I told them I have no idea to enjoy your time on these few blocks because when you get older and come here to visit who knows if the Italians will still be here.
But you do realize that the Italians that you pointed out to your kids don't actually still live there, right?
2010 Census: Not a SINGLE Italian born resident left in the 10012 zip code. And the populace itself was less than ten percent Italian American. And that was almost five years ago.
You know I make my living in New York City real estate these days, so I pay very close attention to demographics. Now some people might thing that's being bigoted, but any intelligent landlord does the same thing.
Anyway, a studio on Mulberry and Grand will run you about $2500 a month today. A fucking studio. If you doubt that, take a gander at Craigslist or one of the big real estate sites like Elliman or Corcoran. What immigrant can afford that? And when you couple that with the fact that there aren't really Italians moving to the United States anymore, is it any wonder that things have changed?
Little Italy in Manhattan is just that "Little".
Smaller every day. Even restaurant row has shrunk to Mulberry between Canal and Kenmare. And Kenmare is honestly stretching things.
