Originally Posted By: LuanKuci
Yonkers has three big ones, one is the one I call the Salerno Club, since that most members I met where from the Salerno province and I can't recall its actual name. No clue about the other two.

You're probably thinking of the Stiglianese Club and the Rauso Post. Both are over in the Park Hill section of Yonkers, which used to be almost all Italian. Today, the area is largely Hispanic, but the clubs still remain open on weekends and for special events if you want to rent them out. The Italians who moved up to Northern Westchester still come down for certain events and whatnot. The Rauso post is basically like a VFW Post. It was founded by local Italian American Veterans (and there were a lot of them) after World War II ended.

And it's worth mentioning---because someone brought up the mob angle---that none of those places are mobbed up. There are hundreds of Italian American meeting places that have nothing to do with the mob (not to mention thousands of chapters of the Sons of Italy). We're a proud people and want to keep our traditions alive. But unfortunately, whenever someone mentions an Italian "club," people want to assume Mafia involvement.

It's really a shame, because of all the European immigrant groups that came here in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Italians have been among the most upwardly mobile. That's something to be proud of, not something to lament.


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