Hamill on Little Italy

It's not every day that you meet one of those legendary New York writers. Lucky for me, one of the city's true veteran newspaperman, Pete Hamill, came to my journalism class to discuss "Downtown," his beautiful non-fiction retelling of Lower Manhattan's history.

As he got to chat about the city's various neighborhoods, I finally (albeit nervously) got to ask him his thoughts on the great exodus of Italians out of Little Italy.

There is a very good reason why Little Italy isn't what it used to be and that's upward mobility, Hamill said. Although the Italians and Irish dominated the city landscape at the turn of the 20th century, subsequent generations became better educated and started to move out of the city for life in the suburbs.

Now, other immigrant groups will fill the void in the city until they experience their own upward mobility. Hamill also said he saw no end in sight for sprawling Chinatown to slow down.

Neighborhood Update

What's new around Nolita:

Fire on Elizabeth
While Public may be one of New York's hottest restaurants, on Monday the restaurant had to cede the title of hottest spot on the block to an apartment building that caught on fire.

A fire tore through the six-story walk up, located on 196 Elizabeth Street, sending two to the hospital, according to the New York Daily News.

On Tuesday, charred evidence remained piled on the street just outside the building. John Playford, a manager at Public, said that he was there just as dinner service starting up when firefighters arrived on the scene at about 6:30 p.m.

"The flames were huge," he said, adding that the largest came from the top floor of the building.


Watch out below

Delicatessen, which opened its doors in July, has been the source of several neighborhood conflicts in recent weeks. The eatery, which features wrap around glass window walls and a signature transparent ceiling, also stays open late into the night with a mix of trance music. Dozens of neighbors have filed complaints, but in recent weeks, one man has taken his frustration to another level according to one hostess.

The man, probably in his late forties, has taken to exposing his naked body and, more recently, relieving himself on the roof, according to Nicole McDonnell, a hostess at the restaurant.

"It's disgusting," she said. "He may not like our music, but this is just uncalled for." Although the incident only happened once last week, the police have been contacted, McDonnell said.

Street Vendor Project

The summer before he started law school, Sean Basinski did what any sensible man who just quit his Wall Street job would do; He opened up a street cart and sold burritos on Manhattan's Park Avenue.

For Basinski, 36, it would be the start of a career made on the street, helping his fellow vendors. After graduating from Georgetown Law School, he founded the Street Vendor Project, an organization aimed to serve New York City's 10,000 street vendors.

Street vendors are a vital part of the city, said Basinski, who still serves as the organization's director.

"Vendors are good for the city," he said. "They liven up our sidewalks. That's where we live our lives."

According to Basinski, there are four distinct types of street vendors--food, merchandise, art, and unlicensed.

A number of challenges face street vendors throughout the city, including the difficulty in getting a permit. At one time, Basinski said there were more than 25,000 food vendors in New York. Now, the city has capped the number of licenses for push carts at 3,000.

The limited number of permits has created a black market, where vendors resell their $200 two-year licenses for upwards of $8,000.

Trying to be a licensed merchandise vendor is even more difficult, he said. The number of permits was capped at 853, and the wait list to get a permit has closed for 16 years.

Vendors who do not have permits are subject to fines and tickets from the New York Police Department, something that Basinski takes issue with.

“It’s a waste of police resources on people who just want to work,” he said.

Besides increasing the total number of permits, there are other ways to improve conditions for street vendors, Basinski said. Many neighborhoods also limit the streets where vendors can sell, putting some high traffic areas off limit.

As Basinski and his group members hit the street to talk with street vendors, they are seeking to make street vendors better aware of their rights.

In order to raise money and awareness, each year Street Vendor Project hosts the annual Vendy Awards, a gala event featuring the best in street cuisine. Patrons buy tax-deductible tickets to have food from five of the city’s most popular street vendors will compete to be named best food vendor in New York City. The popular event, now in its fourth year, will take place this weekend in Dumbo, Brooklyn.

Chinatown's Fruit Cart

For Pei Lin Yau, his piece of the American Dream comes on four wheels. Every morning, Yau rises early to move into place near the corner of Grand and Elizabeth Streets, where he and his wife sell from their fruit cart.

Here in Little Italy, just two blocks away from the fire hydrants painted red, white and green—the colors of the Italian flag—stands the man in gray, selling Chinese fruit.
Yau has been selling his fruit on the street in New York for nearly 15 years now.

“It’s good life,” he says through a translator. His cart is full to the brim with a mixture of Western and Chinese fruit. Bananas fill one side of the cart, while lychee, a tropical Chinese fruit, can be found on the other. But nothing seems to draw more attention that his abundance of durian, a large spiky fruit infamous for its smell.

“Many people stop and ask about it,” he said. “It may smell bad, but it tastes good.”

Yau, 63, wasn’t always in the fruit selling business. After he first moved to the U.S. during the 1970’s with his wife, he worked for a restaurant in Chinatown. He later worked in a small shop in Chinatown and, after spending years in the kitchen and the stores, saved enough to buy his cart.

On this bustling street, surrounded by Chinese storefronts of all types, Yau’s cart thrives in large part, he said, because of competitive pricing.

“I charge less than the markets,” he said. When asked where he purchased his wide array of fruit, however, he declined to comment.

Throughout the day, Yau greets regular and new customer alike. Although he speaks English, Yau said he is more comfortable with his Cantonese, and he usually has conversations with those who can speak it.

Yau, who commutes from an apartment in neighboring Chinatown, said that street vending can be difficult throughout the various seasons, but because he has a permit, he said he rarely has trouble with police or inspectors.

As he straightened up his cart, rearranging his exotic fruit and homemade signs, Yau said that although this area may be Little Italy by name, it was definitely home to him.

“This is my neighborhood,” he said. “My cart belongs here.”

Neighborhood Update: Museum Madness

The month of October is a quiet one in Little Italy. The annual festivities of San Gennaro are but a distant memory, as the outdoor seating for the string of Italian restaurants on Mulberry Street retreat from the street back to the sidewalk.

While no major shops or restaurants are opening in the area, two new cultural museums seek to draw people interested in the history of two of Lower Manhattan's most distinct immigrant populations--the Italians and the Chinese.

The newest development in the neighborhood would probably be the opening of the newly relocated Italian American Museum. Housed at the site of the former bank Banca Stabile, which was once the bank of choice among Italian immigrants. Now, the converted site is home to a wealth of artifacts that chronicle the plight of Italians in America, a story that is really under 100 years old. From photographs to money, luggage tags to the bank itself, there are many ways for the few remaining Italians to learn about their heritage right on Mulberry Street.

On the west side of the neighborhood, construction continues on another museum, this one the relocation of the Museum of Chinese in America, or MoCA. This museum, scheduled to open this winter, is moving from its former, cramped upstairs four-room space on Mulberry Street. The museum may feel more at home, considering the high concentration of Chinese store fronts that bound its not address, 211 Centre Street.

Despite its tiny former exhibition space, the museum played host to nearly 100,000 visitors annually. Now, with its upcoming ground level, state of the art facility, there will certainly be renewed interest in not only the story of Chinese in America, but here near Little Italy as well.

It's poetic that these two museums will open so close to each other in such a short time span. The small, low key Italian Museum may have come first, but the larger, more visible MoCA is on it's way in, trying to dominate the local museum scene.

An Intro to Little Italy

The first time I visited Little Italy, I was a wide-eyed freshman who had been in New York for about two weeks. It was during the time of San Gennaro, just as the sweltering summer heat gave way to a crisp autumn. Among the bright lights, loud music and throngs of crowds, I was in Little Italy, but it sure didn’t feel like it. About a month later, after the last remnants of the fried Oreo vendors was long gone, I returned to find Little Italy not so much a neighborhood, but a street of Italian restaurants, bounded by a less crowded extension of Chinatown.

Despite Little Italy’s struggle with a booming and bustling Chinatown that is slowly encroaching on this once dominant Italian domicile, there is still much character left on and around Mulberry Street. The realtor-created rebranding of Nolita, or North of Little Italy, has become an increasing trendy neighborhood, and the outpost for many spillover retailers who couldn’t find space in SoHo. Physically, the Little Italy /Nolita neighborhood is bounded by Houston to the north, Bowery to the east, Canal to the South, and by Lafayette on the west. Mulberry serves as the heart of what is left of the Italian community.

It’s probably no secret that the neighborhood’s name came from what was once the area’s predominant force—the Italian population. But, what was once the Italian dominated center of New York, and America, has dwindled to a population that the New York Times cited last month as under 1,000 Italians. Though the neighborhood may keep the name Little Italy, in actuality, the area is an extension of Chinatown. However, there are still many immigrants in the area. One tract of the neighborhood has a 60% foreign born rate. The north section, Nolita, is known for a large, urban professional population.

The mix of holdover Italians, the imposing Chinese population, and the young professional population creates an eclectic mix that is a microcosm of sorts for the diversity you can find all over New York.

Introducting Notes on Nolita

Welcome to my blog, Notes on Nolita. My name is Thomas Garry and I am a journalism student at New York University. This blog, for my Reporting Downtown class, will feature regular updates on the Nolita/Little Italy section of Manhattan.

For many, the heart of New York lies in their neighborhood. On weekends, I love getting outside my own neighborhood, Greenwich Village, and exploring the rest of the city. The gentrification of neighborhoods is particularly interesting to me, and Nolita is a prime example.

Learning about and writing about these changes is something I love. During my four years at NYU, I have worked for our student run newspaper, the Washington Square News, where I am now managing editor. Through the years, I have had the chance to report on all types of stories, about both my school and my city.

I look forward to new challenge—keeping up with a rapidly changing neighborhood, and making the transition from traditional print to the digital realm of reporting. Nolita has always been one of my favorite parts of the city, from the architecture to the atmosphere, and I am excited to explore all its new developments with you.