What part of brooklyn?

Brooklyn:

East Williamsburg still has a small pocket which was traditionally Bonanno territory.

Same with Carroll Gardens/Redhook (Colombo) and Bensonhurst/Dyker/Gravesend (Gambino).

But yeah, these are just hold-outs.

But while there may not be new Italian families moving to Brooklyn, we still have all the great restaurants, pastry shops and specialty food stores! So I'm happy

PB, do you know the comedian Mike Destefano or any of his family? He passed away a few years ago, but heard a podcast interview with him a few years back where he talks about growing up in Throgg's Neck and his contact with various un-named wiseguys.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_DeStefano

Yes, he used to play at the Marina del Rey for Angelo Prisco's annual spring dance. He was close to ten years younger than I am, but I remember him. He was a junkie, though. So he wasn't allowed in a lot of local places. But Angelo protected him a few times because he had a soft spot for him. His family claimed he had a heart attack. But he was only in his forties. I think he od'd. But that's just my personal opinion.

Food was good when Joe Butch owned it.

I believe he was also HIV positive. He talked about being at a club and the guy before him was on and one of his unnamed "friends" was throwing ice at the guy. When the manager went to say something Destefano said he stopped him and said, "you don't want to talk to that guy, he will literally kill you". So he was buddies with people with and or associated with the West Side? Very interesting. Had a feeling you'd know him.

No, he wasn't with anyone. But that was Prisco's stronghold back then. His club was in Westchester Square, but he was strong all over Pelham Bay and Throggs Neck.

As far as being "with" anyone, again, no. He was honestly just the type of peripheral hanger-on that I normally can't stand. You know, a bartender who works in a wiseguy joint, so he thinks he's half a wiseguy himself. Or a fucking garbage man who thinks he's a wiseguy because he wears his Teamsters jacket wherever the fuck he goes. These are guys who typically get hurt when they run into real wiseguys and run their mouths off.

But again, Angelo stuck up for him a couple times because he used to play his dance at the Marina every year. It was a harder ticket than a Yankee playoff game. But my family and I went every year he had it .

Ever been to Woodlawn? My kind of place.

Sorry, I wrote that weird. I meant to say he knew people associated with the West Side, not that he was actually with them himself. Interesting stuff. He also mentioned his brother being part of a stolen car ring. Also seemed very nervous to drop any names and was very careful not to.

I've talked about Woodlawn with you ad nauseam. My biggest regret in real estate is not buying a building on Katonah. Prime location, right next to the post office. This was maybe ten years ago, and I just wasn't sure if they were ready for an Italian owned real estate corporation taking over one of their properties. So two years later a fucking Albanian bought it for a song and made a fortune .

LOL sorry I make you nauseus. Forgot!

Was'nt that guy DeStefano the comedian that would walk on stage and then tell everyone " to get up and piss on the table "?
I remember he came out and had to be drunk and he did his whole routine while eating a sandwich. You couldnt even understand what he was saying, it was strange.

pizza, you ever hang out at the Nassau Bar downtown?!? I've been hanging out at it a lot lately and I'm actually posting this from there right now watching the Mets game for "lunch" LOL

for all my friends here not from the area, some background on the bar:

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2010/11/27/nyregion/27nassau.html?referrer=

My girlfriend lives in the FiDi, I'll check it out.

You're a short walk away from the food court in battery park. Might Quinn's, num pang, best food court ever.

Dante, that place is right off fulton and nassau. It was operated by Big John, not sure if it still is he just went away for a couple of years and got out recently. My dad had a bar around the corner on Ann Street and would send me there to get a laugh. The bartenders would wear bikinis or skimpy outfits and I would be like 12. Before it was the nassau it was called Kenos. That was a great neighborhood, it sure has changed a ton

They've also rebuilt the seaport after sandy.

Fidi is becoming a popular destination for 20 somethings that want to stay in Manhattan. Cheaper rents.

Cowgirl seahorse has strong margaritas, good spot by the water.

Yeah, 2k for a studio instead of $2500. Let them stay wherever the fuck they were born. You have no idea how many blue-collar people have been driven out of Lower Manhattan. No idea whatsoever. But that's probably because you don't understand what it means to be blue collar anyway.

I'm not being deliberately mean, Mighty. You know I like you. A lot. But Lower Manhattan used to be as blue collar as some of the nicer parts of the Old Bronx. And you have no idea how much it annoys a true New Yorker to see this shit happen. No idea at all.

And I'm in real estate. Buildings that I fucking OWN with my family, and one of them is half a block from Washington Square Park. So if I feel this way, can you imagine how these poor families felt about getting chased from their own neighborhoods, where they've lived for generations, by a bunch of midwesterners and suburbanites who think they deserve a New York City birthright because they're gay or call themselves hipsters?

It's just a very sore point with me. It's nothing personal. Like I said, I like you a lot.

Nothing personal taken. My girlfriend was born in Staten Island, and her mom's from Brooklyn. So I feel like she isn't as bad as some of the others .

Believe it or not, I don't like gentrification, either. When I moved to NYC, I didn't even realize it was an issue. You know I lived in the EV. It's a joke now. People move their because they think it's grungy or something, but they're just being stupid. The EV is as safe as any neighborhood out there. The mystique is gone. It's all NYU kids and yuppies. I don't really understand the appeal of paying 1500 a month to live with three other people in a hundred year old building.

No offense, but the East Village changed before you even moved there. You may have caught the tail end of a few of the bars. But unless you lived there pre-2000, maybe even pre-1995, you still can't completely understand. But you're right in the fact that it's getting worse and worse (with these stupid, entitled kids).

Again, none taken. I knew it was already changed the month I moved in. It dawned on me pretty quick.

Yes, the LES began changing in the early to mid 90s. My dad had a bar on 9th between 1st and A, which came in very handy for my underage drinking back in like '88, not that it was too hard to get into other places in those days.

There was Alcatraz, the Pyramid, the Lismar Lounge, Nightingales, Downtown Beirut. Great music and good times. Polish coffee shops where you could eat like a pig for $5.


That NY is gone, replaced by a yuppie Disneyland for wankers from Nebraska. The kids that live there now would shit themselves if they had to cross tompkins square park circa 1988.


Now get off my lawn! *shakes cane*

I thought you were much older. That's a compliment, by the way.


Veselka isn't going anywhere anytime soon. But they've gotten pretty expensive, given the menu.


You got that right .

Never went to veselka, but I've heard great things. Union square cafe had to move due to rising rents. The bodegas are closing. There is a 7-11 in alphabetical city now, which really tells you everything you need to know.

My favorite bar was destination on 13th and A. It was a great dive bar. Half prices EVERY day until eight. Had some good Sundays there.

Closed

It's Alphabet City. Christ, you are a Yuppie .

Don't take offense Mighty healthy, I'm laughing with you, not at you. I swear!




thank you for the compliment. Like all women I need a regular supply of shoes and compliments.


I'm smack in the middle of my 40s. But like all city kids I'm very mature for my age


My parents divorced when I was a kid and for years my dad lived in the city on 12th between 5th and 6th, while we were in Brooklyn so we had the best of all worlds NY-wise. It was a different city and what's happened to it is depressing.

Damn auto correct might have got him

How about the ODESSA. Now closed I think.

I was at Nightingdales and Pyramid alot for hardcore/punk shows.

Last time I heard the Italian language being spoken in NYC was in Whitestone, Queens. There is a section called "Malba" where the fire hydrants are painted red/white/green to symbolize the flag. The Bocci courts at Francis Lewis Park are always filled with Italian guys speaking the language.

Also fishing on the shoreline you may hear some Italian speakers. Last time I heard two Italian guys fishing near Cresthaven and yelling at some security guard to leave them alone in an italian/english mix. It was great.