There really isn't much that happens in these two neighborhoods; well not that I know of anyway. Despite that, it's still kind of interesting living in Little Italy, being one of the few Chinese people that actually live here. It's quite funny actually, because if I walk out of my building, I'm amidst an Italian world; but once I turn the corner (either on Canal or Hester Street), I'm quickly pulled into a Chinese culture.
Anyway, not much is happening nowadays, besides the construction of that building (down the block from my apartment building) has been going on for about 2 years now. It's probably been longer, because I actually don't remember what it used to be. All I know is that when I was five years old, that place used to be a really famous cigar store. Tourists from all over would flood that place all the time, constantly paying the expensive price of those "succulent" cigars.
March 27, 2007________________
Speaking of tourists... Every weekend, all of Mulberry Street forbids parking and is opened into a Weekend Street Fair. It's all for tourist attraction. Basically, all the restaurants on Mulberry Street put out tables, chairs onto the street and lure people inside by having either a really gorgeous woman or a good-looking guy stand outside with menus. By the way, 90% of Mulberry Street is made up of Italian restaurants. There's not much that makes the street fair special, because it goes on every weekend. Drivers get pissed cause they have to take a detour and find some other way to get to their destinations. Little Italy residents (like me) get upset at night because it gets loud. Don't get me wrong though, there are pros to living here. Little Italy is extremely safe, because no matter what time of day it is, there are always people walking the streets. And I mean ALWAYS. I can go home as late as I want, and I can be assured that I'll be safe. Lucky me, huh?
March 29, 2007________________
The restaurant next door to my building, La Luna Restaurant, closed down 2 years ago, but when I was a child, I was very close with the owner. She emigrated to America when she was a child and has lived in Little Italy for her whole life. When I was 5, I would keep her company and talk to her. She wasn't a lonely woman, but she liked my young, vivacious energy. Every time I went to see her, she would give me a lot of free food. Spaghetti, pizza, soda... But then when I was 8 years old or so, she sold her restaurant and moved away. To where, I have no clue. I hated the new owner. He was so rude and spoke with foul language all the time. The restaurant and my building had the same landlord and we shared the same backyard/garbage dumpster. The new owner would leave his garbage all over the place and make a lotta noise way after hours and keep a lot of us up. Luckily, two years later, the guy ran out of business and was forced to sell it to someone else. I missed the old owner. Sometimes I still wonder where she went and how she is now.
April 1, 2007________________
It's getting really quiet on Mulberry Street. As I was taking a walk through Little Italy today, I realized that many stores and restaurants have closed down. I remember back then, Little Italy used to be so lively and loud, and so full of energy. I was going through wikipedia and reading Little Italy's history and guess what I saw?
This is how Little Italy, Mulberry Street looked like in the 1900's. Whilst looking at this image, I'm thinking, what happened to this?! The streets were all crowded with many people going their days, interacting with others and having the time of their lives. Nowadays, it's difficult to even find more than five people (this excludes tourist groups, of course) walking together and having fun. I cannot believe that this once was Little Italy. Wouldn't it be incredible if we had the ability to go back in time and actually experience the past for ourselves? We'd learn so much more by doing that instead of reading about it in long boring textbooks and just looking at pictures.
April 25, 2007________________
Chinatown is exactly behind my building and just right around the corner, but I hardly ever walk into Chinatown. I'll go there only when my mom drags me along with her to buy groceries. People seem to believe that Chinatown's where you can get rip off designer bags, sunglasses and watches. If you think that too, you're about to be surprised, because guess what? That's not a true statement. People that sell rip offs are doing their own businesses. They do not actually have stands or stores. They just stand on street corners, mainly Canal Street (which, by the way, is NOT in Chinatown), and whisper "Purse, Purse...Coach, Gucci..." to tourists walking past them. Usually, they make lots of money off tourists. And again, they are NOT Chinese. Most of them are Fujinese immigrants who can't get a good paying job becase of their limited english. As you can see, "purse, purse" doesn't really get you anywhere. That's why, people. Get your education!!
April 27, 2007________________
Technically I'm still a citizen of Little Italy, even though I'm Chinese and Chinatown is right around the corner. And even so, I cannot avoid a stereotype that I've been living my whole life. When someone sees an Asian person, they automatically think, "Oh, he/she is Chinese." The race "Asian" consists of MANY ethnicities: such as Chinese, Taiwanese, Shanghainese, Korean, Japanese, Fujinese, Indian, Malaysian, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Mongolians... There are many more to name, but you get the point. It makes me really mad when people don't get their facts straight. I'm Chinese myself, and I really don't appreciate others blaming us for EVERYTHING that "Asians" seem to do. For example, let's refer to the Virginia Tech shooting that happened on April 16, 2007 by Cho Seung Hui. THE DUDE IS KOREAN, GUYS! When news of the shooting first reached our ears, the news stated that the perpetrator was an Asian man. Not Chinese. Where the hell did everyone get "Oh yeah, that Virginia Tech shooting? I heard some Chinese guy killed those 30 innocent students." It makes me so mad! People need to get their facts straight before they run around and deem everyone that's Asian a Chinese person.
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