Memory Lane

[searcher]

Episode 15 : The Last Days of Little Italy / "The Ladies of Little Italy" (New York City Short Film)​

Mar 7, 2025 #nyc #newyork #littleitaly

The Last Days of Little Italy: An Original Documentary Series.
Little Italy, a historic haven for immigrant families from the old country, was once threatened by an ever-expanding Chinatown. But now the fatal blow is being delivered by the gentrifiers. Corporations, yuppies, and chain stores all moved in. How did Little Italy transform itself from a working class neighborhood of tenement buildings to the third most expensive zip code in the United States?
Part funny, part sad, the series explores the impact gentrification is having on Little Italy's long-term residents. The striking imagery captures the neighborhood before it is completely erased by sterile trendy stores and upper middle class sameness.
Will New York City lose another cultural touchstone to the forces of greed?


16:25

 

[Fatrat]

Once other whites decided Italians were white, the little Italy ghettos were doomed. Now, where do I get good cannolis...?

 

[searcher]

 

[Casey Jones]

I think every one of us does.

I still have evidence of the old tech, everywhere. I have a landline phone - tucked away in a box, in case yesterday comes back. And I just threw out a stash of old VHS tapes - it would cost more to transcribe them than to just re-buy the movies. Although I have some home-made VHS tapes I'd like to see again, to decide if I want to keep them. Remember, recording them, once you had the cam-corder, was free - a lot of stupid crap went on them, and a lot of poor judgment.

I still have several mp3 players. I draw the line at subscribing to streaming services. NOT HAPPENING.

 

[Fatrat]

CD's and DVD's are a buck or two at the fleamarket, burn to computer, then on to phone and tablet....

 

[Casey Jones]

CD's and DVD's are a buck or two at the fleamarket, burn to computer, then on to phone and tablet....

Yeah, I do that regularly, when I'm bored.

I have a full bookshelf of movies I'm gonna watch someday...but not the same ones I threw out. At a second-hand sale, you get Hobson's Choice.