Gothamist: Neighborhood Wants San Gennaro to Sleep With Fishes

sharpshoota

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 23:39:17 -0500

So what do the wonder breads wanna turn the city into? The burbs? Move out you hipster losers.

mike

Mon, 09 Apr 2007 10:52:55 -0500

#37, You sound like a real winner. Why stop at the Italians, lets move the Jews and the Chinese and any other ethnic group that cares enough about their neighborhood to make it their own. Yup lets just move em out...Lets whitewash it all, sterilize it...get rid of its ethnic vibe, the energy. Hell maybe you can even give it a clever little name...kind of like nolita...say maybe noidentity. It's a street fair, eleven days, just deal.

Kurt M

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 17:11:34 -0500

#52 is a street peddler. He is a Jew from NJ, not an Italian as he claims. He cares nothing about the Feast. But, hell, doesn't everyone already know that Robert Lederman has no scruples or morals. That is why the ADL referred to him as a "self-hating" Jew.

Sonny the Cuckoo Bird

Wed, 28 Mar 2007 23:26:41 -0500

RLLLLARRRRGHH!!!! Stop shitting in my cereal! RRRROOOWWWRR!!

Grover

Wed, 28 Mar 2007 00:07:00 -0500

why not make it like TASTE OF TRIBECA and invite Italian restaurants to set up individual booths? I'm sure they'd be willing to donate a percentage of their profits to the Church -- which must be what this is really all about. MONEY MONEY and MONEY. It's disgusting.

La Leone

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 18:05:35 -0500

Good to see positive and constructive ideas! If you'd care to be more in the loop w/what's going at Community Board 2, see website below. CB 2 covers a really broad area, and many people didn't KNOW about the meeting where Sean Sweeney said: "No one likes San Gennaro who lives here" www.cb2manhattan.org/index.html Community Board 2 Contacts: Chairperson: Maria Pessante Derr Dirstict Manager: Bob Gormley Community Board # 2 3 Washington Sq. Village, Suite 1A New York, NY 10012-1801 telephone: 212- 979-2272 fax: 212.254.5102 email: cb2manhattan@nyc.rr.com P.S. In my past experience it was best to CALL the CB # 2 office the day of scheduled meeting and say you were going to send A FAX about a certain issue pertaining to that evening. I would then get the name of the unenthusiastic helper who answered the phone, fax the documents with all the appropriate persons name on them, and then CALL the person back to make sure my fax arrived. There are also montly Community Council Meetings at the 5th Precinct on the LAST WEDNESDAY of every month. The last one happens to be TOMORROW, Wed., 2/28 @ 8pm. Here is the address: 5th Precinct House 19 Elizabeth Street Between Canal and Bayard 8 pm www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/html/pct/pct005.html Community Council Members Names: www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/html/pct/com005.html There is a new head Lt. there and I would like to start showing up to these meetings again. I have in the past when there's been a hot button issue for myself and my neighbors. In conclusion: Italian Informant, thank you for sharing that eye-opening research with us. Malatron, nice and to the point. Thanks for your continued support. In fact the only recent dipshit post is OG Bowery. (# 55 and # 56) Which do you prefer? 70 yr. old guys in track suits, tacky hairdoos of all ages, and some exaggerated stereotypes? Or people who've "lived here for a few years" who's conversational abilty consists of: "I'm on the list: DJ go Fuck yaaaaa self!" "ayyyyyy o" Can't you just see OG Bowery yelling that at the top of his lungs and nearly running people over as he bikes down Mulberry Street? See, aside from a few nutcases (that exist in every neighborhood) the overwhelming majority of old school people left are very nice. They know who you are and they'll look out for you. Your life is better knowing interesting people who have seen it all, but are still open enough to give you the time of day. And guess what? The neighborhood is still safe. All of the "nouveau riche" newcomers are usually too self-absorbed to be neighborly, community-oriented, or in some cases, even cordial. They complain but they don't show up, they don't partcipate. Even if they cared, they have lives structured around a work-driven lifestyle that doesn't include evening community meetings and such.

PeteMac

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 15:25:15 -0500

#57: And while we're at it, lets tear down that old, crumbling Yankee Stadium and build something new... oh wait, they are doing that...

Tim N.

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 13:49:30 -0500

#46: Fair point. I always thought what we NYers do is bitch, as opposed to whine, but still, the pivotal point is that they're ignored and we all go on with our lives.

tps12

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 11:55:44 -0500

If all people can find to complain about is that they don't like to see unfashionable people from New Jersey on their sidewalks, then it's kind of hard to take this seriously. I'll side with mozzarepa stands and giant novelty cigars over elitist assholery any day.

Tom

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 11:31:23 -0500

As somebody who's been living on top of "the Feast" for a couple years, I can tell you that it needs to go, And this essentially sums up present day New York. What's next, moving to East 7th and complaining about "that loud, smelly McSorley's place" and campaigning for its condemnation?

bowery OG

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 11:14:35 -0500

"I'm on the list: DJ go Fuck yaaaaa self!" "ayyyyyy o"

bowery OG

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 11:12:12 -0500

I've lived in the nighborhood for a few years and that fair gives me the shivers. The one great thing is that I can sail down Mulberry at 9am on my bike. I would sacrifice this *one* benefit to not have to see Tri state area trash itch their balls and act more cliche' than usual. bon bon

Downtown James Brown

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 10:53:27 -0500

I'm ambivalent - it goes back much longer than any of us yuppie newcomers*, and it's an integral part of the waning identity of a proud New York neighborhood. There are some elements that go too far though, and I suspect the Community Board would be perfectly content with a scaled back "feast" that is a little more authentic and less generic than the current incarnation. San Gennaro does not have to run 11 days, and it does not need that godforsaken clown screaming in everyone's windows until 11pm every night. Keep the parades, keep the zeppole stands, but cut back on the carnival barking and the useless t-shirt and underwear stands - actually cut back on anything not food-related (it is a feast, after all) that one can find at any other street festival in town - and it would be a vast improvement. Oh, and I'd love to see it shortened to a long weekend, say Weds-Sun for 5 fun days instead of 11, especially if the clown stays on the ticket. By the second weekend, I don't just want to drown him, I want to strangle him too. But the festival should not die, and I sincerely hope the Community Board understands this and is just firing a warning shot across the bow. After all, San Gennaro has been around longer than almost anyone in the neighborhood - save a few of the really older people in my building, of course. *Full disclosure: I moved to the neighborhood a little over four years ago, and I am not of Italian-American descent.

malatron

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 07:37:20 -0500

um, i didnt even finish reading the other comments after I finished reading la leone's. The comments i did read made valid points. youre all on to something. but so is la leone. and she touched on two reasons the festival should be preserved for eva. Most importantly, "if you look closely you will see what remains of the older generation sitting outside on their chairs. This chaos makes them feel alive again. They relive memories and are excited."Seri, don't shit in their cereal and tell them it's cocoa puffs. Fucks. They'll be dead soon, wait it out. also, she continued, "And COME ON, who doesn't love gawking @ guidos from NJ? They're a riot. It's almost touching to see someone blissfully unaware that "mall hair" was elimated years ago. Just look at how 1990 has time traveled and landed on their heads! And to think that there are actually people who exist NOT wearing a Bon Jovi shirt to be an ironic piece of shit attention-seeking loser. I prefer guidos cause they simply have bad taste!"Fo real. Bad taste is still taste. People with taste, by default, are way better than those without any. You know whats really tasteless? People who live in communities and cant stand community. Thats gross.

Italian Informant

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 03:51:28 -0500

Sweeney heads the SoHo Alliance. And we all know how "authentic" SoHo is nowadays. His group has spent over $100,000 suing various groups to make sure New York neighborhoods suit their particular sanitized tastes. Here's a bit on Sweeney, complete with photo: www.villagevoice.com/news/0613,shott,72676,5.html Notice that in the article, the head of Justice For Imette group didn't like Sweeney's group very much. Sweeney also believes that certain kinds of art is NOT entitled to First Amendment protection: www.openair.org/alerts/artist/freedswn.html Sweeney has a history fighting against artists' free expression, and the things that give our city its character.

Bobby The Fish

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 01:17:12 -0500

Now we'll have The Patron Saint of "NIMBY" to celebrate every year. All the Boutiques will set up booths with fake Minolo Blanic's, every other booth will be selling Sushi or Mojitos and Cosmo's, and Paris and Britney will make the show (in more ways than one). Oh - the Feast won't start until 11pm, and won't end until 4am, thereby ensuring not to interfere with the sleep cycles of the new 3 year wonders inhabiting the area. You can't enter the block unless your on the list, and you have to be hammered before you get there. Video survelance will be set up to make sure nobody gets beaten, raped, or shot. And - drum roll please - the ever popular drive by at the HOT97 booth!! La Leone was right. Clean it up, restore it to what it was about, what IT stood for. Don't let the neighborhood lose part of its longstanding "identity" and become just another faceless overpriced neighborhood. And, oh yeah: Hey Sweeney - go piss in the wind!

homemade wine

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 00:39:26 -0500

don't forget the wine with peaches. How many sausage, zeppole, pop the balloon, shiskabob, calzone stands do you need per block? I think the festival is too long. make it 5 blocks. However, I will miss the ladies peeing behind the hedges behind what used to be the DMV, but that was ages ago. that was an eye opener.

La Leone says give the guidos what they want!

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 00:33:48 -0500

After reading 1st post, I really wish that Gothamist had an "edit my comment button" for AFTER you post. However, I did spent an hour writing to CB 2, the Medici foundation, and to my some-time tenants' organization. I guess I could let Gothamist know how it goes. Although I went a bit bananas, I don't care if I sound crazy. After reading this, I read the post reminding us that this will be the last summer of Astroland @ Coney Island. I mean, does EVERYTHING in NYC have to become this upscale, condo-living culture of snooty superiority?! I can understand how the feast represents little cultural value to upscale newcomers, but come on! What actual HARM is a perceived "lower class" cultural event really doing to you people? Do you actually care about anyone besides yourselves? I was raised to respect the cultures of people from all races and classes. And my "guido" cousins accept me for who I am and I accept them. They arevsuper nice. I bet not ALL of you come from an upper class society. Any humble backwoods roots somewhere that you would actually support rather than deny? The majority of people on the feast commitee and who benefit from it, range from about their 50's to their 80's. So. I'm going to try to get involved with some positive changes... So, Sean Sweeney or whomever can get his panties out of a bunch. Hell, I'll buy him a new pair in September with the Italian flag airbrushed on the butt! Guido fabulous! P.S. Just read # 48: San Gennaro is the true patron saint of Naples, and never referred to as the patron saint of disasters. Ever seen the shrine of San Gennaro in amazing Naples, Italy? They have only placed him as protector of volcanic eruptions becuase Naples is sitting under Mt. Vesuvius. He is not the patron saint of "disasters." So take you faux "O Italian festival" nostalgia and... Va fanculo, Fredo.

Never Again, Fredo

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 23:44:43 -0500

considering San Genero is the patron Saint of disaster areas, then maybe this SHOULD be a tradition. But by Gawd, have you been to this mess recently? Where is the authenticity gone, the stand selling of (insert ethnic of your choice here) mix tapes that STILL echo in my ears.... What, you don't think "yards" of Pina Colada's and stands selling crap I wouldn't take for free is to be preserved? **Elect a senior board of trustees commited to oversee restoring the Event to what it should be. The Best Little feast of the Year, not the biggest piece of recycled mozzarella this side of Houston. And please someone cap the price of stuffed anchovies, slices, and fried oreos, or you, my friend, will find me "going to the matresses." O' Italian Festival we were young once. And good.

Christine

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 23:09:24 -0500

I don't think it is the festival that is necessarily the problem, as echoed in previous statements, it is what the festival has become. If the Italian community wants to honor the Saint and the history of the festival, then they need to not allow permits to the ban of "professional" street vendors that hold all of the random "fairs" across town. The SG is tacky, distasteful, disruptive and unpleasant. I think everyone would welcome a revised SG with an old-Italian feel.

S

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 21:50:11 -0500

#43: "Whining is so un-NY" Are you kidding? Whining is so NY. It's our god-given right to bitch about everything, and anything, that bothers us. And it's also everyone else's god-given right to not give a shit about us whining. It's a good system.

La Vita e Bella

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 21:13:54 -0500

" I know a stand last year where a Hispanic-Italian family made THE BEST affordable calamari, fried shrimp, big fat raw clams, etc" I bet they're from Argentina !

Still Not Amused

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 20:49:30 -0500

Wow, #38 you really had a lot to say concerning this issue . Anyway, I think the festival is a positive for the city for obvious reasons . It's both a boon, As well as a thorn in the ass for the folks that live in the area ! Both conditions considered, It's a necessary evil that the folks impacted have to learn to deal with .

Tim N.

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 20:39:34 -0500

The Feast is an unholy mess (no pun intended) (well, that's not totally true). It's sort of like the Italian government laid out on a city street (as my Italian grandpa used to say). But New York would be just that much more homogenized if it were cancelled... as much as it is a theme-park-y event now, it would be worse if it were gone. And I love the yups who moved to that nabe knowing the place would be crawling with zeppole and rigged big six wheels all September and now say it has to go. Yups, listen up: Whining is so un-NY. Sometimes I think apartments should come with owner's manuals. And good luck cancelling it... you'll get the St Patrick's Day paradae called before the Feast goes. But then again, maybe I shouldn't give anyone ideas...

squidfly

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 20:30:49 -0500

So this is where all the crazies went...they're online sucking down their Med's.

bruce

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 20:08:36 -0500

That comment is even better when you read it with a yo vinnie accent!!

GaryK

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 20:06:16 -0500

I gotta agree with Penny and La Leone, learn to love the chaos. Try and improve it by removing the stands that are in the "typical" street fair circuit and replace it with representatives of the GREAT restaurants in the area. I have lived in the area for 7 years and while it may be a pain at times it usually puts a smile on my face. I really hope some cooler heads prevail here and people try to improve it before they scrap the whole festival. It is a great part of NY and I would hate to see it go away.

nick

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 19:46:45 -0500

JESUS CHRIST THAT'S A LONG COMMENT.

La Leone

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 19:24:47 -0500

I've had family in the neighborhood for 4 generations (like John Fratta's, who I know)so here I go... It's so easy to dismiss us and say there are no Italians are left. Yes, mostly everyone has moved to Brooklyn, S.I. and NJ. But some of us are still here! Hello! Ciao! And our opinions still matter! There are a handful of insane old school Italian characters alive and kickin' it in Little Italy. Seriously. They have balls. Um, once, @ a community board meeting I saw someone mentioned above throw a metal folding chair at someone accusing the feast organizers of embezzling money. Hey, they were falsely accused! Anyhoo "the beast" is like a necessary evil. It's one of the few things LEFT that represent Italian-American culture - for better or for worse! And there IS good food to be had. For example, Umberto's has two stands on Mulbery St. w/fried clams, shrimp, and calamari w/its famous hot, sweet or mild sauce. A tad pricey, but absolutely delicious! Yeah, there's a lot of non-Italian people serving up shitty food, but we've had to deal w/people ripping off our food for hundreds of years - nothing new! I know a stand last year where a Hispanic-Italian family made THE BEST affordable calamari, fried shrimp, big fat raw clams, etc. If you don't like that kind of food, tough shit, don't eat it! I love being able to walk a few hundred feet to stuff my face for lunch. Not everyone has to be a pure Italian and "from the neighborhood" to know how to make excellent food. I'm half Italian myself. I know some Greek-Italians and Hispanic- Italians who live in various parts of NY, but who are proud to show up and work at a booth, food or non, year after year. I DON'T live directly on Mulberry Street, rather on a parallel street, and I KNOW that it can be overwhelming to have all that Italian sausage smoke and noise underneath your window. But if you look closely you will see what remains of the older generation sitting outside on their chairs. This chaos makes them feel alive again. They relive memories and are excited. Let me tell you, the small amount of younger people, the middle aged, and older people who are Italian FROM THE NEIGHBORHOOD defintely do not want the feast to go away. Shit we all bitch about it, but it's OURS. There are some deserving older people FROM the neighborhood that make money during the feast. Ex: anyone know "Vinny Peanuts?," he sells nuts and torrone from a cart. He used to park his cart in a parking lot in the neighborhood, now it's been bought for condos. He now pays a parking garage an insane amount of money to store his cart. He's one of the nicest people I know and he makes a lot of his money during San Genarro and St. Anthony, and hey does anyone even know that we still have San Gandolfo? He's only in his fifties. I doubt he'll be able to survive if the feasts are denied permits. FYI, If I ever see someone pissing on the side walk near my bulding, I call the 5th precinct on my cell and start running towards them, yelling. Yes, I've gone apeshit and chased people down the block. No one wants drunks pissing in front of their bldg. Since the alchol ban there's been a lot less of that, and most of us know how to enjoy a drink @ home and take a couple of quick token walks through the feast during the 10 day period. A few years ago my neighbor hung a sign on our bidg. door that said: "Anone caught shitting on the sidewalk will be hit with a baseball bat. Thank you. Vinnie" hoooohaaha! So look for me and like the ten of us non-guido younger generation hanging out this year.(Chinese included, btw.) I also enjoy riding on the ferris wheel on Grand btwn Mott and Mulberry. Hey, you've got to take this shit w/a grain of salt, it is what it is. And COME ON, who doesn't love gawking @ guidos from NJ? They're a riot. It's almost touching to see someone blissfully unaware that "mall hair" was elimated years ago. Just look at how 1990 has time traveled and landed on their heads! And to think that there are actually people who exist NOT wearing a Bon Jovi shirt to be an ironic piece of shit attention-seeking loser. I prefer guidos cause they simply have bad taste! I'm going to be pro-active and find if there are ways that the community can compromise on this instead of having it eliminated. Fuck that. Comunity Board 2 has fucked over the neighborhood so many times by not protesting strongly enough against the INVASION of bars in the past few years. And when they did come together to recommend AGAINST liquor licenses it didn't do much good. The SLA handed them out left and right to ANYONE for the last five years until it finally but a halt on them! And, YOU, "Mulberry residentS" who has lived on Mulberry Street for three years, you have some fucking nerve: "There's something not right about a street with shops selling $2000 pairs of shoes and a degenerate carnie selling tube socks by yelling through a microphone strapped around his neck. This "festival" may have been the pride of Little Italy, but it's a train-wreck now." I've got news for you. I have watched Nolita morph into a retail/real estate beast in just over a decade! That's right, a NY Times article coined Nolita when there were still artists and artisans and barely ANY bullshit boutiques selling their precious crap. There's something not right about people who have lived in the neighbrhood for a couple of years complaining that something that has gone on for EIGHTY YEARS. This neighborhood was predominantly Neopolitan for a hell of a lot longer than you've been around. There are old people shaking their heads right now saying that it's not right that $ 2000 pairs of shoes are being sold where the deli used to be. If ten days disrupts your stupid sense of entitement, just get over yourself already! Don't worry once all the smoke and noise clears you are free to consume and commercialize the neighborhood for the remaining 355 days of the year.

Ed

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 19:24:38 -0500

Time to move the San Genarro fair to New Jersey or Staten Island, along with the rest of the New York's Italian-American community. "Little Italy" has gone the way of "Kleindeutscheland" (what the LES was called in the mid 19th century). But the cheap underwear stalls sound useful. Maybe someone can organize a street festival just around that.

praxis

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 18:42:29 -0500

Seriously though, Atlantic Antic in Brooklyn should be the model. Why can't all NYC street festivals be like the Atlantic Antic? Lots of music and performances pertaining to the character of the neighborhood and food stalls from the vendors who actually line the street. Little Italy needs just that, if only someone can organize the businesses to cooperate. Renting out your street fair to the street fair industry only makes sense if it's the cheapest, easiest option. But it's not working- they've become a blight.

koward beach

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 18:07:46 -0500

I'll go one better, Let's move it to Bensonhurst, Howard Beach, Middle Village, Bayside And Glendale.

Pratt

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 17:58:02 -0500

Too funny. One of the San Genarro board members, Austin Campriello, was Dennis Kozlowski's defense lawyer. You KNOW he's looking out for the community's best interest, right? forbes dot com/business/2005/05/25/cx_da_0525topnews dot html

erika!

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 17:56:25 -0500

Lets just move san gennaro to Howard Beach or Glendale. Where the yuppies have yet to infiltrate.

Meghan

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 17:47:22 -0500

Wouldn't you know it. The Medici "foundation" is also a for-profit company - (b)the-medici dot com(/b) - that certainly benefits from sucking all it can out of Little Italy with no regard for the people who actually LIVE there. I will eat my hat if any of the "Board of Trustees" lives in a 25 mile vicinity of the San Genarro arrepa fest.

bob

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 17:36:59 -0500

People who have only living in the neighborhood for three years are not allowed to complain.

mulberry st resident

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 17:28:04 -0500

i live on mulberry st, and i can tell you san genarro is the worst 9 days of the year for all of us who live here. there is the drown the clown (but if only he would really drown) and the nasty garbage that is piled up on the streets by people who don't live here. the worst part was the sausage guy who set up shop on my stoop and wouldn't let residents into the building, didn't clean up his garbage, and cursed at any woman who walked by with the vilest language i have ever heard. oh, and the rats the festival brings out. i say good riddance.

Prior Mott Resident

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 17:27:29 -0500

I used to live on mott, directly across from the obnoxious mocking clown contraption. Damn the thing...especially at 11:30 on a Tuesday night while settling in from some fun LSAT studying. The fair is a nuisance and a danger. Last summer my friends (and I) were on our way home when we were almost run over by a gang of moterbike-thugs (the bikes with the super thick tires), who felt that the sidewalk belonged to them. It smells, its loud and the people who come down do not shop or spend money on the actual stores that reside in that community. In fact the whole thing hurts the Nolita as everyone wants to avoid the drunken, disgusting debauchal. I, on the other hand, would be totally ok with making it one weekend, fair enough. Have your fried faux italian on a stick and move on! The fair may seem fun but when you wake to the mess and vandalism on your front porch. I doubt this is what San Genaro had in mind!

Kaet

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 17:18:13 -0500

May you all sleep with the fishes. Vinnie, get my bat. Bada bing!

penny

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 17:09:49 -0500

Instead of scrapping the whole festival, why not just work on improving it? Scrap the street vendors selling food and goods that aren't even Italian related, and ban t-shirts and underpants bearing slogans.

Schadenfreudian Mensch

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 16:58:24 -0500

"But really now, wasn't everything better when the Mafia ran it?" Because we all know that the Mafia is all about customer satisfaction. "Everyone gripes how San Gennaro is not as "authentic Italian" as it used to be. Since when has it ever been?" Maybe if we bring the Mafia back to the festival it'll have that authenticity that it's currently lacking because everyone loves to see people getting busted on their kneecaps and getting whacked right on the streets of Little Italy. So why disappoint.

Murray Hillster

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 16:42:46 -0500

From the Medici Press Release: "“This is a direct attack against Italian-Americans who, through their blood, sweat and tears, helped make this a wonderful city to live and work while sharing their legacy and wonderful culture with all people of all backgrounds,” added Medici. ... “This is a direct attack against Italian-Americans who, through their blood, sweat and tears, helped make this a wonderful city to live and work while sharing their legacy and wonderful culture with all people of all backgrounds."" So, what they're saying is this is a direct attack against Italian-Americans? I wasn't sure. Maybe they could repeat it a couple more times. "its director Annamaria Dellacampo said, "This is not a street fair. San Gennaro is a festival of the patron saint of Naples. It's a religious event."" BWAHAHAHAHA! *gasp* HAHAHAHA! "In the name of the father, son, and these sweet sausages! Mmmmm ... Who wants a 'virgin' Pina Colada?"

Olive

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 16:37:24 -0500

"San Gennaro to Sleep With Fishes" As an Italian American, I to am sick of these stereotypical slaps in the face.! Most of us were brought up in hardworking, educated, middle class families with no ties to organized crime. Shame on you Gothamist for posting a un-news worthy story like this with an ethnic slur for a headline. Go to hell..!

gaycurmudgeon

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 16:29:46 -0500

I live around the corner from the San Gennaro Festival. During last year's festival I witnessed some young men threaten to "fuck up" a Korean grocer if he wouldn't sell them alcohol. Another year, I witnessed a young girl urinating on the sidewalk. I say good riddance!

Mulberry residents

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 16:26:59 -0500

I've lived on Mulberry for three years now and the festival is an absolute nightmare for residents. Most of the stores close down, and the ones that stay open see shrinking business so it doesn't help the neighborhood economy, and most residents avoid it like the plague, so it's not for the local community citizens either. It's a bridge and tunnel festival that has maybe a dozen different things for sale every fifty feet. The carnies that run it are travelling bands who hit all the street festivals on the East Coast and then go back to West Virgina in the off-season. Jersey City seems to be up-and-coming, can we move it there, where it'd be more at home? There's something not right about a street with shops selling $2000 pairs of shoes and a degenerate carnie selling tube socks by yelling through a microphone strapped around his neck. This "festival" may have been the pride of Little Italy, but it's a train-wreck now.

daniel

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 16:06:09 -0500

Can someone tell me where I can find underwear for a dollar a pair if not for these festivals? Yeah I thought so!

Kaet

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 15:56:34 -0500

As an Italian-American, it's so irritating when people pull out the "guido" card. Ohhhh, it's about discrimination against italian americans...sure it is. I went last year, as a tourist to the city, and I thought I'd get culture and yes, all I got were underwear stands and the same product every twenty feet. It's not about culture at this point...nothing is.

nick

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 15:53:49 -0500

I'm not sure how many "Italian-immigrant residents of crowded tenements" still exist in Little Italy. There's an NYU dorm and a lot of gajillion-dollar-a-foot real estate, and then you go two blocks downtown, west or east and you're in Chinatown. And before you start getting all optimistic about uptown, you hit Little Australia and then you're almost to Houston St. Except for Mulberry between Spring and Canal, Little Italy is barely Italian. I'd say it's a fair bet Mr. Sweeney represents more of the neighborhood than the Medici Foundation does at this point. Street fairs really ARE all the same and it sucks that San Gennaro has become one of the city's homogenous street fairs. If people actually care about San Gennaro, they should find a way to run the fair the way it should be run rather than contracting it out.

Mr. Authentic

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 15:51:27 -0500

Everyone gripes how San Gennaro is not as "authentic Italian" as it used to be. Since when has it ever been? It's more of an "authentic New York" festival, if anything. In fact, you could even argue that this festival reflects the same trends that are going on now in the rest of New York. Manhattan is turning into one big, rich-man's shopping-mall anyway. I went to the festival in the early 90's and it was essentially the same crap then as now, except that the cheesy music being played at that time was house instead of reggaeton.

Brightliner

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 15:41:57 -0500

There are a couple of nearby street events that still have character, namely the Chinese New Year celebration in Chinatown and Taste of Chinatown. Not that I'd really want to go to the latter anymore since people were packed tighter than a rush hour subway last time.

MT

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 15:31:25 -0500

San Gennaro is about as "Italian" as the St. Patrick's Day Parade is "Irish" these days.

Lexiphane

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 15:29:19 -0500

The CB2 has got a point: it's unfair to subject the Italian-immigrant residents of crowded tenements along Mulberry Street to the disruptions of a street fair run by inauthentic newcomers appropriating history for their current benefit. And we should all remember the hardships these residents have had to endure by such festivals the next time the Landmarks Preservation Committee is in the area, when neighborhood heritage, continuity, and tradition are being called into question.

Wistful

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 15:27:48 -0500

But really now, wasn't everything better when the Mafia ran it?

ABC Girl

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 15:27:37 -0500

I purposely plan my life around staying away from Muberry St just to avoid that whole circus. It once was a great fair, full on fun and great food. Now it's street trash buying & selling street trash that leave tons of street trash.

native ny-er

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 15:25:16 -0500

All street fairs in Manhattan are about the same now, way too much mess to clean up after they are gone and nothing really worth seeing unless you want a wonder mop and missed the late night infomercial. It also has become very unsafe down at San Gennaro. The only time I ever had to serve jury duty (grand jury duty at that) there were at least two cases directly tied to the festival. Violence and generic attractions... sounds like reason enough to me to get rid of it.

sgenarrohater

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 15:20:42 -0500

Ugh, NYC Italian street fairs. Both San Genarro and Mt. Carmel are rotten, street-clogging events with little cultural interest. The worst part is the bulk of the vendors aren't even neighborhood people, they're all contract Puerto Rican carnies blasting reggaeton music and screaming their ridiculous pitches into crappy sound systems. Clogged streets, overpriced food, anemic meat portions, strollers, yet there's always someone in my party who has an inexplicable exuberance for zeppole. "Residents complained it was better organized when the Mafia ran it." I believe it.

BeastieFeastie

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 15:11:59 -0500

no.4: i don't mean authentic as in the feast celebrations in Italy, you douchebag, i mean similar to the way they were set up when they first started organising the celebrations in NYC at the turn of the century. one example: no underwear stands.

adam

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 15:03:38 -0500

Sure it kind of sucks now, but I would still be sad to see the feast go.

zach

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 15:01:35 -0500

Dread. My friend lives on Mulberry and relocates during the chaos of the "festival"

chris

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 14:58:41 -0500

Though I've only gone to the Festival on purpose once or twice in my life, its always a pleasant surprise to stumble upon it or spy it from a distance when I'm in a nearby neighorhood doing other things. There's something magical about seeing a crowded night street packed with naked light bulbs and crowds of people. Sure, it can be tacky, overcrowded, generic, the like, but wouldn't cancelling San Gennaro allow that part of town to lose any remaining thread of character it once had? Its not as though this Fest is a new thing; If you can't tolerate it, why'd you move into the neighborhood in the first place?

David

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 14:58:02 -0500

San Gennaro is the same crap street fair that you see all over the city. I used to go years ago. Now, there's no point. It doesn't do the residents any good. The local businesses don't benefit. Like all other street fairs, it is just a profit center roving booth businesses to sell low quality goods and food at ultra high prices and then move on to the next victim, I mean location. All these street fairs are just the same garbage everywhere.

Mulberry Street Hata

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 14:57:23 -0500

As somebody who's been living on top of "the Feast" for a couple years, I can tell you that it needs to go, or at least be contained in the four blocks of Mulberry Street that haven't been swallowed up by boutiques and restaurants run by Aussies. Other than the occasional marching band that weaves precariously through the throngs, there is nothing unique about the feast - same vendors, same crap, same guidos you can see at any street fair in the city. Better yet, save most of the attendees a lot of gas a tunnel tolls and move the entire production to New Jersey where it belongs.

Anonymous

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 14:56:39 -0500

lol at Mount Carmel Feast being "authentic"

BeastieFeastie

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 14:53:37 -0500

that festival has been lame for years now. you rarely even see an italian. Our Lady of Mount Carmel Feast in Williamsburg is pretty authentic if you're into that sort of thing. i think we can all live with a couple less underwear vending tables can't we?

Sweeney

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 14:52:56 -0500

"No one likes San Gennaro who lives here," said Sean Sweeney, a member of the community board's street events committee Sweeney is not quite an Italian-sounding last name to me.

hr

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 14:45:17 -0500

I love it because it's such a train wreck of people ... it's where stereotypes live. Couples with matching warmup suits, chains, wife-beaters & pinky rings .... butcherings of the Italian language "calimads!!!" "mootzarell". Cadillacs and big hair. Oh ... priceless, Too much fun.