FEATURE STORY


A FADED LITTLE ITALY At Risk

On a typical Saturday night last summer, the bakery at CaffeRoma, at Mulberry and Broome Streets in Little Italy, wouldturn out 500 cannoli, and rest assured that they would all be
sold by the time the ovens went cold.
But now, if they sell a few dozen by closing time, it's considered a good day, said Caffe Roma's third-generation owner, Vincent Zeccardi.
"Look around," he said on Wednesday afternoon in the dark green parlor that hasoffered all manner of Italian treats for about 85 years. "Do you see anyone in here? Or outside on the street?"
Sure enough, there was an eerie quiet on Mulberry Street, on the usually noisy stretch where waiters offer a ciao to every bella walking by, in hopes of luring people into their restaurants. This week, they were mostly talking to each other, complaining about how dismal the area — about a mile northeast of the World Trade Center — has been since the Sept. 11 attack.
Many decades have passed since there were enough Italians in Little Italy to support it on their own. Today, the people living above the coffee shops and trattorias are more likely to be from China than Calabria. The neighborhood is
almost entirely dependent on tourists looking for gelato and a glimpse of the area's fabled past, when it was hopping with mob bosses, movie stars and local characters.
Les Schecter, who helps promote the neighborhood's annual Feast of San Gennaro, honoring the patron saint of Naples, said: "I don't think we will ever seeLittle Italy as we remember it. It was getting smaller and smaller anyway."
Little Italy's heyday was in the 1950's and 60's, the old-timers say. More recently,things have been good, but certainly not great. Now, the relative disappearance ofpeople on the streets seems a preview of what could amount to a terminal situation.
"It's hard to survive when you're dealing with a pure lack of customers," saidJoseph Ferrara, whose family owns the Italian Food Center at 186 Grand Street.
"We've cut hours and salaries and what have you, and it's still scary."
What is most frustrating about the situation, business owners say, is the powerlessness they feel.
"This is not about coming up with a new product, or the competition of the new gourmet deli across the street," Mr. Ferrara said. "If there was something to do,we'd do it, but there's nothing you can do."
One of the mainstays of Mr. Ferrara's business was the lunch crowd that ordered for delivery to the World Trade Center. He had catering accounts with several firms and has not been able to find any replacement for that customer base. He has tried to reach out to Midtown offices, but, ultimately, they are just too far.

Although Little Italy is just north of the zone frozen below Canal Street immediately after the attacks, it was still affected by street closings and access restrictions in the days after Sept. 11. Many businesses were closed for a week.
The area suffers, like the rest of downtown, from the odor of the still- smolderingsite and from traffic restrictions that make navigating the streets an ever-changing, daily challenge.
As many as 30 downtown restaurants have already closed since the attacks, and many more are in limbo. Those dependent on tourists are most at risk.
October is usually the beginning of a slow stretch — the cold winter months get tough because the area depends on foot traffic. But most businesses would have had healthy enough profits from the summer months, when Mulberry Street is closed to traffic and becomes a pedestrian mall, and when it holds the Feast of San Gennaro, the city's most famous street fair.
This year, the feast was canceled. It had been scheduled for 10 days, and it was to begin on Sept. 13.
"Everybody was geared up for it, but it wouldn't have been appropriate," Mr.Zeccardi said.
It would come as no surprise if businesses in Little Italy were closing as early as the first quarter of next year, said Tim Zagat, chairman of NYC & Company, the city's convention and visitors bureau and publisher of the Zagat Surveys.The fourth quarter, which began in October, is often the best time for businesses — at least those that do not rely on tourist traffic. But for Little Italy, the worst-case scenario is a slow September followed by a weak fourth quarter and a bad first quarter. And it looks as though that will be the case. Already, people are feeling the pinch.
Mr. Zeccardi could not pay Caffe Roma's utility or phone bills.
"I called Con Ed and said, `The money's going to be coming, it's just going to be a week or two late,' " he said. "Phone company, same thing. I said, `We're smack in the middle of this big crisis.' They all said, `No problem.' "
Likewise, Mr. Zeccardi said some of his account holders owed him money. "But what am I going to say?" he asked. "'You've got to pay me?' There's a domino effect going on here. It's understandable."
Little Italy has become a ghost- town.
On a recent afternoon, at So Good Jewelry on Hester Street between Mott and Mulberry Streets, the owner, Choi Woiyung, 37, was giving out free rhinestone American flag rings and ball point pens to try to cheer the few people who trickled into the store every now and then.
"It's terrible," he said. "Our store is down 70 percent. We're empty. The tourist are not coming, especially not the Europeans."
New York Police Department T- shirts, postcards of Marilyn Monroe and framed prints of the Flatiron Building went untouched and unnoticed at Erika's, which sells "famous photos, souvenirs and postcards" on Mulberry Street near Hester Street. No one was partaking of the special scampi entrée at Il Fornaio, also on Mulberry Street, even though the soft white string lighting was warm and inviting.
At Angelo's of Mulberry, dozens of tables were set and dressed with white cloths,and Italian love songs played faintly in the background, entertaining just a few businessmen who were drinking red wine.
At Puglia's, the staff seated themselves in the empty chairs facing a small
television, watching the Yankees game.
They perked up when the door opened, then slouched again realizing that it wasn't a customer, just a reporter.
So how was business that day?
"We had two tables a while ago," one waiter said.
Emanuele Braico, the manager of Due Amici, formerly called Theresa's, had three tables of diners yesterday afternoon, and not a single customer from 4 to 11 p.m. on Wednesday.
"With all due respect to the people who died," Mr. Braico said, "we hope the business comes back. We're afraid the European tourists won't come for the holidays, or after. Mr. Ferrara said he knew exactly what the area needed. "What's missing is the energy," he said. "We've got to get that back if we're ever going to succeed as neighborhood, or the metropolis we were."

Interesting article. I'm moving it to "General Discussion" before Senator Geary reminds us that not all Italians (or their old neighborhoods) are in the Mafia.