I had not been to the Feast of Gennaro in about fifteen years, not since my father got sick. I think 2010 was the last time I came to Little Italy for the Feast. The crowds were just as nuts as they were then.
The place was mobbed and made worse by everyone Instagramming the whole event.
The History of the Feast:
(From the Feast website)
At the turn of the 20th century when Italian immigrants settled on the lower east side of Manhattan each region settled on a different street. The Neapolitans settled on Mulberry Street. In 1926 with keeping their Neapolitan traditions they decided to have a one day block party for their patron saint and protector of Naples, San Gennaro, which continued year after year something that has now and for decades become not only a New York icon. This world renown 11 day event, which stretches throughout 11 blocks of the Little Italy neighborhood.
For generations this feast has always been an important part of our neighborhood not only representing the Saint Himself but also representing our ancestors, our culture and our traditions. This collection of booths of food and merchandise is enjoyed by both locals and tourists alike.
The patron Saint of San Gennaro sits in front of the condo building where the old church one stood. I still can’t believe they knocked the church down.
The Story of San Gennaro:
(from the Feast website)
Saint Gennaro was Bishop of Benevento, Italy, and died a martyr in 305 AD during the persecution spearheaded by Emperor Diocletian. He signed his death warrant when he visited the deacons, Sosso and Proculo, and the laymen, Eutichete and Acuzio, in jail.
The Proconsul, Timothy, had Gennaro arrested. He underwent torture without wavering in his resolution to remain loyal to Christ. He was thrown headlong into a furnace, but by the grace of God, he come through unscratched.
Furious, the agents beheaded him. His body and the severed head still dripping blood were gathered up by an old man who wrapped them reverently in a cloth. An old Neapolitan lady collected the blood with a sponge and filled a phial with the precious liquid. The body of Saint Gennaro is preserved in Naples, where he is honored as the city’s principal patron.
The Neapolitans pray to him for protection from fires, earthquakes, plagues, droughts and the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. In every emergency Saint Gennaro is their powerful champion and universal helper.
Things have gotten worse with the foot traffic between everyone filming and photographing and Tik Toking it and the excessive amount of baby carriages (who would bring an infant to these things? It’s noisy, crowded and late!) makes getting down Mulberry Street even harder.
The crowds on the side streets were just as bad
The food is the same as usual with sausage sandwiches, meatball subs, rice ball’s and plenty of Zeppole.
Pozzuoli Pizza was one of the vendor’s at the feast
Looking at all the food and sandwiches, I heard music in the back of one of the side streets and stopped to listen to the music of Jenna Esposito, who was performing that evening.
Jenna Esposito performing the night
Jenna Esposito sign and contact information: What a Talent!
Before she left on break, she sang ‘Volare’ which brought down the house. It was great way to end that part of show.
Jenna Esposito and her band singing ‘Volare’
The Feast as it started to get dark
I continued to walk down Mulberry Street and was dying for some zeppole, small pieces of fried pizza dough ladened with powered. I found a place and they looked like they were freshly frying them.
It was not until I ordered them and they were lukewarm and a little greasy. The woman said the were closing up shop and she gave me what seemed like twenty. Even though they were large and tasted good nothing is worse than zeppole’s when they get cold.
I thought these had been freshly made but were like warm. The only benefit was she gave me about 20 for $5.00. I was stuffed when I finished the entire bag of them. It must have been two pounds of fried dough that I consumed.
I walked through the mountains of crowds as this was the last night of the feast and a beautiful night. I took it as tourists and locals alike wanted to enjoy the evening. Again the worst was people pushing baby carriages through the streets of the feast.
I am sorry everyone, I do not think infants should be subjected to this type of noise and light this late into the evening.
The crowds around 8:00pm
The organizers of the feast brought the festival back to its original border of Houston Street so the there was room to stretch. These later blocks were not as crowded as those closer to Canal Street and had more retail vendors than food vendors.
Reaching the border of the feast at East Houston Street
When I used to attend the feast back in the 1990’s, the Feast would stretch the entire length of Mulberry Street straight into Chinatown and the whole street from East Broadway to Houston Street would be packed with food vendors, games and retail vendors. It shows how both the neighborhood and the Feast have changed.
Passing the Sausage and Pepper vendors walking back to Canal Street
The sausages always look so good
I was not too sure how many people were going to eat this much sausage at 8:40 pm at night.
All good things have to come to an end as the evening got late and by 8:15pm, a lot of vendors started to close up as the feast was closing by 9:00pm on the last night.
The crowds started to thin out by the time I got to Canal Street and it was easier to walk through the Feast. It was a lot of come to come back after all the years. I just forgot how crowded it was on Mulberry Street.
Walking back to the E subway on Canal Street
The Feast of San Gennaro takes place every year the week after Labor Day in New York’s Little Italy
Open: The hours for the structure change throughout the year, so please check the website for time availability of the park and structure.
Admission: $8.00 Adults/$4.00 Children/Children under 2 free
Group Tours & Information:
Lucy is available year round for groups of 10 or more by appointment. For special holiday hours and weather closings, please call or check our website.
How to get to Lucy:
It is best to check the website for your location to the structure. For detailed instructions, please visit http://www.lucythe elephant.org.
I visited Lucy the Elephant in the fall of 2015 right before Christmas on a tour I was taking of Southern New Jersey and the shoreline. This unique structure was built to attract people to the shore to buy land and for development.
The view from the parking lot
There were two other ‘Lucy’s’ built one of them being the former ‘Elephant Hotel’ in Coney Island that burned down in the last century.
The front view of the elephant
This well preserved building has been renovated and part of the Jersey shore lore. It is well worth the visit in the off season on a nice day. I unfortunately visited on a rainy day in 2015 and was not able to go to the top and still have a free pass to go whenever I want to visit again.
Entering the elephant through the winding stairs
Still I was able to take the spiral staircase to her belly to learn the history of the structure and that is very interesting.
Lucy the Elephant in its full glory
I started my tour in 2025 at the door of her base
I visited Lucy again in 2025 and was finally able to visit the top of the statue, the howdah, and able to take in the view of the ocean and the surrounding area. Try to visit “Lucy” when it is a sunny day out. You will be able to take in the spectacular view of the ocean.
The tour starts in her inside, looking over the displays and where the bar was located where the owner would ply investors with liquor to have them invest in beach real estate.
Inside of Lucy the Elephant: the history and displays
The inside of Lucy on a recent tour
Touring the inside of Lucy
I was able to take my time because I visited in the off season on a nice day and since J was the only one on the tour, I got to take my time and talk with the tour guide.
I got to look through Lucy’s eyes and see the views of the ocean and of the surrounding areas was interesting.
Lucy’s eyes and truck
Lucy’s left eye
Lucy’s right eye
The former bathroom inside of Lucy
The inside displays of Lucy
The skylight that illuminates the inside
Then it was time to walk up to the howdah and enjoy the view. It was a somewhat over cast day but you could still enjoy the view.
The view from the howdah on the top of the elephant
The roof of the howdah
The view of the beach from the howdah
The view of Margate from the howdah
The view from the howdah showcases the view of both the beach and the City of Margate. You can see from mikes around and on a hot day, the breezes are amazing.
The restored wood work
The video of the views
The tour of Lucy is about an hour but the history of this shore landmark and its influence in shore real estate and the development of these towns is so interesting.
Leaving the elephant we could see her behind
The History of Lucy the Elephant:
Lucy was built by a real estate speculator who owned a great many parcels of open land at the Jersey shore. In order to attract visitors and potential buyer, he built Lucy as a novelty amusement. He patented his idea, ensuring that Lucy would remain a unique piece of architecture.
Eventually, a popular hotel business was built around Lucy. Presidents and royalty came from around the world to stay at the neighboring Elephant Hotel and climb the stairs to Lucy’s howdah.
Lucy facing the ocean
During her history, Lucy has survived hurricanes, ocean floods and even a fire accidentally stated by some inebriated party-goers when she served as tavern. However, by the 1960’s, it became apparent there was one disaster Lucy could not overcome-neglect. By that time, the once proud jewel of the South Jersey Isles had become an almost hopeless, condemned structure.
Eventually a developer purchased Lucy’s lot and intended to build a new condominium building on the site. The beach and the ocean could stay-but the elephant had to go!
Lucy the Elephant near the wrecking ball
To the rescue came the Save Lucy Committee. Within weeks, this small, concerned group of ordinary citizens had raised enough money to move the entire decaying structure two blocks away to a new site owned by the city. Thirty years and over one million dollars later, Lucy has been completely restored to her original splendor, inside and out.
In 1976, Lucy was designated a National Historic Landmark by the United States Government as the oldest surviving example of a unique form of “zoomorphic” architecture. Today, she is every bit as popular and beloved as she ever was.
The history of the elephant
The history of the park
The history of Lucy
The history of the park and who saved it
About the Park:
Lucy the Elephant is located along the beach in Josephine Harron Park (named for our co-founder) in Margate, NJ. Lucy is six stories high and is listed on the National Park Registry of Historical Landmarks. Our park is fenced and contained, making child supervision easy. Picnic tables are on site for eating outdoors. We also have friendly, trained volunteers and staff to assist you during your visit. On the tour, you will learn about Lucy’s unique architecture and her colorful history.
Lucy facing the sea
You will get to climb a spiral staircase through her insides and all the way up to the howdah on her back, providing a spectacular 360 degrees view of the surrounding shore area. Kids and adults alike are sure to enjoy visiting the only elephant in the world “you can walk through and come out alive”.
Lucy is also available by appointment for schools, groups and special events such as weddings or birthday parties. There are guided tours, a gift shop, free parking and all major credit cards are accepted.
Lucy the Elephant symbol of the town
Lucy from the front of the parking lot
Lucy from the ticket booth across the street
This information was taken from the pamphlet from The Save Lucy Committee. For more information, visit the online website at http://www.LucyTheElephant.org
*Disclaimer from author: All this information is located both on the pamphlet and on the website. Visiting Lucy is a treat and should be visited by all residents of New Jersey.
The gift shop the supports raising much needed funds for restoration.
Visit downtown Margate for lunch after your visit
Downtown Margate after my tour
I went to Pierre’s Pizza at 7 North Washington Avenue for lunch. Their cheese pizza is wonderful. The restaurant is two blocks from Lucy.
Pierre’s Pizza at 7 North Washington Street in Margate, NJ
Sunset Beach in all its glory in the summer of 2023.
Sunset Beach is a marvelous place to visit for sunset
Sunset Beach in Cape May, NJ is one of the most beautiful beaches in American and is ranked 24# on TripAdvisor as one of the breathtaking beaches to visit. The beach site in Lower Township in Cape May and is at the very end of Sunset Boulevard which is a direct run from downtown Cape May.
One both sides of the parking lot, there are gift shops and a small café grill. These have limited hours after Labor Day Weekend. The grill is closed after the holiday weekend but sometimes stays open depending on the weather after the Labor Day weekend.
The beach is amazing as you can see the pleasure boats in the distance coming in and out of the small harbor just north of the beach.
The Sunset Beach is really beautiful in the off season when not a lot of people are there
The Start of the Sunset in December 2022
Looking out into Delaware Bay is quite spectacular with its moving waves and the way it glitters in the sun. In the warmer months, it is just nice to walk along the shore and watch the birds. In the winter months, the breezes get to be too much and a short visit is nicer.
The beginning of the sunset
Any time of the year though, make sure to be here for sunset and that is when the beach works it beautiful natural magic.
The setting of the sun
The sun disappearing in the horizon
The sun disappearing
At sunset you will see an array of colors with the sun setting in the distance. The last time I visited the beach in September, it was a combination of oranges, purples and blues as the sun set. The lower the sun the more brilliant the colors. They become more complex as the sun gets lower.
The final sunset
Sunset Beachat various times of the year:
The best part of the view is that it is played out on the large stage. It covers the whole sky and it looks like the sun is going to sleep in the bay. You can almost touch it. Each night when the sun sets its a different color in the rainbow in the sky. The backdrop of the small stone formations and the SS Atlantus Concrete Ship make it more dramatic.
SS Atlantus Concrete Ship
Whenever you are in Cape May, try to finish your dinner early and then watch Mother Nature work her magic by the shoreline. It is an experience that should not be missed. Please try to arrive about an hour before sunset to get a space in the parking lot. It is the most spectacular site at anytime of the year.
Sunset Beach area:
The SS Atlantus Concrete Ship:
The SS Atlantus Concrete Ship was built and launched in 1918, just after World War I had ended as a trans-Atlantic steamer to return troops from Europe to home. After being decommissioned in 1926, she was purchased along with two other ships to create a ferry dock for ferries from Cape May to Delaware. The plans were later shelved as she ran aground in a storm along Sunset Beach and could not be freed.
Flag Lowering Ceremony:
The Evening Flag Ceremony held every night at sunset between Memorial Day and Labor Day. The lowering of the American flag at sunset is a 40-year-old tradition. All of the flags that are flown at the flag ceremony are veteran’s caskets flags that families being with them from their loved one’s funeral. The ceremony includes the Pledge of Allegiance, the ‘Stat-Spangled Banner’ and a recording of Kate Smith’s ‘God Bless America”.
The beautiful summer sunset in 2023.
Cape May Diamonds:
While taking a stroll along the beach, look out for Cape May ‘Diamonds’. These are small pieces of quartz crystal found in the sand that are washed from the bay. You can find Cape May diamond jewelry in the gift stores at the beach.
(NJ Leisure Guide)
Sunset Beach
Disclaimer: This information was taken from the NJ Leisure Guide and I give their writer full credit for it. The beach is open all year around but it is the best in the warmer months. Don’t miss this spectacular view at sunset.
Visiting again in 2025:
When I came in the Summer of 2025, for the Firemen’s Convention, that Saturday evening I came on the most spectacular sunny evening and the beach was packed.
Sunset Beach in the summer of 2025
I loved the sailboat in the distance
The beach was crowded with people
Then the sun started to set and the magic began. It was such a clear night it was perfect to see the sun set with no cloud interference.
The setting of the sun at 7:00pm
People getting the birds-eye view of the setting sun
While I was at Sunset Beach, I took a series of videos when the sun was setting to share with all the readers. You really must visit Sunset Beach to experience the beauty and the gracefulness of Mother Nature at her best. Until then, I hope everyone enjoys these videos of the setting of the sun in Delaware Bay.
The pictures and videos of the setting of the sun at Sunset Beach:
I could not believe how fast the Summer came and went. It was like a blink of the eye. I had covered a lot of ground over the last three months that included many neighborhoods in New York City, many Upstate New York and New Jersey towns plus updating older blogs that needed some work. They needed new pictures and updates in the businesses I had featured in the past. A lot has changed since COVID.
I started Alphabet City just before the Labor Day Weekend and a lot has changed here since the 1960’s and 70’s. The whole hippie movement is now over only to be replaced by the current hipster movement where men are wearing knit head coverings in almost 90 degree and still wearing ‘man buns’ that are ‘so 2010’. To each his own.
Looking down Avenue C on a sunny afternoon
I just ignored everyone and started my walk on the Avenue’s of the neighborhood. The neighborhood is broken up that the closer you are to public housing the less gentrified it was on the block. The border seemed to be around 10th Street. The lower the street, the nicer the bars and restaurants.
The one thing I did notice about the neighborhood was the amount of community gardens that popped up in corners all around the blocks. This was the result of the community efforts in the 1970’s and 80’s that saved the neighborhood and what has made the neighborhood as desirable as it is now. It seems you can’t stop gentrification. Even so, these hard working gardeners are setting the tone for the neighborhood.
The signs of the times on top of the old tenements on Avenue C
The other thing I noticed about Alphabet City are the tagging and outdoor murals that line all the blocks. The people who creat this street art are so clever and creative. They really have an eye on color and design.
Some of the art cleverly tucked along the walls and columns in the neighborhood
Some of the art close by
I liked this design
The first of the Community Gardens that J toured that afternoon (they all seemed to be open the Saturday that I visited) was the Francisco ‘Pancho’ Ramos Community Garden at 709 East 9th Street. The garden showed the creative spirit of the people who volunteered there.
The sign for the Francisco “Pancho” Ramos Community Garden at 703 East 9th Street
(The History of the Park from its website)
The Lower East Side of the 1970s was a hard place with little green. Local residents noticed the abandoned, littered lot at the corner of Ninth Street and Avenue C and began to sow seeds and plants along the chain link and among the debris, and so the Ninth Street Community Garden & Park was founded in 1979. Today Pancho’s Garden hosts community events including music, art, and gardening workshops.
The pathways were lined with flower beds and some with vegetable gardens with the latest crops coming in. Here and there were pieces of artwork such as sculptures and paintings.
Walking through the gardens at the end of the summer
Following the paths
Walking through the flowering arbors
Some of the creative artwork that lined the paths
The raised flower beds
Some of the creative touches of the gardens
The Vegetable Gardens in full growth
Even the shed and play areas were colorful
This is what the community spirit of hard work and dedication can create in a neighborhood
Another interesting mural that I came across on the walls of the buildings
Just a reminder that the Alphabet City name is not a negative one anymore
The Alphabet Wine Company at 100 Loisaida Avenue (Avenue C)
Walking through Alphabet City today reminded me of years ago when I toured Bushwick in Brooklyn. The negative connotation of the name was now synonymous with ‘hipster’ cool. When I started to see signs like Alphabet Wine Company, you know times have changed for a neighborhood with not such a great past.
Passing the Lower East Side II still reminds you that public housing is a big part of this neighborhood
The next set of street art I admired was 15C Cultural Center building at 68 Loisaida Avenue (Avenue C). The shop was closed that afternoon so I got to see all the interesting art work on the metal gates.
This was on one side of building of the 5C Cultural Center at 68 Avenue C and 5th Street
Danielle Mastrion is a Brooklyn-born, New York City based painter and muralist who specializes in large scale, brightly colored murals. She holds a BFA from Parsons School of Design (Artist website)
This mural was around the corner dedicated to Puerto Rico
The changes to Avenue C start around East 10th Street as you leave the area around the public housing and walk closer to the areas that cater to a younger NYU/Pace student population. When I visited the neighborhood originally walking the borders of the neighborhood and even this evening, the bars and restaurants exploded with students whose first weekend in New York City was filled with excitement.
They chatted on their cellphones and yelled to their friends and acted like a scene in early ‘Sex and the City’ episodes. I can always tell when an out of towner is trying too hard.
The rebuilt section of Avenue C
I walked through my next community garden, Gustavd Hartman Square. Some of these patches of green were really small and just required a peek inside.
This plot of land, located at Second Street and Avenue C, is named for Gustave Hartman, a municipal court judge and philanthropist who spent most of his life in this neighborhood. Gustave Hartman was born in Hungary and immigrated to the United States with his parents while still a young boy. He attended P.S. 22 on Sheriff Street (now Columbia Street), the College of the City of New York, and received his law degree from New York University in 1905.
This plot of land, located at Second Street and Avenue C, is named for Gustave Hartman, a municipal court judge and philanthropist who spent most of his life in this neighborhood.
The growth of the garden needed a little pruning
I then started my walk back up Avenue C from the border of East Houston Street, which itself on all sides of the street has been knocked down and rebuilt. I have never seen a street go from shabby to chic more in the last fifteen to twenty years. Here the upper parts of the old Chinatown and Little Italy and the Lower East Side have merged with the Village. The lines have been blurred.
The changes to Avenue C start in the lower part of the neighborhood
The next set of public housing is the Bracetti Plaza
The next community garden I visited was the Secret Garden, a tiny park at 293 East Forth Street. Volunteers were hard at work weeding and planting while I walked around
Charlie Doves is a graffiti and fine artist from New York City’s Lower East Side, known for his work inspired by graffiti’s Golden Age and Japanese art. A master of his craft, Doves has moved from street art to fine art, fusing different techniques and styles to create a timeless body of work (Arts AI).
The Secret Garden Community Garden at 293 East Fourth Street
Alfredo Bennett, professionally known as The Royal “Kingbee” is a NYC artist. He was born in Harlem and raised in The Bronx in the early 70’s. He began his career painting graffiti on walls until gathering recognition and eventually being commissioned to perform his artistic abilities all throughout the city of New York. The artist went to JF Kennedy High School in the Bronx (BX 200 Artist.com).
The art was not just limited to the murals that looked more professionally done. The taggers showed their creativity on the closed gates of the businesses and the walls of the buildings around the Avenue.
Tagging art on Avenue C
Tagging art on Avenue C
The next community gardens I visited and one of the original is the Carmen Pabon Del Amanecer Jardin, dedicated to Carmen Pabon.
The sign for the Carmen Pabon Del Amanecer Jardin at
Carmen Pabón, ‘la madrina del Lower East Side,’ was a Puerto Rican community activist, gardener, poet and actress who founded a community garden as an urban sanctuary for children, local artists, Nuyorican poets and the elderly. Carmen helped thousands to create a better life for themselves and fed multitudes of Lower East Siders experiencing homelessness.
While a lot of the neighborhood is low rise and tenement housing, I stopped to admire this unique brick building at 116 Avenue C, with its interesting faces on all levels staring back at you. It reminded me of the many buildings I had passed recently in Lower Chelsea.
Each window had a demonist look in its eyes as you passed it. This building was built in 1900 (Streeteasy.com).
These menacing demons stare back at you from every window
I spent some more time cross crossing through more gardens admiring the work of dedicated gardens. The next I visited was the Flower Door Garden at 135 Avenue C.
La Plaza Cultural de Armando Perez Community Garden was founded in 1976 by local residents and greening activists who took over what was then a series of vacant city lots piled high with rubble and trash. In an effort to improve the neighborhood during a downward trend of arson, drugs, and abandonment common in that era, members of the Latino group CHARAS cleared out truckloads of refuse.
Working with Buckminster Fuller, they built a geodesic dome in the open “plaza” and began staging cultural events. Green Guerillas pioneer Liz Christy seeded the turf with “seed bombs” and planted towering weeping willows and linden trees. Artist Gordon Matta-Clark helped construct La Plaza’s amphitheater using railroad ties and materials reclaimed from abandoned buildings.
What I liked about this particular garden was all the interesting metal work along the fencing. It popped all around the fencing like you were living in ‘Whoville’.
One of the entrances of the gardens
Walking around the inside along the paths
The whimsical ironworks on the top of the fencing
As I made my way back up Avenue C, J came across a small museum that I had never heard of before, the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space at 155 Loisaida Avenue (Avenue C).
The Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space at 155 Loisaida Avenue (Avenue C)
The museum is a time capsule of information from the late 1960’s through the 70’s when the neighborhood had really hit rock bottom with the City’s almost bankruptcy. The neighborhood and its residents banded together to save the neighborhood and clean up all these empty lots of garbage and debris.
The entrance of the museum
The description of the museum’s purpose
The museum has pictures of the neighborhood at various stages of its development. There are the ups and downs of this section of the City and how its residents maintain it. The neighborhood has seen so much change and much of it due to the volunteers who keep improving it.
The inside of the museum
How the changes took place in Alphabet City
The masks and decorations that line the walls
The history of the neighborhood and its triumphs
After my trip through the museum, I continued the walk up Avenue C. Above 10th Street is was a little patchy but you can tell the neighborhood is getting better. I never felt unsafe walking around the ‘Alphabets’.
For the rest of my walk, I enjoyed the ‘open-air’ museum that the sides of the buildings offered me. There were many interesting murals to admire.
I think this one was in honor of the island of Puerto Rico.
Artist Antonio “Chico” Garcia is a New York City based Graffiti artist. He is well known in the neighborhood and has been featured in several periodicals (Wiki).
I saw this on the side of a Chinese restaurant
Then when I got to the top East 14th Street and I came across this mural on the side of a school and I admired the different styles of art in each panel.
The panel that lined the school created by artists from the Thrive Collective
Danielle Mastrion is a Brooklyn-born, New York City based painter and muralist who specializes in large scale, brightly colored murals. She holds a BFA from Parsons School of Design (Artist website)
I loved this whimsical school painting by artists Savannah Zambrano and Andrea Amanda
Savannah Zambrano is a freelance sequential artist that hosts workshops and panels, does face painting and caricatures, and works with Traditional and Digital Media (Artist Bio website).
The artists sign with the Thrive Collective
I loved this mural with the Puerto Rican flag by artist Miki Mu
Michela Muserra is an international muralist and illustrator based in Brooklyn. A graduate of Accademia di Bella Arti in her hometown of Foggia, Italy. The artist has worked as a teaching artist with Thrive Collective since January 2017 (Thrive Collective website).
I love this colorful display of positive behavior of Frank Ape by artist Brandon Sines
Artist Brandon Sines was exposed to many cultures while growing up simultaneously in New York City, Toronto, and Los Angeles. He mixes Pop Art’s mass culture, Surrealism’s private associations, and inventive paint handling to create dreamlike environments. His mark making ranges from experimental techniques to illustrative precision. Parts of the paintings are crystal clear, and other parts reach abstraction.
This was another great mural on the school but I could not find the artist
The piece of art that I noticed was as I was walking down East 14th Street and I came across this taggers work. To me it looked like a surreal ghost.
The piece of street art was East 14th Street
I turned the corner to Avenue B and started my journey down the street. Being closer to the colleges and further from the projects and around Tompkins Square Park, the vibe is different on Avenue B. The restaurants are a bit more expensive and there are more bars.
Walking down Avenue B
Walking through the neighborhood that offers so much to a visitor
I saw this ‘Love’ mural on one of the businesses
On the corner of Avenue B and East 13th Street I saw all this great street art on top of murals
As I continued the walk through this part of the neighborhood, I came across another series of community gardens that dot the street.
The Relaxation Garden was the first of the gardens I passed and this really had nothing to it. It looked like a garden waiting for something to happen to it.
The inside of the Relaxation Garden needs some TLC
I stared up at one of the buildings on Avenue B and this face from above was staring back at me. I thought this was really interesting but do not want to know how this artist did this without falling off the roof.
I thought this face staring back was really cool but I do not want to know how the tagger did this.
While I was walking, I stopped at the various restaurants and bars to look at their menus. I have to admit, they are not cheap. For a neighborhood known for poverty in its pockets, the places are pricy.
Passing the outdoor cafes on Avenue B
I then passed one of the community centers in the neighborhood and came across this series of panels. These were very retro 1970’s.
Panel One ‘Resist’
Panel Two ‘People Power’
Panel Three ‘Educate’
I thought they were profound and reminded me of works from the 1970’s.
Avenue B like Avenue C has its share of landscapers and gardeners and you see this in the creativity of the small community gardens.
The first one I walked through and admired was in front of the Trinity Lower East Side Church at 602 East 9th Street on the corner of Avenue B.
The Trinity Church Lower East Side at 602 East 9th Street
In 1839 German Saxon immigrants began to meet for worship in the home of a baker. By 1843 they were sufficiently strong to incorporate The Evangelical Lutheran Trinity Church of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession in the City of New York, since changed to Trinity Lower East Side Parish. In 1850, the congregation built a new church with four apartments below and a one-room school in the back. The present church was designed by Robert Litchfield and built in 1993. Dedicated on July 9, 1996, the facility includes a 100-seat chapel, community center and parsonage (Trinity Church website).
The gardens in front of the old church were a bit over grown but very colorful.
The fenced in garden in full bloom at the height of the summer
The one thing I like about this garden is how tranquil it was that day. Services were over so the church was quiet. It is the perfect place to just sit and think and relax.
Avenue B lines the eastern side of Tompkins Square Park and the park was alive with joggers, musicians, dog walkers and groups of college students stretching across the lawns talking, reading and sunning themselves. This is a far cry from the homeless camps of the early 1980’s.
Tompkins Square Park was extremely busy that afternoon
It’s fun to just walk through the borders of the park and see the neighborhood just conversing with each other. Community is not dead in New York City. Someone had tagged over this mural but I still thought it was interesting. The colors really stood out in the mural,
Romero, is a Korean and Spanish, first-generation American artist, and muralist . She is a New York City based artist. Her art is a contemporary representation, inspired by her mixed cultural background and layered complexities of the human experience. Her work is inspired by human emotion, identity, women’s empowerment, and New York City (Artist bio from website),
YouTube video on Artist Bianca Romero
Some of the community gardens are more creative than others. The next one I visited was the East 6th Street and Avenue B Garden at 84 Avenue B
The East 6th Street and Avenue Garden at 84 Avenue B
All the community gardens seemed to be open the weekend of my walk so I got to see all the gardeners at work. People were digging, pruning and cutting shrubs and trees and cleaning the beds of weeds and then composting.
History of the Garden:
(from the garden website
Throughout 1983 and 1984, garden members surveyed the site, drew up the plans for its optimal use, built over 100 4’ x 8’ plots and a large communal plot (“the Circle”), laid pathways, prepared for the installation of a fence, and laid out ornamental borders. In April of 1984, Green Thumb issued a one-year lease. Garden members were busy planting ornamental shrubs and trees. The Garden received important early technical assistance from the Citizens’ Committee, Green Guerrillas and the Trust for Public Land .
The welcoming French at the entrance of the Sixth Street and Avenue B Gardens
This was one of the larger community gardens and it was fun to stroll down the paths of flowers and vegetables and watch everyone hard at work.
The inside of the entrance of the gardens
Walking along the paths
The Vegetable gardens
The gardens at the height of the summer
The pathways in the gardens
The sitting area in the middle of the garden
The Weed Library and composting area
The tree has been part of this garden for years
I loved the ironwork along the fencing of the garden as I walked up Avenue B
The neighborhood reaction to a empty storefront in a gentrifying neighborhood
The garden was established in 1993/1994 soon after a building there was demolished. The building’s address was 194 Ave B which is also the garden’s address, but the garden’s entrance is at 546 E 12th St (NYC Parks/GreenThumb will eventually replace the garden sign. Down to Earth Garden, which changed its name on July 1, 2020 from Children’s Garden, is a Green Thumb community garden in the East Village/Lower East Side of Manhattan, NYC.
We’re a small community garden, 1261 sq ft, on 12th St, by Ave B, southwest corner. However, we have been very active in composting (in combination with El Sol Brillante’s composting activities) since the fall of 2009
The flowering beds of the garden
The side beds
The artwork against the building was covered with vines and new growth
There was one last garden I visited but is was closing for the evening and that was the Vamps A Sembrar at 198 Avenue B.
The small Vegetable beds and visible art in the garden
The History of the garden:
(from the garden website)
The garden used to be two separate GreenThumb community gardens (Vamos A Sembrar and 200 Ave B Association Garden) until 2019, when they were combined as Vamos A Sembrar under the guidance of GreenThumb
This community garden had just closed for the afternoon so I could only see if from the fence. I could see the beds of vegetables growing. I really admired the artwork on the walls of the building. I will be returning on a future weekend to really explore all of these gardens, which I find are open on the weekends for the members and outside people.
I passed Pop’s Pizzeria at 223 Avenue B that I had eaten at when I walked the borders of the neighborhood. I had gotten at the restaurant late at night so I had not noticed the outside of the restaurant that evening.
When you look up above the restaurant, you see this Skelton painting smiling above the entrance.
The Skelton face that I did not see before when dining here on my last trip to the neighborhood
I finished for the evening around 5:00pm and went to get some dinner.
I checked Google and Avenue D Pizzeria which I had passed when walking down Avenue D was still open. So I walked down one of the side streets to give it a try.
The pizza selection was really good that night and the slices were reasonable at $1.50 for a Cheese slice and $2.50 for a Sausage slice.
The pizza selection that night
The hot food selection is $10.00 for a plate
The pizzeria also has a selection of hot entrees and sides at a reasonable price as well. There is no place to sit down anywhere near the pizzeria so I went back to Tompkins Square Park to eat my dinner. I found an empty bench and ate by one of the gardens.
My dinner that night in the park
I have to say that I was really impressed by the pizza for having to walk for blocks to eat it. The sauce was spiced so nicely and they loaded the sausage on the other slice.
After dinner I walked through the park and watched the bars and restaurants come to life. Most get a younger crowd of college students but there are a lot of family restaurants as well. I was amazed at the amount of kids who were dining with their parents that evening.
Admiring street art on the border of Alphabet City (I could not find the artist)
Since it was such a great night that I decided to walk around both Little Italy and Chinatown since they both border Alphabet City.
Walking around Little Italy on a warm late summer night
Outside the Cannoli King dessert shop a guy was singing Sinatra songs. I stopped to listen and this guy was really good. Everyone in the crowd was filming him.
Singing outside the Cannoli King at 152 Mulberry Street
It was fun to stand there and just enjoy the concert. The singer was wonderful!
The singer was great
Afree the mini concert was over, I continued my walk down Mulberry Street into Chinatown. Once upon a time there were distinct boundaries of Chinatown and Little Italy but they have become very blurred over the last twenty five years with gentrification affecting both neighborhoods.
I walked down Mott Street to Catherine Street and stopped at my favorite bakery that I know is always open late, Great Taste Bakery at 35 Catherine Street. I love the reasonable pastries and buns here and it is one of the last of the Chinatown bakeries that is still open late. This is also one of the few neighborhood bakeries left in a very gentrifying Chinatown. I come here after meals or just having dumplings up the road and finish here for dessert.
I love their Pineapple cream buns with some lemon tea at Great Taste Bakery
Since there was no place to sit down in here too I ate at one of the benches outside near the local park.
These buns are so good!
After all the walking that evening, you would figure I would be tired. There was something about the Lemon tea and the sweet bun that gave me a second wind and I walked from Chinatown to the Port Authority. It was such a beautiful warm night I figured ‘why not’? It was a beautiful walk up Broadway.
Admiring one of the old churches on lower Broadway on my long walk up Broadway to the Port Authority
Looking at Madison Square Park at night
It really ended up being a beautiful evening ing the City. For all its problems, the City really is magical at all times of the day. You just have to look at all the good things that people do that make this City better. Between the small mom and pop restaurants providing wonderful food to the community gardeners who make Alphabet City bloom, it really shows that New York City is bouncing back from COVID in its own way.
I was at the NYC Fancy Food Show in 2025 and this is one of the vendors that stood out to me. Cinnamom produces some of the most delicious baked goods I have tasted. The giant Cinnamon buns are ooey and gooey and topped with thick icings and then more toppings. They are a Cinnamon bun on over-drive and produces the best rush of sweetness. I had to go back three times to try all the samples and indulge in these delectable treats. It is a small company that is just starting their global shipping but watch out when they do. Everyone will want to sample these delicious treats.
The products being offered at the Fsncy Food Show
The regular Cinnamon bun with white icing on it was my favorite but the one with Chocolate and White icing was another. All the products I tried were wonderful and the owner and her daughter could not have been nicer. They let me try all the samples with a big smile on their faces. They seemed happy that I was so happy!
The History of Cinnamom:
(from the company website)
The Journey started 50 years ago:
When Shirley Welch came up with the ultimate recipe for a household favorite, cinnamon rolls. For holidays and special occasions, she would roll out these one-of-kind treats for family and friends to enjoy. Early on she had a little helper in the kitchen by her side, assisting with the baking process. This little helper would grow up to be the founder and owner of CinnaMom, Rebecca Nagy.
For years people would come up to Rebecca telling her she needed to start a cinnamon roll business, as hers were the best in the world. After happily retiring from her nursing career, in 2013 she finally listened to everybody’s encouragement and officially opened the first CinnaMom location in Lapeer, Michigan. Since then, the business has grown in size and popularity, both locally and nationally.
Over the last few years CinnaMom has doubled the size of its main bakery in Grand Blanc, Michigan and is featured on QVC. CinnaMom ships to anywhere in the United States and wholesales these CinnAmazing (TM) rolls to over 40 locations in the U.S. CinnaMom has been featured on ABC’s Good Morning America and The View, along with several other TV networks. What’s next?
Soon, CinnaMom will be exporting to other countries so that more customers have the opportunity to taste these delicious, ooey-gooey cinnamon rolls. CinnaMom is still on a Roll!
The Paterson Museum is an interesting museum of the history of the City of Paterson, NJ. The museum is broken into different sections of the City’s history. The museum discusses from the time that the Lenape Indians lived in the area to the rise of colonization and then to how it developed into the Silk City through city planning and placement. The museum covers the history of the City of Paterson in the industrial Age as well with the rise of the Silk Industry, the Wright Airplane Factory, the Colt Revolver and the growth of the hospital industry in the City.
Paterson Fire Department
The Public Safety exhibition
Paterson Steam Engine
Take time to look at the live displays of minerals, Native American artifacts, old fire department equipment and the life and times of its native son, Lou Costello.
The inside of the Paterson Museum
The nice part of this museum is that the parking is free, it can be toured in about two to three hours and it is walking distance to the Paterson Falls and to Little Peru restaurants. It is also free.
The Paterson Falls up the road
Little Peru down the road
The Introduction:
The Welcome Center
The Paterson Museum offers a ‘History within History’ experience. Located inside the former erecting shop if the Rogers Locomotive & Machine Works, the museum, presents a glimpse of the rich history and the many factors that gave rise to Paterson, New Jersey: “America’s First Planned Industrial City.”
From the natural wonders and the first inhabitants of the land that lay below and above the ground to the vital role Paterson played in setting of our nation’s industrial course. Through the museum’s exhibits. you’ll find out why Paterson was known for more than a century as the “Silk City.”
Silk City
You’ll discover that Paterson was at the forefront of locomotive, submarine and airplane engine development. And that’s just the beginning of our story. By the time you finish your visit, you will want to learn more about this city that surrounds the Great Falls.
The Exhibitions:
Paterson Residents: There are exhibitions on such celebrity natives as Lou Costello and his life after living in Paterson are shown in detail.
The Lou Costello exhibition
The Lou Costello exhibition
Baseball players, football players and actors have shown against all odds and color barriers they found success in the world with Paterson being their roots.
Sports in Paterson, NJ
The Silk Industry
Silk City: The history of Paterson as ‘Silk City’ features winders, warpers and power-looms that produced beautiful fabrics. How the Falls and the location of the City of Paterson played its part in the garment industry at the turn of the last century. Not just in the silk industry but also in other companies like the Wright Aeronautical Corporation and the their time as a manufacturer in Paterson.
The Paterson Fire Department
The Paterson Fire and Police Departments: The history and development of both the Paterson Police and Fire Departments are told through pictures, stories, uniforms and equipment through the ages. There are many turn of the last century fire trucks in the museum.
World War Exhibition: The museum has a wonderful exhibition on the history of Paterson and the role it played in the World Wars. There are all sorts of uniforms, munitions and stories to tell.
The War years
The Veterans exhibition
Geographical: There is a whole side exhibition of gems and minerals both native and from all over the country at the museum and a full display of native New Jersey stone formations. There is also a discussion of how the Falls played such an important role inf the development not just of the City of Paterson but of New Jersey as well.
The Minerals
Alexander Hamilton Exhibit: The history and life of Alexander Hamilton is told from the time he was born in the Caribbean to his coming to the United States, his marriage and his rise through the ranks of the government. There is how he helped develop the banking industry and paying of the government debts to his fall from grace and his eventual fatal duel with Aaron Burr.
The Alexander Hamilton exhibit
Lenape Indian Culture: The Lenape Native American culture is shown how the tribes developed, lived, worked and hunted and gathered to create the society that was in place before colonization.
The Lenape exhibit
There are all sorts of tools, displays on their regions of living, language, housing (there is a recreation of a Tee Pee here), that native wardrobe and a complete display of tools and arrow heads. It is a very detailed account of life as a Lenape Indian.
Lenape Exhibition at the Paterson Art Museum
The Lenape Indian exhibition
The Lenape exhibition
The museum shows the history not just of Paterson but of the surrounding areas and how growth of the City of Paterson made an impact on the region.
A trip to Paterson, NJ to see the Great Falls is an experience. Surrounded by the old mill buildings that once powered the Silk Industry that made Paterson world renowned, the Falls has been turned into a part of the National Park Service.
The renovation has now been completed that includes new landscaping and a large parking lot. The surrounding park is as impressive as the Falls.
The information sign by the falls
When walking the park, it is breathtaking to see how the Passaic River approaches the drop and then the water hitting the bottom of the cliffs. It is an impressive site of the how the Ice Age still plays a role in ‘Mother Nature’ in current times.
Take time to walk through the park and travel over the bridges and through the landscaped parks to see the Falls through all angles. It is a spectacular park that does not get the credit it deserves. Paterson, NJ still has its issues but it does have a lot of gems too.
History of the Falls-The Formation and early history:
Geologically, the falls were formed at the end of the last Ice Age approximately 13,000 years ago. Formerly the Passaic River had followed a shorter course through the Watchung Mountains near present-day Summit. As the glacier receded, the river’s previous course was blocked by a newly formed moraine. A large lake, called Glacial Lake Passaic, formed behind the Watchung’s.
The Falls in the Summer
As the ice receded, the river found a new circuitous route around the north end of the Watchungs, carving the spectacular falls through the underlying basalt, which was formed approximately 200 millions years ago. The Falls later became the site of a habitation for Lenape Native Americans, who called this homeland, ‘Acquackanonk’ and later for Dutch settlers in the 1690’s (Wiki).
History of Powering a Free Economy:
The history and power of the Falls
The Great Fall of the Passaic River drove the imagination of a young Alexander Hamilton to harness the power of water to manufacturer goods in the United States. The story of Paterson and the Great Falls is on of national importance. Here in 1792, Hamilton founded America’s first planned city of industry and innovation, helping to spur what would become the world’s largest and most productive economy (US Parks.org).
After the Revolutionary War, Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury, knew this country needed to be economically independent. He led the founding of Paterson and the Society for Establishing Useful Manufacturers (S.U.M.), New Jersey’s first corporation.
The S.U.M. constructed America’s first multitiered waterpower system to attract entrepreneurs and workers who would manufacture goods and develop new inventions. A system of water channels or raceways, the most significant power system of the day, diverted water from the Passaic River above the falls to mills along its route (US Parks.org).
The old Power Plant at the Paterson Falls
Paterson became the manufacturing hub for locomotives, textiles, silk finishing and dyeing, machines tools, paper, sailcloth, twine and airplane engines. By the mid-1800’s, the city was home to the largest producers of locomotives in this country and nearly half of the nation’s silk trade, earning Paterson the nickname “Silk City”. Paterson is also the birthplace of the Colt Revolver and the prototype for the first operable submarine (US Parks.org).
The formation of the Falls
The S.U.M. fulfilled the vision of its founder for more than 150 years, moving the United States from an agrarian, slave-based economy to one based in industry and freedom. Paterson attracted successive waves of immigrant entrepreneurs, skilled craftsmen and workers, the ‘diversity of talents’ Hamilton had hoped would be drawn to America. Immigrants still settle here to pursue their ‘American Dream’ and to weave their threads into the storied fabric of Silk City (US Parks.org).
Visiting Paterson Great Falls:
Welcome to America’s first planned city of industry and innovation. Begin your visit at Overlook Park. View the iconic Great Falls and a monument to Paterson’s founder, Alexander Hamilton. Cross McBride Avenue to the Welcome Center where you can visit the facilities, purchase a gift and learn about tours and programs.
The beauty of the Falls
To get a close look at the river that powered Paterson to prominence, follow the path behind the hydroelectric plant over the Passaic footbridge to Mary Ellen Kramer Park. From there you can peek into Hinchliffe Stadium, one of the few remaining stadiums that hosted Negro League Baseball.
Come back across the river, follow the short loop trail along Upper Raceway Park, ending at the Ivanhoe Wheelhouse. Walk across Spruce Street and visit the Paterson Museum, a park partner.
Exhibits include textile machinery, the first Colt firearms, steam locomotives and the first prototype of a submarine.
Video of the Falls
Regularly scheduled guided tours of the park are available during the summer season. From fall through late spring, reservations are required for all guided tours. You may also download a self-guided tour or smartphone app from our partner, the Hamilton Partnership at http://www.millmile.org.
Accessibility: We strive to make our facilities services and programs accessible to all. For information go to a visitor center, ask a ranger, call or check our website.
Firearms: For firearms regulations, check the park website.
Disclaimer: This information was taken from the National Parks Foundation pamphlet and I give the parks system full credit for the information. Please check out their blogs and website on the falls for more information on visiting the park. The parking lot is currently going through a renovation so call in advance of visiting the falls.
The Museum of Reclaimed Urbsn Space at 155 Loisaida Avenue (Avenue C)
The Mission of the museum:
(from the museum website)
The Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space preserves the history of the Lower East Side’s grassroots activism and promotes environmentally-sound, community-based urban ecologies.
We do this by:
*Archiving and documenting the history of the Lower East Side’s activism.
* Educating visitors with exhibitions and guided tours of the neighborhood.
*Empowering individuals to participate in the drive for sustainable change with workshops and events.
Information of the museum
While walking around Alphabet City for my blog, MywalkinManhattan.com, I came across the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space on the fast gentrifying Avenue C. Alphabet City, technically part of the East Village, has been going through mass gentrification since the early 2000’s. One of the reasons why the neighborhood has not been fully gentrified as been the Public Housing in the upper parts of the neighborhood and lining Avenue D.
The predicament though is even the public housing is going through a renewal with the renovation of the grounds and the buildings with new lighting, landscaping and sidewalks. Hurricane Sandy had really damaged the infrastructure of the complex and the City has been working on this for a few years (Hurricane Sandy was in 2012).
What has been happening in the lower parts of Manhattan as well as parts of Harlem, East Harlem and Washington Heights is that these have become the ‘last frontiers’ for gentrification as New York City keeps getting more expensive. The museum captures the transition of the neighborhood from a burnt out section of the Lower East Side with the bankruptcy of the City to show the grit of the neighborhood not to let their neighborhood decline.
What I enjoyed seeing is how the neighborhood residents banded together to take empty lots and turn them into community gardens, many of them still exist today. These tiny pockets of green have made the neighborhood more desirable to live in. With the expansion of NYU and Pace into the neighborhood and boom of college students moving into the neighborhood made safer by these long term residents have been changing the makeup of Alphabet City. The museum did a wonderful job showing how they banded together and fought the City as it improved in the 1990’s and tried to ‘plow over’ these gardens. There presence today is what gives the neighborhood its character.
The founding of the museum
The history of the neighborhood
The History of the Museum:
(from the museum website)
he Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MoRUS) was founded in 2012 by members of Times Up! environmental organization and based in C-Squat. As a living history of urban activism, MoRUS chronicles the LES community’s history of grassroots action. It celebrates the local activists who transformed abandoned spaces and vacant lots into vibrant community spaces and gardens. Many of these innovative, sustainable concepts and designs have since spread out to the rest of the city and beyond.
The museum showcases an often untold version of New York City history through photography, videography, authentic artifacts, and documents. MoRUS is a 100% volunteer-run organization committed to open, community-based action. With this space, we invite visitors to learn, engage, and participate in grassroots activism of the past, present, and future.
One of the interesting masks that dot the corners of the museum
A view of the inside of the museum
The Collection and Purpose of the Museum:
(from the museum website)
MoRUS was born in the East Village out of the observation that the neighborhood and its inhabitants, undergoing rapid transformations, are beginning to forget about their own history. When New York City almost went bankrupt in the seventies, community members struggled to preserve and restore their neighborhood. These activists have become fewer, and the new residents, who reap the benefits of their predecessors’ efforts, are left unaware.
Noticing it, Bill DiPaola and Laurie Mittelmann, both long-term residents of the East Village and members of Time’s Up! Environmental Organization, were determined to provide new opportunities for long-term activists to share their story and to pass on their experience and knowledge firsthand to new generations.
Located in the historic building C-Squat, MoRUS officially opened its doors in 2012 as a non-profit organization. The museum’s storefront was renovated almost entirely by volunteers. They did electrical work and plumbing, built walls, ceilings, and floors, and constructed furnishings such as a reception desk and an elaborate mosaic sign. This process took eight months, and involved other volunteers simultaneously sourcing funds and exhibitions, designing tours, and creating structure for the volunteer collective that runs the museum, such as guidelines, by-laws and committees.
Decisions are reached, events are planned, and new volunteers are plugged in through weekly general meetings and committee meetings. Committees include marketing, fundraising, administrative, merchandise, programming, tours, and exhibition/graphic design.
The Museum has become an important fixture in the neighborhood, not only to preserve the untold story of the East Village, but also to encourage community activism and sustainable development.
I recently visited The American Labor Museum/Botto House National Landmark for the afternoon and learned a lot about the American Labor Union formations and the rights we now take for granted.
A group of us took the tour of the Botto House and learned of its history and its place in the Paterson Silk Strikes of 1913. The first floor which serves as the meeting room has pictures of the Paterson Silk Strike which lasted just over five months and since the Mayor of Paterson at the time would not let the strikers meet, the Botto’s agreed to let the strikers meet at their home which at the time was in a isolated section of Haledon.
The history of the Silk Strike in Paterson
The Mayor of Haledon was sympathetic to the Union cause and let them meet in the town. Their house was situated in the middle of a field so that the strikers could gather around the home and listen to speakers.
The Botto House during the Paterson Silk Strikes
From their balcony, speakers could talk to the strikers and keep everyone abreast of the situation. Here people gathered and picnicked together and worked together to get their rights heard.
From the main display room, you will tour the home of Pietro and Maria Botto. First stop is the kitchen where Mrs. Botto ran her household. She made extra money selling food to the strikers and arranging meals for Mr. Botto’s co-workers. The family family did what it could to make money for the family.
Mrs. Botto’s kitchen
The sink area
Here she made meals for her family, did her jarring and preserving and the washing was done. Then a tour of the dining room, bedroom and the palour area where the family met and greeted people. The upstairs was formerly two apartments that were built to help ‘pay the bills’.
The Botto House Kitchen
The upstairs is now the display space where a display on the Dock Workers Union is currently being shown. We got to stand on the second floor balcony where so many speeches were made.
The backyard area
We took the back stairs to the backyard where the family had the grape arbor, root cellar where the preserves were kept and the boccie ball court. It seemed the family was very social at the time and self-sufficient.
The root cellar and Vineyard
Things turned bad for the family when both Mr. And Mrs. Botto both passed away two years after the strike. The strike could have taken its toll on the family or the fact that Mr. Botto could not find a job after the strike was over. No one knows.
It is an interesting tour of how one family opened their home to an important cause and it made a difference in the success of the strike and getting it resolved.
The history of the Botto’s:
The museum headquarters was the home of an immigrant family of industrial workers whose story is a fascinating one. In many ways, the telling of their saga is a doorway for museum visitors to step through and make connections with their own ethnic backgrounds.
The European Heritage:
Pietro and Maria Botto hailed from the region of Biella, Piedmonte, Italy. This area, at the foothills of the Alps, was a leading textile producer of linen and wool. The mountainous area was home to a fiercely independent people who, for centuries, wove cloth in their homes on looms which they owned.
The Industrial Revolution forced weavers to give upon cottage-based production to seek employment in large shops or mills. the displacement of workers by mechanized looms and weavers’ lack of economic independence caused people in Biella (as in other European textile areas where Paterson’s workforce originated) to embrace new ideas about worker rights and to be a vocal workforce wherever they roamed.
Pietro decided to leave Italy because he was made eligible for a second draft into the army at the recently united Kingdom of Italy (Italy had quadrupled its army at that time to strengthen unification and to acquire African colonies). A skilled weaver who also painted church interiors, Pietro brought his wife, Maria and daughter, Albina (born 1889) on the long voyage to America in 1892.
The Botto’s settled in crowded West Hoboken, New Jersey (today’s Union City), where they worked in silk mills for 15 years until they had saved enough money to afford a home for their growing family. The family now included three more daughters, Adelia (born 1894), Eva (born 1895) and Olga (born 1899). In 1908, the Botto’s moved to Haledon, a tiny community, growing up along the streetcar line from Paterson, where many other country folk from Biella had already settled.
The Botto’s home became a focal point for a dramatic slice of history in 1913 when the epic Paterson Silk Strike broke out. Pietro was on strike with 24,000 fellow silk workers when massive and constant arrests forced the workers to consider the independent borough of Haledon as a location for great outdoor rallies. Mayor William-Brueckmann guaranteed the safety of the workers and Pietro offered his home as a meeting place for the strikers.
The Botto’s courageous stand allowing their home to be so closely identified with the strike stemmed from a belief in the rights of the common man. During the strike, Pietro and his family played host to the social and labor leaders who were the idols of the working person at that time. After the strike, the family had to very circumspect about employment in the mills, with one of the daughters denying her family name to avoid blacklisting by an employer.
The large house and spacious hillside gardens are a tribute to the family’s combined labor. Pietro and his daughters worked 10-12 hour days, 5 1/2 days a week in the mills. The eldest daughter began mill work at age 11 and the youngest at age 13.
On Sundays, the usual day of rest, the girls helped their mother serve patrons of the resort aspect of the property. Maria ran a large household, feed boarders during the week and the scores of people on Sunday and did piecework from mills; she died in 1915 at the age of 45.
Pietro lived until 1945, a beloved father and grandfather to a growing clan.
History of the House and Land:
The house in Haledon, NJ
The total environment of the Botto House National Historic Landmark reflects the ethic origin of this family of silk workers from the Piedmonte (Biella) area of Italy and the development of housing in early streetcar suburbs. It is representative of the sensitive use of small landholdings in American urban areas by various European immigrant groups.
The Botto family purchased Block X, Lots 38, 39 and 40 in 1907 from Alexander King, a real estate speculator. King himself purchased a large parcel of land from the Cedar Cliff Land Company, a group of Paterson industrialist and business leaders who were quick to see the advantages of selling cheap land to workers in Haledon. The completion of a horse-drawn trolley line in 1872 allowed for expansion of residential and recreational areas outside of the City of Paterson, a major American industrial center.
The Botto House sign
(Information from American Labor Museum: Botto House National Landmark, a Brief History)
The Period Rooms:
The Front Hall
The front entrance hall light fixture is original to the house. One of the restoration tasks yet to be carried out is the replacement of embossed wallpaper on the walls which was made to look like the carved leather coverings in the homes of the rich.
The front hallway
The Kitchen:
The kitchen was a major center of activity in the household. The large coal and gas range dominates the room. It was used as a heating source as well as for cooking foods. A table provided the space for food preparation; a cupboard stored pots, pans and dishes; an icebox kept food items cold (the root cellar, located in the garden was also used for cold food storage) and a sink for dishes and a tub for laundry utilities indoor plumbing-certainly a recent innovation for working class households.
The kitchen
Even with the convenience of indoor plumbing and the gas range, the kitchen was the scene of virtual non-stop labor for Maria Botto and her daughters. In addition to meals prepared for the family, the Botto’s fed a noon meal to extra people during the week, there were workmen without families, who rented rooms and come from the mills for a hot dinner.
On Sundays, the Botto women prepared food for as many as 100 people who came to recreate on the property. This, of course, provided on additional income for the family.
The Botto family’s foodways reflected their home region of Biella, Piedmonte, Italy. Piedmontese cooked scorned tomato sauce, preferring wine and chicken broth to accompany such staple foods as polenta (corn meal), risotto (rice) and tortellini, a pasta. Generally, rosemary, sage, and other herbs were used in cooking and grown outside in the garden. The herbs also had medicinal uses.
The kitchen sinks
Some of the artifacts placed around the kitchen are the copper put used to cook polenta (purur), meat grinder, fish scale, orange juice squeezer, coffee grinder (from a German immigrant household), rug beater, mousetrap and wall calendars which were used by working people as decorations.
The Botto women were generally charged with kitchen duties. Maria Botto hired a German woman to do the wash. One special job was reserved for Pietro, stirring the polenta and cutting it with a string.
The Dining Room:
The dining room was another work area for the family. Here the family and the ‘boarders’ dined. Here Maria ‘picked’ silk on a frame, located in the corner of the room under the window, examining the bolts of broadsilk brought from the mill for imperfections.
The Dining room
This was another task to bring income to the household. Maria used the sewing machine to make clothes. The table reflects a setting for the family and ‘boarders’, placed with dishes, silver-plated utensils and a condiment set.
The Dining Room
The sideboard, table chairs and sewing machine are family pieces. The lighting fixtures in this room as in the rest of the house were powered by gas. As is typical in the area, paintings were hung by string from a picture rail as the walls were made of plaster.
The Sideboard
The small painting shows sheep, which provide the wool upon which textile manufacture was based, against the backdrop of the Alps. The large sketched portrait of Pietro Botto in later years was produced by his grandson and professional artist, Richard Botto. On the side of the room hang pictures of the Botto daughters in their wedding attire.
The Dishes in the sideboards
The Bedroom:
This room, which was actually the girls bedroom has been recreated to resemble where Maria and Pietro slept. The dresser is set with brushes, combs and mirrors that are from the period. The Botto’s slept in a brass bed.
The bedroom at the home
Swimsuits and other clothing hang in the wardrobe. A travelling trunk rests on the floor next to the wardrobe. Next to the window hangs a photograph of Mr. and Mrs. Guala of Biella, Italy. Next to the wardrobe hangs the elaborately framed photograph of Adalgiso Valle of Paterson, NJ, a jacquard card cutter.
The Bedroom
The Parlor:
The most formal room in the house, the parlor was used for guests, weddings and wakes. Dominating is the oak mantle with its columns and mirror top. It surrounds a fireplace where, in the winter, a gas heater was attached to a pipe behind the hearth. The clock had to be wound every day and chimes on the half-hour.
The parlor
The photographs on the shelf are Maria’s sisters in Italy (right) and the three eldest Botto daughters (left). Members of the Bocchio family of Biello, Italy are pictured in the photograph to the left of the mantle.
The Parlor and decorations
The furnishings in the house
Other Rooms:
The area making up the library on the first floor was a sitting room and bedroom for the family. The Botto daughters rented the two apartments upstairs when they first married and started their families and other non-family members served as renters through the years. The bathroom on the first floor is the approximate size of the original but today has modern fixtures and is not meant to be part of the restoration.
(From the American Labor Museum/Botto House National Landmark)
The Labor Day display of the Union history:
Labor display
Labor Display
History of Paterson:
The City of Paterson was founded in 1792 as America’s first planned industrial city. Alexander Hamilton, Elias Boudinot and other members of The Society for the Establishment of Useful Manufactures chose the Great Falls of the Passaic River as the ideal site for a manufacturing center. The Falls provided water power, while the river provided transportation upstream and down.
During the 19th Century, Paterson flourished. It became known as “Silk City” and “The City” with an Arm of Iron in a Sleeve of Silk for the silk mills and locomotive works that made their homes here. Immigrants flocked to the city at first from England, Switzerland. Germany and France and later from Southern and Eastern Europe. Many found jobs in the mills and a few took their place among the captions of industry.
(Mill Worker…Mill Owner-Botto House Museum)
The gift shops
Disclaimer: This information was taken directly from The American Labor Museum/Botto House National Landmark pamphlets. This museum is one of the few historical sites dealing with the Labor Unions in the United States and plays a huge role in workers rights today.
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