This is the sign that welcomes everybody to Hartsdale as they drive up West Hartsdale Avenue into Hartsdale. It's one of my favorite parts of the village, because it reflects what Hartsdale used to be.
"Hartsdale- The Community That Service Built" says a lot. Hartsdale used to be a working class town, with affordable houses for the people who worked in the factories in Yonkers and Hastings and other service industries in the area.
Hartsdale used to have it's own school system. It used to be a lot more down to earth, even when I was a kid. This sign is still a memento of times past, and I'm suprised (and happy) that it still stands today.
Hartsdale nowadays is a lot more bland. A lot of repetitve chain stores, a large commuter railroad station, and Greenburgh schools have all transformed this former community into just another suburban town. There's not much Hartsdale spirit left, and most of the figures that made Hartsdale what it was have moved on or died. For instance, the closing of the office supply store recently in the village section of Hartsdale was another death in the heritage of Hartsdale. This, undoubtedly, will become something boring, like the tanning salon that opened in another vacant storefront on the avenue, or something upscale or something you wouldn't use everyday.
Thankfully, we have Big Top still left.
"Hartsdale-The Community That Service Built". And now what? No more pride or buidling. Now just another bland section of the Town Of Greenburgh that people just live in or past through.....I miss the Hartsdale community that I remember was still there when I was a kid.
