A stretch of Bainbridge Avenue, a quiet residential street of quaint single-family homes and small apartment buildings just north of the bustling commerce and commotion of Fordham Road, has become a haven for squatters and late-night parties and a nightmare for local residents.

For the past year, people on the block say they have been tormented by two residences where rowdy, uncouth and illegal activity rages from the early afternoon into the wee hours of the morning. Weekends are worse than weekdays, but not by much.

Several residents have begun to make noise at community meetings after making literally hundreds of calls to police and 311 since the beginning of last summer for everything from an illegal conversion of a garage to prostitution and open drug use.

All of those interviewed for this article requested anonymity because they feared retaliation from the offending parties.

"It’s a truly terrible situation and a nightmare for everyone on the block," said one local resident who has lived in the area for several years. "Most of us are hard-working people. We have to work in the morning and they’re still out there partying and carrying on. We can’t sleep, it’s so bad. It’s not fair that we should have to live like this."

Another local homeowner with a big yard, a rarity in New York City, said he can’t even let his children take advantage of their space and play outside because of what they might be subjected to in terms of drugs or violence.

Lt. Steve Phalen, director of special operations at the 52nd Precinct, just a few months on the job here in the northwest Bronx, acknowledged the "numerous" calls his station has received about problems in the area.

One major obstacle in the way of police putting an end to the behavior, Phalen says, is location.

Residents say a squatter house overrun by junkies at 2583 Bainbridge is annoying, but the more unruly and explosive situation stems from the back of 2584 Briggs Ave., which is only accessible by cars and pedestrians via Poe Place, a dead-end alleyway that is not part of regular police patrols. Poe Place bisects Bainbridge and Briggs avenues and can only be accessed by Bainbridge Avenue.

Residents of both Bainbridge and Briggs say the traffic on Poe Place, pedestrian and vehicular, is relentless day and night. Combined with blaring reggae and rap music and the constant stench of people smoking marijuana, residents say they are convinced the place doubles as both a club and drug depot.

Phalen says they’ve made a handful of drug arrests in the area, but nothing concrete enough that could be used as evidence to gain a search warrant for the house. Patrolling the dead-end alley is also difficult, he says.

Though, fortunately, there have been no reports of gunfire, residents say the occasional fight breaks out and bottles are thrown. Still, residents live in fear that the violence might escalate and an innocent bystander, maybe a child playing in the yard or somebody asleep in their bed, might take a stray bullet.

"We’re just waiting for something bad to happen," said one woman who lives near the house. "My husband says, ‘That’s the problem with this city: Everyone waits for something terrible to happen and then they start to pay attention.’ After the fact. That’s how this city operates."

Phalen says he’s trying to "clean up" the situation, literally. He says the precinct is quick to respond to all calls from the area and will arrest anyone caught doing illegal activity. He’s also working with the Buildings Department to see if the city can close the house for violating regulations. In the meantime, he says he’s organizing a "community clean-up" for Poe Place that would involve off-duty officers and the Little Explorers, the NYPD youth program.

"If the place is cleaned up and if we start ticketing their cars, it won’t be so easy for them to do what they’re doing," Phalen says.

The house on Briggs and a handful of others on the block are owned by a Jamaican man named Herbert Spencer. Residents say most of the partygoers are also of Jamaican descent and that Spencer condones the activity going on.

On a recent sunny Friday afternoon, there were about 15 people hanging outside on Poe Place playing Dominoes loudly and smoking marijuana. People were coming in and out of the house like it was a convenience store.  

On June 25, complaints were filed with the Buildings Department saying that 2584 Briggs is "being used as an illegal club." But according to public records, inspectors have not come by.

Phalen has assured residents that, if given time, he’ll have the place cleaned up. But while residents say Phalen has been responsive, they are growing increasingly frustrated and sleep-deprived.

Just last week, on July 6, residents scored a small victory when bulldozers came and destroyed the squatter house on Bainbridge.

Before the house was cleared, a homeless man named Greg, who lived in the house with several others, said he already had a plan for his next residence. "I’ll just move on to the next abanda-minium."

Sure enough, residents say Greg and his crew have moved to an abandoned house on Briggs that they access via a vacant parking lot, just half a block from the raucous party house.  

Jessica Glazer contributed to this story.