allaboutwomen

When I first encountered the title of this book on Amazon.com, I knew I just had to buy it. The reason for this? Because I grew up in little Italy, and in the "neighborhood" 48 years lived before I in moved to Sarasota, Florida late 1995.

"Memories of growing up in little Italy, NY - A Memoir by Guz Petruzzelli," is only 83 pages long, and perhaps a little pricey at $15.99. But apart from that, this book provides an accurate invoice, what it was like growing up in Manhattan's little Italy more that 50 years ago.

Petruzzelli is a few years older than I, and he grew in little Italy on Mulberry Street above Canal Street, while I only half a block south of the channel, one block west of Mulberry on Baxter Street raised. Believe it or not, are these neighborhoods in two fundamentally different; Canal Street is the dividing line. I remember many times crossing Canal Street and having to run for my life, not to a good beating from above Canal Street thugs to catch me a intruder on their sacred turf as. Good thing I was a fast runner.

Petruzzelli writes short chapters with titles like "Street Games," "hand-made scooters and cars", "the fire hydrant" and "Street Ball" as things were exactly parallel, a child, grow up than I in little Italy was. We often played the same games sometimes in the same places, but more.

Petruzzelli writes a chapter about "James Center," a youth centre on Hester Street, where I basketball and softball many times played. I remember the basketball court James Center short and narrow, with two beams, the hanging parallel ceiling out of a basket to the other, makes it impossible to shoot from any corner. Were only jump shots that were possible around the key.

But if Petruzzelli writes about neighborhood restaurants and specialty Luncheonettes, he lists differently are frequented as the people from below Canal Street. Petruzzelli mentioned restaurants Puglia's, Vincent's quiet bar, Angelo's and Grotta Azzura, all places where I occasionally ate. But he may fine restaurants like Forlini's mention Antica Roma, the lime House and Giambone's, which were the favorite of those who lived below Canal. He writes a chapter about Dave's corner, was a legendary eatery on the corner of Canal and Broadway, but thats the only eating place we both regularly visits. (There is an entire chapter in my novel big fat Fanny index creation which Dave's corner.)

Petruzzelli loses middle schools, high schools and parks, he visited me completely when he mentions. See "Grammar School," he lists 130 HP as the school that "too went all in the neighborhood." Simply not true for us who lived below Canal Street. Everyone I knew the Transfiguration grammar school attended at visit 29 Mott Street, which was a Catholic school that had a very small fees. If someone under Canal could not afford the fee went to PS 24, at the corner of mulberry and Bayard.

Petruzzelli mentioned hair high school in hell's kitchen as public high school "chosen most of his friends." Under Canal, which most of us went to Catholic schools such as cardinal Hayes in the Bronx, where I attended or LaSalle Academy, almost located in the neighborhood, 6th Street between second and Third Avenue. The public schools of choice for people below Canal Street was Seward Park high school, also close to the little Italy at Grand street close to Essex.

Yet the chapter, is this really me puzzles one entitled "plays in the parks." Petruzzelli Christie Street Park as the one mentioned hung he and his pals, but he does not even mention Columbus Park, on Mulberry, just one block south of the channel. Everyone I both up and down Canal Street knew Park hung in Columbus. We played cards on the numerous benches and baseball, football and basketball in the large concrete athletic field with hundreds of neighborhood played to people the League sports watch many of you from above Canal Street.

Such differences aside, "memories of growing up in little Italy, NY - A Memoir by Guz Petruzzelli" is a fine read. I only wish that the book was a little longer so Petruzzelli could places in little Italy which have included those of us at Canal Street visited also lived.

No mention of Columbus Park to little Italy in the 1950s and 1960s? This is almost like a book to write, not to mention stage of growing up in the South Bronx and Yankee.