Asked if she liked America, an Italian homeworker replied in 1911: “Not much, not much. In my country, people cook out-of doors, do the wash out-of-doors, tailor out-of-doors, make macaroni out-of-doors. And my people laugh, laugh all the time. In America, is “sopra, sopra!” [up, up, with a gesture of going upstairs]. Many people, one house; work, work all the time. Good money but no good air.” 

Source: Elizabeth C. Watson, “Home Work in the Tenements,” Survey, 25 (1910), 772

In hindsight, perhaps, the above statement could have been spoken by the hard-working Italian woman portrayed in this iconic, social journalistic photo. Her name was Mary Mauro. Mary lived in Italian East Harlem, in a 5 story “old-law” walk-up tenement, along with her family in 1911. By some “synchronistic serendipity,” Mary was one of the “homeworkers” chosen by sociologist and photographer, Lewis Wickes Hine, to be portrayed in his photographic…

ALTHOUGH THE “HALCYON DAYS” OF EAST HARLEM ARE LONG GONE,PLEASE HELP ME KEEP THE MEMORY ALIVE, OF WHAT LIFE ONCE WAS IN OUR OLD NEIGHBORHOOD!

SEND ME YOUR PHOTOS! I WILL POST THEM ON ITALIANHARLEM.COM! I WILL POST THEM IN MEMORY OF YOUR ANCESTORS…JUST MENTION YOUR FAMILY NAME, AND IT SHALL BE DONE!

EMAIL YOUR PHOTOS TO: italianharlem@gmail.com

THANK YOU FOR SHARING YOUR MEMORIES!

Angela Bella Puco

SHARE YOUR MEMORIES OF ITALIAN HARLEM!

Anthony (Tony) Ravielli (1 Jul 1916–9 Jan 1997) was born in Italian Harlem. He attended the Textile High School, taught himself anatomy by volunteering at the Bellvue Hospital morgue, and later studied at the Cooper Union and Art Students League. He began his career as a portrait painter, went into advertising, and by the early 1950s had become an author and freelance illustrator. By this time he had mastered what would become his signature medium–the scratchboard (or scraperboard, if your British). His spare, elegant, and remarkably accurate illustrations still stand today as some of the best examples of the medium.

But Ravielli would be forever linked with golf, a sport especially in need of instruction. In 1957 Hogan approached Ravielli to illustrate a five part series titled the “The Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf.” The result, which was quickly turned into a book, would become, perhaps, the most…

Douglas Gladstone

Luigi Del Bianco in Gutzon Borglum’s studio at Mount Rushmore with the models for George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Notice the torso and full dress on Washington; Borglum had originally planned to make Rushmore more than just the four faces, but lack of funding, skilled laborers and faulty rock precluded that. (Photo courtesy of Del Bianco Family Collection)

It’s a 1,727 mile drive from Italian Harlem, New York – between Pleasant Avenue to the east, First Avenue to the west, East 114th Street to the south and East 120th Street to the north — to the Mount Rushmore National Memorial, in Keystone, South Dakota. If you’re taking I-80 and I-90 westbound you can do the trip in just under 25 hours. 

There’s no way to do the trip faster, just as to date, there hasn’t been a way to bridge the gap that exists between the United States Department…

When Frank Sinatra Came to Italian Harlem: The 1945 “Race Riot” at Benjamin Franklin High School » pa

31 Jul 1922, Manhattan, New York City, New York State, USA — Original caption: The Most Populated Street in New York City – East 112th Street. General view of East 112th Street. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

http://www.corbisimages.com/stock-photo/rights-managed/U175496INP/street-scene-in-east-harlem?popup=1