The Waterbury Democrat., 1934-08-20
In New York
Rx HELEN WORDEN

New York.-Do you want to go | 10 Europe this summer? All right. Come to New York. You may not
 know it but Europe is here. | Shall I give you the address of Italy for example? 1 One million and forty thousand | Italians live in New York. Per
 haps Naples is your passion. It stretches the length of Mulberry
 street on the lower East Side.
 Bright flowers in tenement house
 windows, primitive plaster saints
 shrines on fire -escapes,' and the lit
 of Neopolitan street songs rising
 above the roar of q big city, give
 New Yorks downtown Little Italy
 the Continental touch.
 l The fiesta of St Gcnnaro, Ma | ples' patron saint is approaching.
 Fifty thousand Ncopo1itans will
 celebrate his birthday in New York on September IT. The celebration will last several days. There will
 be folk dancing on the sidewalks, shimmering electric-liShted arches will span Mulberry street and
 much red wine and spaghetti will
 be consumed.
 Food and Talk Italian
 | Fascinating at this season are the native restaurants and shops of the district. Fat and amiable
 Papa Moneta comes from Lake l Como but he serves deviltish - the dish of Naples in his res ttaurant at 32 Mulberry street. | Other Italian specialties of his house include spaghetti Bolognese, suppa di pesce, ravioli al polio and bouillabaisse as the Italian prepare it. Italian is the language of Null berry street A few may speak English, but not to one another. The price marks in the shops, the books, the magazines and the phonoSrar h records are all in 1tal- lan. - Even the moving picture and the puppet shows are done in Italian. I hope when you visit Mulberry street, that ASrippino Nantes, the local plumber is running his pup pet show. He does it for pleasure on certain dates. in small thea ter at 1O6 Mulberry street. His
 wife and daughter make the cos | tunes of the puppets, his sons manipulate them and he reads the
 Italian script in laundering tones. | The show, when it is on lasts from | eight to ten every evening. The plays are part of early Italian his | tory; they usually run six months
 in serial form.
 | Among the amusing purchases
 you can make on Mulberry street are tiny boxes of wax matches, | paste-ware pottery, strange chees- es, wine jugs, plaster patron
 saints, handmade cigars and long,
 short, thin. wide and scalloped
 spaghetti, all imported from Italy. |
 The Uptown Italy
 Florentines, Sicilians and Vene- tians have settled in uptown New
 York The Venetians, accustomed to water in their own country. live
 along side it in New York. The
 Harlem river is their Grand Canal.
 lat-bottomed barges have replac-
 ed their gondolas.
 The Italian market which firing es First avenue from 104th street to Hath street. is as bright with color as any Florentine of Vene.
 tian market scene. Finucchi, Ital- ian celery, purple eggplant. fresh clans. writhing eels and devilfish,
 vivid red orange and blue umbrel-
 las and the rich, royal purple of
 grapes .n season bring vividness to the picture.
 The Italian district in Harlem
 is larger than that on the lower East Side and poorer. But even in this somewhat cheap neighbor-
 hood, you will find the flavor Of
 Italy.