One of America’s first great Italian neighborhoods was once in East Harlem, populated with more southern Italians than Sicily itself, a neighborhood almost entirely gone today except for a couple restaurants, a church and a long-standing religious festival.
This is, of course, not New Yorks’ famous “Little Italy,” the festive tourist area in lower Manhattan built from another 19th-century Italian neighborhood on Mulberry Street. The bustling street life of old Italian Harlem exists mostly in memory now.
If you wander around any modern American neighborhood with a strong Italian presence, you’ll find yourself around people who can trace their lineage back through the streets of Italian Harlem. Perhaps that includes yourself.
But it’s not all warm nostalgia and fond recollections. Life could be quite hard in Italian Harlem, thanks to the nearby industrial environment, the deteriorating living conditions and the street crime, the early years of New York organized crime.
So who were these first Italian settlers who left their homes for what would become a hard urban life in upper Manhattan? What drew them to the city? What traditions did they bring? And in the end, what did they leave behind, when so many moved out to the four corners of the United States?
Find the episode wherever you listen to podcasts or listen right here:
LISTEN NOW Italian Harlem: New York’s Forgotten Little Italy
We’re not done with Harlem! In fact we’re building up to an epic new 450th episode for our next show.
FURTHER LISTENING:
Past Bowery Boys episodes with close links to this current show:
10 replies on “The Story of Italian Harlem: New York’s Forgotten Little Italy”
Came to look at the “Festival” painting while listening to the wonderful Italians in East Harlem episode. Tom is right, it is beautiful. How did I not know about this interesting area after supervising student teachers in all 5 boroughs!?! So glad you are adding more episodes! Thank you! (My family came in late 1800’s from Rome and Naples directly to Connecticut.)
Love this! My mom lived at 107st and 1st Ave. I remember going to the building where she lived. It’s a vague memory but I do remember!!
My great grandparents came from Salerno and settled on 116th Street in the late 1800s. My great grandfather was a tailor. My great aunt and uncle opened an Italian deli there in the 1930s. Loved hearing about the history of this important location in Italian-American history
I was born and raised on 114th Street, between First and Pleasant Avenue. In the middle of the block with Rao’s Bar & Grill located on the corner of 114th St. and Pleasant Ave. My father went to school with Vince Rao (the owner of Rao’s.) I attended Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Catholic School, was an Altar Boy at Mt. Carmel Church (115th St.) and went to Benjamin Franklin HS. My second cousin was the first Principal of Ben Franklin (Dr. Leonard Coviello) Our family originally came from Avigliano (Potenza) , and Calabria, Italy. My great grandfather was recruited to help construct the Brooklyn Bridge and lived in Stamford, CT. My grandfather left Stamford and moved to East Harlem in 1898. My grandmother lived downtown( Five Points) Mott St. And yes, East Harlem had more Italians living there than lower Manhattan.
I also lived on that same block. Last name also Rao. My aunt had a candy store on 116th and first. Went to OLMC.
One of the statements you made in the “Little Italy” podcast I want to clarify: the “gas tanks” which you mentioned and which appear prominently in the photos. The structures were not actually tanks and they were termed “gas holders.” Furthermore, they held not “natural gas,” but what is called “manufactured gas.” There are significant environmental and toxic issues which accompany the production of manufactured gas, which further emphasize how this neighborhood was negatively affected. I suggest that you check wikipedia for gas holders in order to obtain a comprehensive view of just how bad this type of gas was, especially in its production, delivery, and use. It was a truly noxious remnant of the middle years of the industrial revolution and remember that the gas produced was carbon monoxide. Natural gas is primarily methane and is piped from the network of high pressure gas wells and, yes, from fracking. I don’t know if there is any gas manufactured anywhere now. I know that in my hometown of Rochester, the last coke ovens–integral components in the process– were shut down in 1954. The entire podcast was very enlightening. Thank you.
My bothers and I (1956) were born on 111th Street between 3rd and Lex.
My father was first generation Italian, born and lived on 110th street growing up.
My grandfather immigrated from Vico Equense, Naples to NYC in the late teens of the 1900’s.
We subsequently moved to the Bronx but we remember East Harlem well.
Many good memories from an era long gone.
My grandparents and parents came from Calabria Italy. I was born and raised at 116th between 1st and 2nd Avenue. I had it all. The harlem house ,Marrone bakery and Kathies candy store. Those were the best yrs of my life. Great people. We were all one. I’ll never see those days again
One of the statements you made in the “Little Italy” podcast I want to clarify: the “gas tanks” which you mentioned and which appear prominently in the photos. The structures were not actually tanks and they were termed “gas holders.” Furthermore, they held not “natural gas,” but what is called “manufactured gas.” There are significant environmental and toxic issues which accompany the production of manufactured gas, which further emphasize how this neighborhood was negatively affected
Thank you!