Little Italy On The Brink Of Extinction ................... (New York, York: for sale, 2014)

[SHEPNYC]

It's been disappearing for years, unfortunately a piece of old New York will probably be no more over the coming decade.

"A piece of New York City history is bidding arrivederci.

Rising rents and changing demographics have driven Little Italy to the verge of extinction. Once a teeming neighborhood stretching 50 square blocks, it now barely covers three blocks of Mulberry Street — and even that strip is under threat.

“You can’t rebuild Little Italy,” said Robert Ianniello Jr., owner of the famed Umbertos Clam House. “If we go away, it will never be here again. You can’t build an Olive Garden and say it’s Little Italy.”

Ianniello is battling a rent increase from a new landlord who bought the building last month for $17.5 million. He recently got a rent bill for $34,000 a month — more than double what he used to pay.
“It’s a landlord problem,” said Ianniello, who heads the Little Italy Merchants Association. “They think this is Fifth Avenue.”

Eight eateries have shut down in the past year.

Il Fornaio, once owned by Gambino mobster Joseph Corrao, remains empty.

Giovanna’s shuttered after a six-year run when the landlord doubled the rent. Ads show the owner wants $32,000 monthly for the space.

A block south, at Positano Ristorante, a legal notice in the window shows the city marshal took over the storefront on behalf of the landlord in January.

At S.P.Q.R., the monthly rent jumped to more than $50,000 and the eatery was forced to close. The space currently is home to a year-round Christmas shop.

But it’s not just development that’s pressuring Little Italy. Cultural conflicts are also cutting it down to size.

In 2011, Nolita boutiques demanded the city remove three blocks from the famous Feast of San Gennaro to keep revelers’ “greasy hands” from besmirching their $300 frocks."

Little Italy is on the brink of extinction | New York Post

[Arxis28]

As trendy as it is to blame rich people and landlords for all wrong in NYC, Little Italy really no longer exists because the Italian residents chose to move. The surrounding blocks are Chinatown, so I doubt the former residents left due to high rent.

The current Mulberry Street is just another stage set in the Lower Manhattan amusement park. If the city seriously wants to keep a Little Italy, it should do more to nurture and promote the one in the Bronx.

[ddavide74]

This really is a shame that an historical neighborhood like Little Italy is disappearing... I've been there last year, I studied and admired every single piece of street and building. I met the people the ran some store and restaurant over there, I talked to them... I saw that only few italian people still live over there, but somebody still resists.
On Mulberry Street the air is always the same italian air, people around in the bar and at the restaurant are often italian people, outside the bars you still find old italian men sittings at the coffee tables. Some bakery like Alleva are so Italian that even in Italy you could have troubles to find something so pretty original… and you can speak Italian with dealers.. Little Italy will never die

[BellaLove]

yes its because the Chinese took over

[Lital_The_Best]

Originally Posted by Arxis28

As trendy as it is to blame rich people and landlords for all wrong in NYC, Little Italy really no longer exists because the Italian residents chose to move. The surrounding blocks are Chinatown, so I doubt the former residents left due to high rent.

The current Mulberry Street is just another stage set in the Lower Manhattan amusement park. If the city seriously wants to keep a Little Italy, it should do more to nurture and promote the one in the Bronx.

Right on. The Little Italy in Lower Manhattan has been dead for decades now in my opinion. Some great restaurants but NO Italians live there.

There's much more Italians in the Bronx and in Brooklyn than Manhattan. Bronx has two Little Italy's but unfortunately for the Bronx, it's not worth it for tourist to travel and doesn't hold the same weight as the one in Lower Manhattan did back then. If you're a true traveller and really interested in the history of the Bronx and it's Italian culture then you'll have a pretty good time eating at some of great restaurants and bakeries. If you're a tourist though, the Bronx simply won't tickle your fancy.

[BeautyinthebBX]

Originally Posted by Lital_The_Best

If you're a true traveller and really interested in the history of the Bronx and it's Italian culture then you'll have a pretty good time eating at some of great restaurants and bakeries. If you're a tourist though, the Bronx simply won't tickle your fancy.

Can you elaborate?

[Bronxguyanese]

Visit that last true little Italy in the Belmont section of the Bronx.

[bill83]

Originally Posted by BellaLove

yes its because the Chinese took over

No one can take over if they don't give up. In my neighborhood, when an Italian family moves out, a Chinese will moves in. Who can blame them if they bid the highest price.

[bill83]

People say many Italians move from BK to SI. Where is the new Little Italy in Staten Island?

[vision33r]

Because a few things, yes the Chinese have surrounded Little Italy and will no doubt swoop in once those properties are up for sale.

But, most Americans these days just won't pay the prices some of the Little Italy eatery charges. I went to Little Italy on restaurant week and every restaurant have their Prefix menu posted but most of them are empty. While Chinatown was packed with tourists on the other side mainly because tourists love fake handbags and cheap food.

Majority of Americans rather eat at Olive Garden than go to a real Italian restaurant and rather eat mass-market delivery pizza than from a local Italian pizzeria.