The Feast Of San Rocco: 1935

Knickerbocker Village is about one year old
From Joe Bruno on the Feast in the 1970's:

They resurrected the St. Rocco Feast in the mid 1970's. I had to throw all the cars out of my parking lot for 10 days.
They put the rides, and gambling booths in my parking lot, and instead of paying me, they gave me 4 soda spots in the one block feast on Monroe St.
Two spots came with the Pepsi trucks we could sit inside and serve from. I ran one truck with my ex-wife, my father ran the other with Fat Julie (my step mother). The two other stands, which had to be built with wood, I gave to my friends Anthony Alvarino, and Ray Williams.
The feast was a dud. We made balls selling sodas. Nobody showed up except 4th Warders and a few 6th Warders. We were on the TV news, but still no action.
I really took a beating, shutting the parking lot down for 10 days.
I figure I lost a few grand in monthly rents. I had to pro-rate everyone's rents to deduct the 10 days customers couldn't park.
The good news was that I had great fun for ten days. Getting drunk every day. Sometimes twice a day.
After a few days of making no money, we made the best of a bad situation. My father and I had bottles of booze in our Pepsi stands that we gave away to all our friends, which meant basically everyone in Knickerbocker Village.
Buy a Pepsi, get a shot of booze for free. Or two. Or more.
Of course, one year was enough, and the disaster of the St. Rocco Feast was never repeated.

The Godfather On 6th Street And Father Moffo

from famous residents of Waterbury Connecticut

Rev. Joseph Moffo, Roman Catholic priest who appeared in the Godfather Part II. Fr. Moffo was pastor of St. Joseph's Church in New York City where a portion of the movie was being filmed and was asked to play the part of a priest.

Production designer Dean Tavoularis chose East 6th Street in Manhattan, between Avenue A and Avenue B. The block was completely remade, its storefronts converted to the cigar stores, social clubs, butcher shops, and theaters Coppola’s grandparents might well have known. The pushcart-crowded block is complete to the dirt and dung on the cobbles. As Vito Corleone walks among his people on this block, first as a serf, then as a lord, we see him as he is, without apology.
A production photo exists of a smiling, relaxed Coppola standing on a roof during the shooting of the Lower East Side sequences. Below him, it is 1919; down the street, just out of camera range, it is 1974. In GODFATHER PART II, Francis Coppola lets us occupy two worlds simultaneously, as well, those of Vito Corleone and his son Michael. And we see each of those men, handsome, loving, and terrible, with utter clarity.

There is also a film made about the filming of the Godfather on 6th Street called THE GODFATHER COMES TO 6TH ST.
from the reel new york site

Mark Kitchell was a film student at N.Y.U. when he shot THE GODFATHER COMES TO 6TH ST. on the Lower East Side block he called home at the time. The piece shares the chaos, excitement, and disappointments that came along with the film crews who descended upon his neighborhood in 1974 to make THE GODFATHER, PART II. Prevailing over Paramount's attempt to ban him from filming, Kitchell highlights locals who were cast as extras and the efforts of a community group who protested the presence of the film crews and were eventually awarded additional money for use of their territory. THE GODFATHER COMES TO 6TH ST. garnered awards from the American Film Festival, the Chicago Film Festival, and the Festival of Festivals (now the Toronto Film Festival) and was nominated for an Oscar.
Q: What inspired you to make this piece?
A: I'd come to NYU film school, fallen in love with documentary, and was looking for a subject to make a film when representative of Paramount showed up on my block on the Lower East Side, saying they wanted to shoot THE GODFATHER, PART II there. I was reluctant at first, not wanting to make a film about a film; but my teacher George Stoney urged me to go ahead, certain that I'd find a story. So I set out to chronicle the filming through my neighbors' eyes. It was meant to be a portrait of the community caught up in the drama of being center stage, for THE GODFATHER no less.
Q: Do you have any interesting and/or amusing behind-the-scenes stories about the making of this particular work?
A: I had a long battle with Paramount over the making of this film, which they tried to stop. Ron Colby, the local unit production manager, was supportive; and I had no trouble until the time of filming drew near. Then the treats began and I prepared for guerrilla filmmaking. On the first day of filming, the production manager kicked me and my crew off the street; so we took to the fire escapes and I asked to talk to Coppola. The next day he gave me his blessing, and from then on we had freedom to shoot whatever we wanted. When the block called a protest meeting, the prodcution manager again tried to exclude me; but the block association insisted on admitting me since I was a member and on their side.
Finally, when the film was done and THE GODFATHER II was about to be released and I wanted to release my film, Paramount's lawyer threatened to get an injuction. I appealed to Coppola. He agreed to see me, and screened the film (at the Rizzoli, while a limo waited to take him to Cannes); but there was nothing he could do. So at last I gave up, and told Paramount's lawyer, Norman Flicker, that he'd got me -- but all I wanted to do was show it, not make money. A few months later, when NYU wanted to submit the film for the student Academy Awards, I got Flicker's okay; after it was nominated, he dropped his opposition to showing it. But not until he'd made his point. Still, I got around his ban, and got the film made.
Q: Is there a relationship between your work as a video/filmmaker and life in the New York metropolitan area?
A: My film was meant to be a portrait of the community most of all, and used the filming of THE GODFATHER II mainly as a means to reveal it going through change. I don't know that I succeeded in that intention. But at least the focus is on the people of Sixth Street. And it turns out to have captured an era on the Lower East Side that's pretty much gone forever, so it has historical interest.
Q: How did you fund this particular film/video, and what is your general experience in seeking funding for your work?
A: I funded this film by hacking, driving a taxi forty hours every weekend and then going to the lab Monday. We edited all night for a summer, while I drove days. Most of the finishing costs came from NYU. Arthur Mayer, bless his heart, gave a modest donation. But that was all. I got very good at cadging a camera here, a tape recorder there, an editing room everywhere.
Q: How do you define an independent film or video?
A: The definition of independent is pretty slippery -- and that's sometimes a good thing -- but in the documentary ghetto it's easy to tell the difference. We're the ones who beg, borrow, and steal, go thru blood, sweat and tears to make our babies; and then hope someone wants to see them.

San Rocco Procession: 1929

image source nypl digital collection

Rocky Moments In San Rocco History: 1906

Feuding of the old guard Northerners (Piedmont) vs. the newer Sicilian immigrants
san-rocco-1906

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The Feast Of San Rocco, Aliquippa, Pa

The Parade of the San Rocco Festa has been held each year in Aliquippa Pa since 1925.
About Aliquippa

Aliquippa is a city in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, and is part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. Formerly a borough, it was formally named a city in 1987 by the Aliquippa Council.
Aliquippa was founded by the merger of three towns: Aliquippa (now called West Aliquippa), Woodlawn, and New Sheffield. There is no evidence connecting the Seneca Queen Alliquippa with the location of the borough. This was one of several Indian names selected arbitrarily by the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad in 1878 for stations along the route. Aliquippa is best known as the location of a productive steel mill that the Jones and Laughlin Steel Company constructed there along the Ohio River beginning in 1905. Employment at the facility sustained a population of 27,023 in 1940. The mill closed during the collapse of the steel industry during the 1980s. This major economic loss alongside suburbanization caused a major population loss through the end of the 20th century. The oldest church without the current boundaries of Aliquippa is Mt. Carmel Presbyterian Church (formerly White Oak Flats Presbyterian Church), established about 1793 in the New Sheffield region on Brodhead Road. Much of the city's businesses have left since the closing of the mill, which has left the area economically depressed. Recently, there have been small initiatives undertaken to help rejuvenate Aliquippa. In early 2008, Geneva College students were sent on a mission trip to help restore old buildings in the community. One structure that was successfully repaired now houses the Uncommon Grounds Coffee Shop.

Saint Rocco di Montpellier is venerated in the Roman Catholic church as the protector against the plague and all contagious diseases.