there will never be another dean martin, or louie prima, can you imagine what these two artists would think of rap? it would be an insult to their musical souls.

Lol let me help with that one Bronx .... Louie prima, Sicilian from New Orleans lol but yeah, i am 33 Bronx. Born in 81 lol and correct me if I am wrong but damone lived close to St finbar Catholic Church on benson st and bay 20th so I am guessing he did live on bay 16th like you said. Either bay 16th st and benson or bay 16th and bath. He was church choir's finest there as a kid.

Absolutely Binnie :)))) those guys still give me a chill when I listen to them sing in my iPod. Mr Bennett is left.... And jerry vale as well. What you think about jr Sinatra? are you a fan of his serenade?

On the money Salvi62
http://www.louisprima.com/newtry_biography.html

Vinnie, no, never a fan of jrs. you know I liked dion and the belmonts when I was growing up, dion denuchi was the lead singer. ever hear of those guys.

correct..vinny..everybody went to st finbar..st francis was built mid sixties

salvi, your are correct, mid 1800's

salvi what year did prima come to the bronx? i used to go to a restaurant in NJ VILLA AMALFI joe demere would sing there..pizza maybe you went also

Hey Bronx, hows it goin'?

I'm no bullshitter bro. I really don't know shit about anything NY except what my parents/grandparents told me.

Yes I was born there but I moved to South Florida in 1971. Believe it or not this was a really swinging place all through the 70's-80's and even up to the late 1990's. All these singers came down here and played the big Hotels on the beach. That's where I came in contact with them. And the few real gangsters I met here and there was when I worked in nightclubs.

I know I wasn't asked this question directly but I think Jr. is an excellent singer. Nothing like his Father of course, but a good solid singer. I played many times with him and heard him sound amazing some nights and not so good on others.

Jr,'s problem is his name, and that he has almost no personality on stage. He can't really "connect" with an audience like his Dad could. He also came up in a totally different era.

Sal

turridu, the fountain blue is where you were at? did you go to the wreck bar castaways?

That place was wiseguy central back in the '80s. The Sheraton completely redid the place recently. It's all families now.

off topic but why would you call him that way?

that whole strip is changed..diplomat was international union conventions.. thunderbird ,chinees restaurant..rascal house,,julius larossa's lets see who remembers that far..ia getting a headache knocking off the rust..

another version of salvatore…too me

Yes, I know that. But was just wondering why you decided out of the blue to use that nickname in sicilian.

im siciliano

your sicilian is better than mine..i feel my way through

it's two u's at the end?

The Diplomat is a fucking behemoth now. I liked it better the old way. Not to mention the fact that Hallandale is a slum now. Don't get me wrong, the Diplomat is a beautiful resort today. But there's nothing there, and you don't want to get lost in that neighborhood at night.

The Rascal House. My father and his coomps would go there just to order Jell-O .

No. It's exactly as you spelled it.

60' and 70's hollywood hallendale were great quiet towns.. two tracks, valentino disco, lots of italians from NY some from chicago golden beach sunny isles..can not replace those times..

thank you..

I'm 55, Bronx. I started going to Florida as a young kid in the '60s. By the mid '70s my parents had a place in Sunny Isles and they were splitting their time between Florida and New York. There were LOADS of Italians in that area back then. Today it's mostly Russians and Brazilians.

nino lived in sunny isles

yeah went to a few brazilian clubs there and in pompano about 10 years back

Jimmy Blue Eyes owned an entire high rise there. He never bothered to convert it into a hotel. But he'd set up a lot the Westside guys down there in the winter.

Bal Harbour is still gorgeous. Barney has a place there. But since his wife passed away I doubt he'll ever use it again.

the hotel is closed?

Bronx, its all good bro, just a nickname it was used in "Cavalleria Rusticana". Besides I don't think many here use there real names anyway. Its not the name but whats in your heart that counts. Like Shakespeare said "A rose by any other name......."

Ahhh the "old" Diplomat or the "Dip" as we used to call it. Man was there a lot of work there back in the day. Played Dolly Parton in the Café Chrystal, Tony Bennett (not one of my faves) Steve and Edie, Lionel Hampton and on and on.

Even though Fl is a "right to work" state the local 655 union would send delegates to hang out in the lobby just to break balls if the saw you walk in with an instrument case.

I watched them blow the old place up. My friend had a condo right across the street and he had a party. We all watched it come down. It was fascinating and sad at the same time.

We (the musicians) had high hopes when we found out that the union pipefitters were taking over the new place. We figured union=work, but I haven't set foot in that place in close to 10 years. Nobody has. I think the last time I works there was a private party with Jr.

Yeah, the Café Chrystal, The Tack Room, and what was the name of that little lounge right next to the the Café as you walked in on the left. Lou Tulli an accordion player/comedian had that gig for over 20 years. Then he started working at "RunWay 84" on SR 84 in Laud. He was there until he died a few years ago.

Sal

anthony's runway? i forget the name of the restaurant on a1a over the hollywood bridge.. ahh gold coast..

I was just talking about Runway 84. Same crowd as Martorano's. Except at Martorano's they make no bones about where they come from.

At Runway 84, Anthony's father was the crookedest politician to ever set foot in the Queens courthouse, which is really saying something. But they would have had you believe that the old man was Gandhi.

That said, I like Runway 84 because they're stuck in the past. Just like me .

The Tack Room, yeah. That's where all the babas met up. Fuck the pool bar .