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LITTLE ITALY NEWS SEPTEMBER 2014 EDITION www.littleitalytroy.org [email protected]
Italian Community Center Charitable Foundation 1450 5th Ave Troy, New York
To Benefit the Italian Community Center’s Soup Kitchen
26th Annual
Shrine Festa Italiana
Friday and Saturday – September 19th & 20th
5 – 10:30 PM
Great Italian Food – Games of Chance (Gambling)
Games & Rides for Children – Raffles – Italian Souvenirs
Entertainment
Friday, Sept. 19th DJ & Singer Nick Colluccio” 6:00 – 10:00 PM
Saturday, Sept. 20th – “Good Times” – 6:00 – 10:00 PM
Menu Located Under The Tent
Ziti & Sauce - Ziti w/ Meatballs - Sausage & Peppers - Meatball Subs – Pasta - Fagioli
Eggplant Parm - Linguini w/White Clam Sauce (Friday) – Calamari - Chicken Wings
Hamburgers & Cheesburgers - Hot Dogs - French Fries - Pizza (Plain, Pepperoni, White w/Broccoli) - Pizza Fritta (Fried
Dough) – Zeppole - Italian Cookies - Lemon Ice
Ice Cream - Expresso w/Sambuca - Sambuca & Annisette – Soda – Wine - Draft Beer
Coming Soon: Troy Little Italy Revisited. By Mike Esposito
As the country’s leading publisher of history Arcadia has given many people an opportunity to
write about their community, sharing photographs and descriptions.
I am pleased to announce that Arcadia has approved and accepted my plan to author a second book
about our historic neighborhood. The new book which should be available next year will be titled
Troy Little Italy Revisited. My deadline for submission of text and photographs is January 27,
2015. We have a continuing story to tell and in this book, half of the text, photographs and de-
scriptions will be devoted to what has been happening in the past dozen years.
We hope our story will be encouraging to other older historic neighborhoods which are in various
stages of revitalization and resurgence. We are inspired by those who went before us. We honor
and respect their memory. Little Italy neighborhoods throughout America continue to stand the test
of time and flourish while they inspire a sense of pride and community. America’s cities are on a
rebound and segments of the Italian-American community have stood fast in remaining in the in-
ner city neighborhoods of so many American cities both as residents and business owners.
The first several chapters of the new book will be vintage photographs of our neighbor, primarily
family group photos. A chapter will be devoted to “the Hill”, my former neighborhood
(Havermans, St. Mary’s, and the adjoining streets). “Our great, good place” the old public market
site, will have its own chapter including descriptions of its history as a pottery works, gas and light
complex, retail farmers market and four season playground. There will be vintage photographs as
well as more recent photographs of the several events held in this fine public space during the past
dozen years. Another chapter will highlight those local organizations that have assisted us as part-
ners in sponsoring events and programs including the Italian Community Center, the CYO Center,
and Joseph’s House and Shelter. The final chapter centers on what our neighborhood group, Troy
Little Italy, has accomplished since the Friends of Little Italy was formed in 2003 by Rocco De-
Fazio. Royalties from the sale of the new book will be donated to projects relating to the restora-
tion of the market site.
Photographs being considered for use in the new book will be available at the Troy Little Italy in-
formation table at the ICC’s Festa Italiana. Please stop by and help me identify some of the indi-
viduals in the photographs. The work we do to capture neighborhood history would not be possible
without your assistance!
Local Artists “Show-off” Little Italy
Restoration specialist Andrea Daley and sculptress Denise Saint-onge had a plan – literally to
show part of the resurgence of our neighborhood using a self-guided tour directing people to spe-
cific buildings. What a success it was! Over one hundred people registered on a recent Wednes-
day. Six sites were included on the tour:
A fine art studio, workshop and gallery has been restored and converted to loft style artist’s space
in an 1870 building at 227 Fourth Street. The first floor space had been the location of Sheeran’s
Print Shop for over 80 years.
3 Franklin Place is one in a series of two story brick row houses near Liberty Square recently re-
stored and transformed into a single family home.
253 Fourth Street, an 1847 era railroad home built for workers has back to back fireplaces and its
lower level space (once a beauty salon) is now the office for Restoration Specialists.
An unheated storage building at 69 Hill Street which was formerly a bakery and then an upholstery
repair shop has been turned into a fully functional commercial kitchen for preparing baked goods.
108 Adams Street is a one family designed by two architects from RPI. The building has vaulted
ceilings and a handsome courtyard adjacent to the residence.
In recent years 274 Fourth Street at the corner of Adams was the South Central Neighborhood Re-
source Center. In earlier times the first floor retail space in the three story brick building was the
location of a dry cleaning business. It is in the process of becoming an art gallery.
Our compliments go out to Andrea, Denise, the individual property owners, and all who were in-
volved in planning this fine evening. The neighborhood is all the better for the positive press re-
ceived from local newspapers and word of mouth about the stroll. What a great way to showcase
Little Italy! Hopefully this will be another in a continuing series of Troy Little Italy Historic
Tours.
A Gift That Will Keep on Giving
Last year, longtime Little Italy supporter and ardent volunteer, Marion Field, was selected by Troy
Rehabilitation & Improvement Program (TRIP, Inc.) as Troy Treasure. What a great choice. Since
the selection committee was aware of Marion’s interest in upgrading the Little Italy website, they
found an appropriate way to honor her award. They provided the computer consultant services of
Anasha Cummings to work with Marion in updating the website. Improvements will be made to
accessibility, more photographs will be added, links will be provided to connect people, places,
and other sources, relevant articles by local authors will be sought, a current events calendar, more
historical information about the neighborhood and annual reports which summarize the year’s pro-
grams and events will be provided. There will be a listing of businesses and agencies in the
neighborhood as well as a self-guided tour map. The website will continue to provide full text of
each monthly newsletter. General information about the organization such as how and why it got
started, how to reach us, and our goals and objectives will be included.
We are hopeful that the new, upgraded and updated website will be available within two months.
Suggestions on what can be included should be sent to our email address:
HELP –We Need Volunteers!
We need volunteers of all kind – those who can work independently on short term projects or one-
time events, those who can make a commitment to work with ongoing committees, those who
have computer skills or research skills, ideas for fundraising, etc.
The following are a few examples of where help is needed:
Our co-partners, the Italian Community Center, the CYO Center, and Joseph House & Shelter
work with us on programs or events such as the Drop in Center for youngsters 12 to 16 during sev-
eral weeks in July and August, Christmas in Little Italy – the evening before the Victorian Stroll,
“showing the colors” at community events such as the Victorian Stroll working with our partners
at Information Stations (this could be expanded to an occasional day at the River Street or Atrium
Saturday Farmers Market or Troy Night Out once a month)
Our area of the city is the second oldest neighborhood in Troy (the downtown area is the oldest).
As such, we have the opportunity to document and highlight information on many historic sites
which can be the locale for additional Troy Little Italy Historic Tours.
We need people interested in history and research, and people who would organize and provide
tours (self-guided or otherwise)
Cinema under the Stars (well maybe not always “under the stars” depending on the weather) is a
fine seasonal event that requires more attention and planning. Fortunately several of our partners
have indoor space available.
Our bocce courts are greatly underutilized. Anyone interested in helping to organize leagues and
share spending a couple hours at the courts (in the Visitor Center) when necessary.
Rocco DeFazio has a fine crew that assists him in planning and organizing our annual stickball
tournament but a few more volunteers are needed. It’s a once a year event and gets hectic the days
before and day of the tournament.
The MarketPlace is owned by the City of Troy and we encourage the city to sponsor more events
such as the entertaining band brought to the space by Vito Ciccarelli (Special Events Coordinator).
Troy Little Italy has sponsored flea markets, garage sales, and a short lived farmers market. These
take volunteers to be successful. Our several International Festivals were fun but a lot of work and
expensive (big tents cost money). BUT maybe a smaller version of the festival could be manage-
able. We have a neighborhood history of ethnic diversity that should be celebrated.
Also, the MarketPlace could use a bit of color – flowering shrubs, a few trees, planters, etc. Any
people interested in gardening? While we do not want to create a space that will be high mainte-
nance for our DPW and Parks & Recreation crews, volunteers could help make and keep this great
public space appealing.
Our monthly newsletter, website, and Facebook site are valuable resources to get our story out but
each requires people interested in a few small jobs to keep each of them going.
Our email address is: [email protected]
We are grateful for your continued interest and support.
29thAnnual Monsignor Burns Memorial Awards Dinner
Honoring
Rocco DeFazio ‘70
Jim Fitzgerald ‘71
Mainella Family
Monday, September 29,2014 The Century House Latham
Cocktails 6:00 pm Dinner 7:00 pm
The City has invited the members of Troy Little Italy to participate in an exciting
initiative — Realize Troy,
The creation of a new Comprehensive Plan for the City of Troy. The comprehensive
Plan will be developed through significant public consultation and will establish a a
clear community based vision and action plan to guide the City’s overall develop-
ment over the next 20 years addressing both the current and future need of the City.
We are invited to attend one of these interviews with the consultant team at Troy
City Hall, 433 River Street, 5th Floor on Thursday, September 25, 2014 at 9:00 AM.
Please RSVP to Denee Zeigler at 518 279 7392 or [email protected]. If you
are not able to join us at this session, we will do our best to accommodate you at an-
other session.
SEPTEMBER MEETING
9/17/2014
6:00 Neighborhood Watch
6:30 Troy Little Italy
233 Fourth Street ( corner of Washington)
