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It seems like a collective psychosomatic response--the people who lived their hard-scrabbled lives in their ethnic neighborhood finally get a toehold in society and move up in the world. They then decide the neighborhood they were associated with isn't good enough so they abandon the place, and as they do so, others take up the vacancies and fragment the community a little more and so make it a little less appealing and functional as a community, and thus makes it even easier for more of the old nabe to move out.
Of course, there are always things people can directly do to keep a community vibrant.
Sorry couldn't help it with all the my people talk.
As for the original question. Things change. The world constantly changes. I know Washington Heights won't be Dominican forever. It will be tough when that finally happens but hey it's life.
Last edited by NooYowkur81; 03-06-2009 at 09:10 AM..
And I know Little Italy is mostly East Asian now, but is it true that there's actually no Italian presence (outside the restaurants) whatsoever?
A lot of Italians moved to the burbs seeking the house with picket fence American dream (like in Billy Joel's Anthony's song). They were not pushed out, overrun or anything of that nature. It was a gradual process.
It seems like a collective psychosomatic response--the people who lived their hard-scrabbled lives in their ethnic neighborhood finally get a toehold in society and move up in the world. They then decide the neighborhood they were associated with isn't good enough so they abandon the place, and as they do so, others take up the vacancies and fragment the community a little more and so make it a little less appealing and functional as a community, and thus makes it even easier for more of the old nabe to move out.
Of course, there are always things people can directly do to keep a community vibrant.
Actually, people who are newly arrived tend to stay among those with whom they feel comfortable. If the immigrants' native language isn't English, it's a huge barrier to leaving those with whom they can converse. As their economic circumstances and, more important, they and their CHILDREN become fluent in the local language, they are more comfortable leaving. It's a natural progression.
My family came from Europe and went through the same process.
Well to be honest little italy is kinda crummy for families
no fields for kids, small apartments
it really is only good for yuppies and hipsters, and immigrants who are planning on moving into a big house in the burbs anyways
None of the immigrant groups (italian, irish, etc) ever planned on staying in those nabes to begin with
Their dreams were to get rich and move away into a big McMansion
if they wanted to preserve their nabes then they would have stayed in Sicily
Yeah I totally understand that but there is no denying that in the process many of them lost a part (a big part actually) of themselves and their culture. The Italian-American experience in New York City was very unique and its own separate entity from Italian culture and Italian-American culture in general. But that's sort of how life is, you give something up to gain something else.
Last edited by NooYowkur81; 03-06-2009 at 09:28 AM..
but that was the whole point of them moving here in the first place
only a portion of them really wanted to preserve their old world mentality, the rest could not care less
Who are you responding to? Please quote.
But I'll respond to what you just wrote. I don't totally agree with that because Italians are very proud of their heritage, and my point was more in regards to Italian-American culture, in particular NYC Italian-American culture not "old-world" culture.
A few ethnic neighborhoods are also being transformed by gentrification. Professionals are replacing the ethnic longtimers and the neighborhoods are getting pricey. A few examples: Fishtown(Irish) and Fairmount(Polish) in Philadelphia, German and Italian Villages ( ethnic group obvious) in Columbus Ohio, Bridgeport (Irish) in Chicago, and in Williamsburg(Polish and Italian) ,Greenpoint (Polish) and Carroll Gardens (Italian) here in Brooklyn. Most of these hipsters and professionals are transplants from other parts of the country and they are from many ethnic backgrounds.
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