Saturday, April 2, 2011

Four Girls From One Block On Cherry Street


those 4 girls were
Rosina Cirrito, 18 years old, 135 Cherry Street, (Rose or Rosie Cirrito)
Santina Salemi, 24 years old, 174 Cherry Street, (Sophie Salemi)
Josie Del Castillo, 21 years old, 155 Cherry Street, (Giuseppina Del Castillo)
Frances Salemi, Sophie's sister, survived the fire.
The above Cherry Street addresses were approximately between Catherine and Market.
from last week's commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Fire
100 YEARS AGO, New York City experienced its most devastating workplace tragedy before 9/11. In the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, 146 immigrant girls, mostly Jewish and Italian, died trying to escape flames that roared through the upper floors of a garment factory near Washington Square. Trapped behind locked doors, many never had a chance to escape. Others jumped out the windows, some hand-in-hand, their hair and clothes aflame. The Triangle Fire became an unparalleled catalyst for social reform. Public outrage over the event galvanized the progressive movement, women's suffrage, and instigated many of the reforms of The New Deal. The Centennial commemoration of the fire presents a unique opportunity for New Yorkers to honor those who lost their lives at Triangle and provides an important moment for the city and the country to reflect on the legacy of "The fire that changed America."
From the Fire a new work created by the Tony nominated composer, Elizabeth Swados, writer/director, Cecilia Rubino, the poet, Paula Finn, and designed by Bonnie Roche-Bronfman, will dramatize the history of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and bring the event into the 21st century.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Happy Birthday Nancy


Rich Karney's letter to Nancy's brother Bruce from 3 years ago in May
Bruce,
Please accept my condolences on the passing of Nancy. It came as a shock to me when David called me up when he heard the news. I was and am deeply saddened. Having not seen Nancy for over forty years, the get together in April was so much more meaningful. Nancy and I were close during our years in P.S. 177. Regardless of what she may have said, I never resented having lost the election of Safety Squad Captain to her. I didn’t mind being her lieutenant. Probably not too many people did either.  Speaking with her in Tanahey Park and the Chinese restaurant brought back many memories of growing up in Knickerbocker Village.  And the pictures she brought were special if not poignant. Discussing with her the fates of the sixth grade girls in the picture she showed is so damn ironic now.
I always felt Nancy was special.  Not because she stood out from others but that she had sincerity to others.  Not sure if she discussed some of the events I remembered and mentioned to her walking back from the restaurant.  They may have not been of historical significance but to me they showed how she treated people, certainly those from our formative years, and made folks feel good if not special.
We became less close once we split after sixth grade, she going to JHS 12 and me to JHS 65.  We did regroup at Camp Cummings in the Summer of 1964 and it was nice to spend a few months as teenagers together in a relaxed atmosphere.  It was fun times, as I laugh about one deep discussion we had as she explained female monthly encounters.  Looking back, she allowed me to be ignorant while maintaining some sense of respect of and for me.
I’m sure it will take some time for you and your family.  And please express my sadness to your father too.  He might remember me from living in the F building. 
It was good to see you last month and so, so special to have seen Nancy.
Richard

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

My Life: Russo Inqui, A School Technology Project On LES History


A school technology project, circa 2004, where a student from a lower east side school used a primary source to imagine the life of an immigrant attending that same school 80 years in the past.
Born 1912. Russo's record shows his marks in the 7th and 8th grades where he had the following subjects: English, Oral English, Arithmetic/Algebra, Science/Sewing, Music, History, Geography and Shop/Cooking. His marks were mostly in the 70's. He only got a 65 and a 66 in History and Geo9graphy. His official teacher was someone named Tucker. He moved 4 times before he came to PS 20. He went to PS 104, PS 79 and PS 19. He used to live uptown on 84th Street.

My Life: Catherine Fazio, A School Technology Project On LES History


A school technology project, circa 2004, where a student from a lower east side school used a primary source to imagine the life of an immigrant attending that same school 80 years in the past.
Born in 1925. Catherine's student card shows that she attended PS 91 before she came to PS 20. She lived on East 4th Street. In the 7th and 8th grade she got separate marks in the subject areas. The subjects were: English, Oral English, Arithmetic/Algebra, History, Geography, Science/Sewing, Music and Shop/Cooking. Her marks weren't too great.

My Life: Peter Inguatiato, A School Technology Project On LES History


A school technology project, circa 2004, where a student from a lower east side school used a primary source to imagine the life of an immigrant attending that same school 80 years in the past.
Born in 1909. From his record card we see that Peter lived at 313 Bowery all during his elementary school years, which was unusual for those times. People moved a lot. He went to PS 79 for most of that time and transferred to PS 20 in the 7th grade. He repeated 2B in 1918, maybe because he got a C minus the first time. He was out sick for a long time in 1921.

An Interview With Sam Zilberzweig: Lower East Side Historian


from 3/3/11

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Heave Away Santy Ano: Staten Island Ferry History


An old ferry history slide show that I just refitted with lyrics calling for the Yankees not to trade their rookie pitchers for Francisco Liriano
From Boston Town we're bound away,
Heave aweigh (Heave aweigh!) Santy Ano.
Around Cape Horn to Frisco Bay,
We're bound for Californi-o.
So Heave her up and away we'll go,
Heave aweigh (Heave aweigh!) Santy Ano.
Heave her up and away we'll go,
We're bound for Californi-o.

She's a fast clipper ship and a bully crew,
Heave aweigh (Heave aweigh!) Santy Ano.
A down-east Yankee for her captain, too.
We're bound for Californi-o.
So Heave her up and away we'll go,
Heave aweigh (Heave aweigh!) Santy Ano.
Heave her up and away we'll go,
We're bound for Californi-o.

Back in the days of Forty-nine,
Heave aweigh (Heave aweigh!) Santy Ano.
Those were the days of the good old times,
Way out in Californi-o.
So Heave her up and away we'll go,
Heave aweigh (Heave aweigh!) Santy Ano.
Heave her up and away we'll go,
We're bound for Californi-o.

When I leave ship I'll settle down
Heave aweigh (Heave aweigh!) Santy Ano
I'll marry a girl named Sally Brown
Way out in Californi-o
So Heave her up and away we'll go,
Heave aweigh (Heave aweigh!) Santy Ano.
Heave her up and away we'll go,
We're bound for Californi-o.

There's plenty of gold, so I've been told,
Heave aweigh (Heave aweigh!) Santy Ano.
Plenty of gold so I've been told
Way out in Californi-o
So Heave her up and away we'll go,
Heave aweigh (Heave aweigh!) Santy Ano.
Heave her up and away we'll go,
We're bound for Californi-o.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

A Story Of A Shirtwaist Fire Witness

cuneo-podesta
from Maria Blank:
"My grandmother was born in 1894 in New York City and she lived near Washington Square Park. She died in 1995 when she was 100. She was a witness to the fire. The images haunted her for the rest of her life. I feel that she would want everyone to know how awful and tragic it was.
I have attached some very old pictures that my mother gave me. I think the most interesting one is a picture of my grandmother's grade school class. She is in the second row standing fourth girl in the row. It looks like she is the shortest one in the class. Do you think that some of the girls in her class worked at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory? The other picture is one take of my grandmother when she was about seventeen (around the same time as the fire). The last picture was taken much later. It's one of Lorenzo Cuneo's stores. My mother said it's on one side of Washington square park but I'm not so sure of that. She also said that this is the parking garage which is supposedly the first one in New York City. Hope you find the pictures interesting."
Maria's grandmother was Mildred Cuneo. Her great grandfather was Lorenzo Cuneo. In the 1910 census she was living at 12 E. 8th Street, two blocks from the Asch Building.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Thursday, February 3, 2011

A Black History Month KV Special Edition: John Coltrane and Edward Strickland on Coltrane


Edward Strickland is famous in Knickerbocker Village history. He lived at 10 Monroe Street. Here's another posting about Strickland
below is an excerpt from an article Strickland wrote about Coltrane in the Atlantic in 1987
What Coltrane Wanted
The legendary saxophonist forsook lyricism for the quest for ecstasy
by Edward Strickland
JOHN COLTRANE died twenty years ago, on July 17, 1967, at the age of forty. In the years since, his influence has only grown, and the stellar avant-garde saxophonist has become a jazz legend of a stature shared only by Louis Armstrong and Charlie Parker. As an instrumentalist Coltrane was technically and imaginatively equal to both; as a composer he was superior, although he has not received the recognition he deserves for this aspect of his work. In composition he excelled in an astonishing number of forms--blues, ballads, spirituals, rhapsodies, elegies, suites, and free-form and cross-cultural works.
The closest contemporary analogy to Coltrane's relentless search for possibilities was the Beatles' redefinition of rock from one album to the next. Yet the distance they traveled from conventional hard rock through sitars and Baroque obligatos to Sergeant Pepper psychedelia and the musical shards of Abbey Road seems short by comparison with Coltrane's journey from hard-bop saxist to daring harmonic and modal improviser to dying prophet speaking in tongues.
from Strickland's 1998 obituary
Bay State Banner
09-24-1998
Edward Strickland, 68, educator, artist, writer
Edward Strickland, professor of the psychology of visual arts, a friend to artists, and himself an artist and writer, died in the early morning of Sept. 16 at Deaconess Hospital. He succumbed to respiratory failure due to lung cancer. He was 68.
Throughout his life, in his painting, as an arts administrator and critic, and as a individual, Dr. Strickland sided with those who were struggling to achieve equity in society. He was generous with his time on behalf of such efforts, even though it took him away from his studio where he took an intense pleasure in immersing himself in the …
A woman stands among a smother of foliage, and the leaves around her stir, responsive to her voice. "It's as though she's singing a linden tree into existence," says Edward Strickland, the painter of the scene.
Strickland, through December, is presenting a 40-year retrospective of paintings and drawings in the handsome AAMARP Galleries on the fourth floor of the Ruggles Building of Northeastern University, at 11 Leon St. The retrospective represents the broad scope of his interests built on the dual foundations of psychology and the visual arts. An associate professor of psychology at the University of Massachusetts at Boston and former chair of the black studies department, …

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Meyer London: A Socialist Elected To Congress 1914

London makes it clear that he is not about to start a revolution but to begin formulating and introducing social legislation.