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Remember the Soprano's "Bada Bing's" is on Route 17 in Lodi (Satin Dolls) for obvious reasons, so what could be more Italian. Lodi is still very "Italian"....Vitamia (great sausage bread) and Visentini's, still the best Italian deli and specialty stores. The senior citizens club could be dubbed "Italian-American" club. And like I said before, the next generation is already planting their roots. The difference is that the real Italian immigrants, like my Mom, are dying off. The language will be disappearing because French is pushed in school curriculums, not Italian.
Are you kidding me?
Dude, Lodi SUCKS. It used to be one of the best towns to live in for nearly a century 1880's to 1980's, then all the scumbags came from NYC/Hudson/Passaic County. The italians are going to be extinct (they almost are now) within the next decade. Harrison ave? yeah right. All Albanian's now my man. The days of the made guys, paulies, vinny's, and Sal's, like my grandfather, are long gone. Everybody died, moved, or just dosent care. It's what we call "americanization".
Hoboken- that's where Joey Pants is from (Joe Pantoliano)
another Sopranos man is from Jersey as well (most of the actors were orginally from Brooklyn Edie Falco, Lorraine Bracco, Tony Sirico, etc.)
the big man Tony Soprano (Jame Gandolfini) is from Westwood in Bergen County. big italian area?
has anyone been to the Italian-American festival in Hoboken?
James Gandolfini is from Park Ridge, not Westwood. He was born in Westwood, as were many who are from the Pascack Valley towns, because that's where Pascack Valley Hospital was. My brother was also born there, but he would never say he is "from" there, as he was raised in Park Ridge. I know many people who are a little older than me (mostly siblings of my friends) who went to school with James Gandolfini before I was in that school.
Big Italian area? I don't know how to answer that - lots of Italians throughout the area but it's not an "Italian area". We have one of the best Italian deli's in the state, though - Casa Del Sol. But it's a pretty mixed area - lots of Italians and Irish, plenty of Jews, Dutch, Germans, Greeks, Asians, "Americanized" Hispanics, English/Scottish, Armenians, Polish, etc. So, Italian is one of the bigger ethnicities here but not a majority, really.
And wiley 39% of 2000 isn't much. I'm tellin ya, netcong = hicksabama. not a true italian neighborhood. us italians are urbanites, we dewll in the cities. not in a small town on the shores of Lake Muscetnetcong... did i spell that right?
I went to college with a guy with a really long Italian surname who came from a small town in rural Georgia and had a really pronounced drawl and "redneck" vibe to him. Didn't know people like that existed.
I was suprised Union wasn't on the list. All my in-law's family was there. And all their in-laws too.
They were all over the place!
And Millburn had a large italian section. Heck, they built the PaperMill Playhouse.
Newark used to, but I guess the old neighborhoods where different nationalities clustered are gone.
Also, Neptune.
I was glad to see Kenilworth is still on the list. I always liked that town.
oh hey, somebody brought up my old thread. yeah, I'm still searching for that strong Italian community. I was hoping to find some old Italian roots here in Brooklyn... let's just say there aren't many, but I've got another 4 years to check out the whole borough. it's hard because I've been really busy.
Check out Washington Twp (Gloucester county) & Deptford, Mt. Ephraim & other small towns along Rte 168 in Gloucester county. Very nice Italian -American areas close to South Philadelphia. Great restaurants & culture activities and your just a few miles from Philly.
Interestingly, in some areas of Gloucester county (Woolwich Twp., Swedesboro area, etc.) there are a lot of Italian-American vegetable farmers. Just shows it's not only the urban areas that have a strong italian-american presence.
organized crime in the Italian-American community (Mafia) is virtually dead. it is certainly dead in New Jersey, any activity that you may hear about (East Hanover, Godfather's pizza... yadda yadda) there just small time guineas (it's chill, I'm Italian. i refer to myself as a guinea all the time) its so rare.
personally i would worry about lower street crimes. cuz those can actually be harmful to you. and most (if not all) of the Italian communities mentioned in the thread are very nice towns. some are just more working class/blue collar. doesnt mean its a crime-wridden area.
Strength to Italy, Paisans!
I was hysterical when you wrote the part about East Hanover's Godfather's Pizza. Let me explain.
I grew up in East Hanover. I think that E.H. back then had far more heavily Italian back then. It's supposed to be 35% now, but when I was in school it must have been 90%. I'm not kidding! I was one of the few people in my school that didn't have a vowel at the end of my name. I was one of the few non-Italians.
Anyway, about the Godfather's Pizza. Some of my friends used to say that they'd see men in black shirts there. You know what I mean. Also, the Godfather's Pizza delivery van had the slogan: The Pizza You Can't Refuse with a drawing of a machine gun! The website still has the slogan but no machine gun:The Godfather Pizzeria - the best pizza in NJ
Once you find a lot of those, go to the nearest street corner and yell out "Oh Ay!" and if you get the obligatory "Ay Oh!" back, you are headed in the right direction.
Then, find a male citizen and start a beef. Look for these key phrases from them:
"Do you know who I am?"
"One call and your dead"
"Yo, Vinny, Joey, Tony, come ovah hee-ah, dis guys starting ****"
and the obligatory "You talkin to me?"
Oh, and I am 90% Italian American.
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