LONGWOOD, BRONX

'Longwood' is a subsection of the Hunts Point section of the Bronx, New York. It is the area of Hunts Point northwest of the Bruckner Expressway. Considered to be one of the neighborhoods constituting the notorious South Bronx, Hunts Point has some of New York City's highest crime rates. This area was once known as Fort Apache, but gained infamy in the 1981 film, ''Fort Apache, The Bronx''. It is bordered by 163rd Street to its north, the Bruckner Expressway to its east, 149th Street to its south, and Prospect Avenue to its west.
In the 1980s, an empty lot of land along Kelly St and Intervale Avenue became Bill Rainey Park.
There is a mixed population of Puerto Ricans, Central Americans, and West Indians.
Several crimes struck chords in this community. On February 14, 1993, someone shot several people in the "St. Valentine's Day Massacre." In the spring of 2007, a police officer shot Fermin Arzu on Hewitt Place and Westchester Avenue in Longwood. During the mid-1990s, local and federal governments invested over $550 million in new private residential housing & the expansion of businesses and commerce. With the building of the new South Bronx headquarters of P.A.L.; the new 41st PCT of the NYPD; the Banana Kelly High School; and several small and large businesses (such as Walgreens & McDonald's), the area is now considered "working" or "middle class". Thanks in part to the new 41st PCT on Longwood Ave and Southern Blvd and public and private investment in the community, crime has dropped to a fraction of its 1970's cinematographic & demographic reputations.
Colin Powell grew up on Kelly Street in the Longwood section of Hunts Point.