enrico’s Pastry Shop. Other local favorites include Kiraku Sushi, Luciano's Pizza, Scaglione Bakery, Frankie & Johnnie’s Too (colloquially referred to as Pine II), Hawaii Sea, and Morris Park Bake Shop.
Notable neighborhood locales also include: Matthews/Muliner Park, Loretto Park, Van Nest Lanes, Starbuck’s Coffee, and P.S. 108, which has been rated as one of the top schools in the Bronx for its academic achievement and performance.
Italian-American Background
As an Italian-American neighborhood, the residents maintain close ties to their heritage, as evidenced by the more than 30,000 proud Italians who flocked to the neighborhood for an all-day party following Italy’s 2006World Cup victory. Since then, Morris Park has gained a rival reputation with Arthur Avenue as the Bronx’s true Italian-American neighborhood. The Bronx Columbus Day Parade is held in Morris Park, an event attended by both former Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Mayor Michael Bloomberg in recent years. While the neighborhood has seen an influx of Albanian and Hispanic newcomers in recent years, Italians still comprise approximately 60% of the neighborhood’s population.
Morris Park Fame
Morris Park can be seen in the 1999 Spike Lee film “Summer of Sam” and in the 1980 Martin Scorsese classic “Raging Bull.” Award-winning author Mary Higgins Clark and TV personality Regis Philbin were born and raised in Morris Park; a section of the street where Philbin was raised (Cruger Avenue) was named for him in 1992. For additional information about Morris Park, click here.
Have a good time.
