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Yeah, I was chatting with someone recently about Italian food, and they asked if had even gone up to Belmont. There is one place that I'm aware of that has a Manhattan location. Zero Otto Nove... I decided to check out other restaurants there just to see how many Italians may still be around as in owners (Italians living there are very low now). I would say that the large majority of store owners now are Albanians, including many of the Italian-American/Italian run places.
Since relocating to the Carolina's, I haven't been back to the five boroughs in almost eleven years.
What Italian communities in the five boroughs are thriving? In this, I mean communities where growing families and middle aged folks live, not communities where a handful of older people remained.
Why my interest in Italian communities? I am of Italian descent, and the aspect I appreciate about an Italian community, is the ability to frequent local shops and bakeries, and to attend Italian themed social events, in a small radius.
I suspect that most ethnic communities, as they mature, become less and less localized. They start small, as poor immigrants bunch together on arrival, but then ideally they join the "melting pot."
I think Italians are a great example because for a long time the best Italian restaurants are no longer in Little Italy.
I suspect that most ethnic communities, as they mature, become less and less localized. They start small, as poor immigrants bunch together on arrival, but then ideally they join the "melting pot."
I think Italians are a great example because for a long time the best Italian restaurants are no longer in Little Italy.
There are Jewish enclaves that have stood the test of time.
and the Jewish sect of Crown Heights stands out as just one example.
Family and Faith have kept this community intact regardless of surrounding changes.
Old World Europeans carried many similarities. Religion and Family always front and center.
Not taking away from any other group. Pointing out how the threads of Religion and Family
are woven into the very fabric of their being....... and the strongest fabric that winds together binds together.
Cultures assimilate over time as time is the enemy of change.
2 million plus South Americans are the new immigrant arrival to the United States and the new experience
for many assimilated Americans over the next 100 years.
So......the question is ..........................Keep to your culture or quickly learn theirs...................
Last edited by Mr.Retired; 01-16-2023 at 02:46 PM..
Yeah, I was chatting with someone recently about Italian food, and they asked if had even gone up to Belmont. There is one place that I'm aware of that has a Manhattan location. Zero Otto Nove... I decided to check out other restaurants there just to see how many Italians may still be around as in owners (Italians living there are very low now). I would say that the large majority of store owners now are Albanians, including many of the Italian-American/Italian run places.
You'd be surprised how many people mistake Albanians for Italians.
That being said the countries are quite close to each other and over years there has been various relationships between Italians and Albanians including intermarriage. Albania also has a large Italian population.
Where Italians moved in USA Albanians followed. Staten Island, parts of Bronx, etc... Tons of Italian American places like pizzerias and restaurants are indeed owned by Albanians.
Several Italian-American guys from my HS class married Albanian girls. Hiccup with such relationships is many Albanians are followers of Islam.
Thing is areas where Italians largely have packed up and left, Albanians remained and keep coming. This includes Belmont in the Bronx and Staten Island.
You'd be surprised how many people mistake Albanians for Italians.
That being said the countries are quite close to each other and over years there has been various relationships between Italians and Albanians including intermarriage. Albania also has a large Italian population.
Where Italians moved in USA Albanians followed. Staten Island, parts of Bronx, etc... Tons of Italian American places like pizzerias and restaurants are indeed owned by Albanians.
Several Italian-American guys from my HS class married Albanian girls. Hiccup with such relationships is many Albanians are followers of Islam.
Thing is areas where Italians largely have packed up and left, Albanians remained and keep coming. This includes Belmont in the Bronx and Staten Island.
I suspect that most ethnic communities, as they mature, become less and less localized. They start small, as poor immigrants bunch together on arrival, but then ideally they join the "melting pot."
I think Italians are a great example because for a long time the best Italian restaurants are no longer in Little Italy.
Italian-American areas in urban places like NYC began emptying out same as everyone else with white flight to the suburbs. Little Italy downtown, Italian Harlem, Newark, NJ, etc...
Yeah, the parents or grandparents may have arrived and been poor or working class, but the later generations did better and wanted their piece of the American dream. Post WWII that meant a house in the suburbs and everything else that went with middle-class lifestyle.
A few years ago, I watched a Youtube video in which Arthur Ave. in the Bronx was touted to be the best and most extensive remaining Little Italy in NYC.
The footage in the video showed a street lined with delis, cafes, restaurants, bakeries, and businesses owned by Italian merchants.
But, I have read that the Italian residential population in the Arthur Ave. vicinity is actually quite small. Supposedly, the major groups in this area of the Bronx are Mexicans, Dominicans, and Albanians. Also, a fair number of Fordham University students rent apartments in the neighborhood, as Arthur Ave. is located close to the campus.
A few years ago, I watched a Youtube video in which Arthur Ave. in the Bronx was touted to be the best and most extensive remaining Little Italy in NYC.
The footage in the video showed a street lined with delis, cafes, restaurants, bakeries, and businesses owned by Italian merchants.
But, I have read that the Italian residential population in the Arthur Ave. vicinity is actually quite small. Supposedly, the major groups in this area of the Bronx are Mexicans, Dominicans, and Albanians. Also, a fair number of Fordham University students rent apartments in the neighborhood, as Arthur Ave. is located close to the campus.
What surge of Italian-American customers there is along Arthur avenue in good part comes from people outside Belmont who go there to shop.
Lots of Italian-Americans from all over NYC and Tri-State area (such as NJ or Westchester) drive to Arthur Avenue to shop, maybe have a meal, etc...
Some (or their parents, grandparents, other family) grew up in the area but moved away. Others are looking for certain things that can be found easily on Arthur avenue.
Most of the Italians in Bensonhurst have moved out, the small population that is left is elderly. Bensonhurst today is mostly Chinese with Eastern Europeans, Albanians, Uzbeks, and Central Americans following.
Bay Ridge has never been an Italian neighborhood, I never understood that. It's always been mixed with Irish, Greek, Lebanese and Italians, Puerto Ricans and previously Norwegian. And later on more Middle Easterners moved in from Palestine, Egypt and Yemen.
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