The Bowery Boys episode 449, Italian Harlem, New York's Forgotten Little Italy.

Hey, it's the Bowery Boys.

Hey.

Hi there. Welcome to the Bowery Boys. This is Greg Young.

And this is Tom Myers. And today we're going to spend some time telling the story of one of the first American neighborhoods to ever be referred to as Little Italy.

That's right. And spoiler alert, this isn't the one that's located downtown on Mulberry

Street. Now, this Little Italy, one of the earliest Italian enclaves in this country,

was located more than six miles north of that little Italy, the more recognizable one.

This one was in Harlem, in East Harlem.

Starting in the late 1870s, so almost 150 years ago, Italian immigrants from mostly the southern

areas of Italy, began immigrating to New York.

Many settled downtown around the area of today's touristy little Italy,

but many also settled in East Harlem in an area that today you might call Spanish Harlem or El Barrio,

named for its Puerto Rican residents.

Italian Harlem, I think we could say, is a forgotten or nearly vanished neighborhood from old

New York. Today represented by only a scant number of landmarks on a couple streets near the

East River. But I bet if you wander around

any modern neighborhood with a strong Italian presence in this region, South Brooklyn, Staten

Island, New Jersey, what have you, you'll find yourself around people who can trace their

lineage back through the streets of this area,

Italian Harlem.

Including, perhaps, many of you listening right now.

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