The Bronx
Home of Little Italy, birthplace of the Yankees, and proud connective tissue actually linking New York City to the UCAS mainland. (All the other boroughs being islands makes this place a major thoroughfare.) Back in the day, this place used to be the toughest, meanest, dirtiest place to be in all of NYC. The mafioso ran every street, and the only elite for miles were the ones steeped in crime and a willingness to look the other way. That was then. These days the main strips running through The Bronx are lined in art deco apartments, and where antiques like that rest plenty of wealthy people are looking to buy things up and scrub them clean. A lot of The Bronx is now getting the Manhattan treatment- getting "bought" (stolen), washed off, and sold back to the people at a mark up no one but the rich and especially old fashioned can afford. A few neighborhoods and grimy corners are still holding out, but after the AA complexes of Villiers Arcology luxury condos went up in Baychester, the fight has turned to a losing one. Still, the war of attrition wages on.
Despite the battles on every other street between the classes, The Bronx mostly remains what it's always been- goddamn beautiful. Each borough has its "thing", and while you can find great views in any of them, the ones in The Bronx are famous for being particularly enrapturing. The place is drenched in culture, and not just the post-magic metahuman kind. Even shit from before the matrix still survives here, in various states of upkeep. The more polished and restored bits obviously sway more towards the high security AA neighborhoods, but if you want the closest thing to a real old world experience as possible without VR, you go to The Bronx, and you make the right friends. They'll show you something beyond just antiques. They'll show you a world most people have thought was forgotten.
Unfortunately, everything has a trade off. The hidden beaches, luxury parks, and deep rooted culture is still surviving largely because it's such a pain in the dick to get to The Bronx. The subway lines and underground rails mostly serve to get people into Manhattan, rather than take them back. Most of the transport works in service of the elite and the wageslaves, shuttling them efficiently to their corp jobs in the The City. To actually get out to The Bronx, you have to take the Cross-Bronx Expressway. Built forever and a day ago, it's been redone a dozen times over by the city and corps both to "maintain its rich history and signature authentic culture". What they forget to mention is that the expressway fucked The Bronx over back when it was put in, and it's still not helping despite the renovations. The borough survived its installation, but now the war against the encroaching gentrification from the upper class is bringing them right back to the brink of survival. Jokes on them, though. It wouldn't be The Bronx if they didn't have something they were fighting against.
Despite the battles on every other street between the classes, The Bronx mostly remains what it's always been- goddamn beautiful. Each borough has its "thing", and while you can find great views in any of them, the ones in The Bronx are famous for being particularly enrapturing. The place is drenched in culture, and not just the post-magic metahuman kind. Even shit from before the matrix still survives here, in various states of upkeep. The more polished and restored bits obviously sway more towards the high security AA neighborhoods, but if you want the closest thing to a real old world experience as possible without VR, you go to The Bronx, and you make the right friends. They'll show you something beyond just antiques. They'll show you a world most people have thought was forgotten.
Unfortunately, everything has a trade off. The hidden beaches, luxury parks, and deep rooted culture is still surviving largely because it's such a pain in the dick to get to The Bronx. The subway lines and underground rails mostly serve to get people into Manhattan, rather than take them back. Most of the transport works in service of the elite and the wageslaves, shuttling them efficiently to their corp jobs in the The City. To actually get out to The Bronx, you have to take the Cross-Bronx Expressway. Built forever and a day ago, it's been redone a dozen times over by the city and corps both to "maintain its rich history and signature authentic culture". What they forget to mention is that the expressway fucked The Bronx over back when it was put in, and it's still not helping despite the renovations. The borough survived its installation, but now the war against the encroaching gentrification from the upper class is bringing them right back to the brink of survival. Jokes on them, though. It wouldn't be The Bronx if they didn't have something they were fighting against.
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