Little Italy Sandwiched between Past and Present

For most immigrant groups the idea of upward mobility is an inevitable byproduct that is caused by the blood, sweat and tears of past generations.  In most cases immigrants from the past and present, arrive in the US and yearn for the “American Dream.”

 

They aspire to go from “rags to riches” or at least from nothing to something.  Most immigrants arrive in the urban ghettos of the United States and work hard to save and move to the American suburbs, surrounded by an idyllic setting comparable to a Norman Rockwell painting.  As immigrants attain a level of success, they settle in their homes with white picket fences and perfectly manicured lawns. Afterwards, many immigrant groups, especially their offspring, assimilate a culture foreign from that of their grandparents.

 

Italian Americans are no exception to the concept of social mobility. As most immigrants, Italian Americans have moved up the social ladder and away from the neighborhoods where their families first settled.  Many have married outside their heritage but some still make a Sunday pasta sauce. They have become Americanized so much, that the only connection to Italian culture is perhaps distant relatives living in Italy or simply their last name.  

 

One of the few places where one can restore and capture the impact that their ancestors left, at least in the case of Italian Americans, is going back to where it all started. When most immigrant groups emigrate from one country to another, they usually bring over part of their culture. Traditionally when Italians arrived in America and settled in major metropolises during the late nineteenth to twentieth centuries, they built churches and celebrated patron saints in the form of a feast, created small businesses such as cafés, bakeries, pasticcerias, restaurants, pizzerias, and salumerias.

 

Furthermore, more often than not, the owners of these business establishments, workers, and customers were mainly Italians living in the area.  Invariably these neighborhoods were a bastion for Italian immigration and became known as the Little Italy section of the city.   

 

Today the remnants of Italian culture are spread across America and live on in Little Italy.  For instance, cities like San Diego, San Francisco, Cleveland, Chicago, St. Louis, Boston and Philadelphia can all claim a Little Italy district.  Of course New York City has arguably the most popular Little Italy section but it has been reduced over the past two decades, to four tiny blocks.  One common factor besides the popular restaurants, pizzerias and pasticcerias frequented by tourists, Little Italy sections are sandwiched between new immigrant arrivals and gentrification.  

 

These days as more and more hipsters move into urban communities and realty developers want to build another Whole Foods or Starbucks, the essence of a real community in a city, especially those built by immigrants, are fading rapidly.  The Little Italy neighborhoods are losing their unique charm and character, becoming cheesy stopping grounds for tourists.  

In New York Magazine, Bill Tonelli wrote a feature story and titled it Arrivederci, Little Italy. In his article he quotes a business owner who declares, “Even when I lived there, the restaurant row on Mulberry Street was always a little bit showy, more for tourists, and so we always shunned it. Now that’s all Little Italy is, a façade.” 

 

The reporter also asked another proprietor, “What if a Chinese restaurant tried to open on Mulberry Street? “We would have a problem with that,” says Robert Ianniello Jr., co-owner of Umberto’s. Of course, what I really fear is Starbucks.” Even though Chinatown has reduced the original size of Little Italy in New York, realty developers are beginning to build five star hotels and luxury apartment buildings in between late nineteenth-century tenement buildings. In addition, many of the Chinese families who settled in Little Italy New York are moving to the outer boroughs following the upward trajectory of most immigrant groups. 

 

While Little Italy restaurants struggle to pay exorbitant rents in New York City, the Little Italy section in San Diego has changed from Italian immigrants arriving and building the tuna industry now to a favorite hipster hangout, an indication of gentrification.  The Italian restaurants, pizzerias and pasticcerias, staples of Little Italy areas, are being replaced or forced to compete with art galleries, boutiques, beer gardens, and progressive restaurants.  

 

In Chicago, resident John Rizzo, whose family lived near Ashland Avenue, said “the neighborhood started to change back in the 60s & 70s when they built the university but now it is totally transformed into a more ritzy and chic area from when my parents arrived.”   

 

Another example of a Little Italy neighborhood clashing with the present is Arthur Avenue, the Little Italy of the Bronx, New York.  In a recent article in The New York Times, a beer garden was created, “Hatched last year by two young brothers who dream of bringing fresh spirit to a distressingly sleepy stretch of Arthur Avenue, the hall can be found inside an old-school marketplace, where you pick up a week’s supply of olives, pancetta and marinated anchovies…” The article went on to describe the writer’s discontent with the establishment and confusion of how a burger and other choices on their gourmet menu “honor the legacy of Arthur Avenue.”

  

Perhaps capturing the essence of what Arthur Avenue represented for Italian Americans as well as others is not the goal of many of these business ventures.  Many of these eateries however, sprouting up in the Little Italy sections throughout the country, are trying to duplicate Italian cuisine and Italian hospitality, some are successful, and others are not.  

 

The worst part of all is that as beer gardens, progressive restaurants or even art galleries, boutiques are created in the Little Italy neighborhoods, the cultural legacy brought over by many Italian immigrants, is gradually being lost.  Amidst the popular Italian restaurants, pizzerias and pastry stores that tourists flock to, there are also those cheesy Italian souvenir stores that hang shirts that say, “Kiss Me, I’m Italian” or sell movie posters of The Godfather or Goodfellas. 

 

As one of the few Italian immigrants left on Arthur Avenue said, “This area has changed so much it is now a mixed salad, a salad that just does not taste the same, it’s almost as if the ingredients do not go together.” This metaphor is reflected by others who have seen Little Italy areas diminish to almost nothing.  At the same time, change is something we sometimes fear because we fear the unknown.  It means losing our identity and adjusting to a new chapter in our lives, making us feel uncomfortable.  One way to combat this unwanted feeling, at least for some of us, is through food. Perhaps someone can create a new dish, a fusion of some kind that combines Old Little Italy with New Tiny Italy so that everyone’s palate can be satisfied.