The Urban Explorer 732: Bensonhurst

Bensonhurst

outline

intro

Traditional Italian American neighborhoods like Bensonhurst are hard to find. That is why I had to do blog on this Southern Brooklyn neighborhood home to over 150,000 inhabitants.

when people think of Brooklyn they think of places like BHurst

https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/the-bensonhurst-dating-game/n10311

But it's much more than just age old Italian American stereotypes,

Bensonhurst is like the place you see in the movies and they depict every single Italian American stereotype--mobsters, guidos

I saw guidos in a car and one of them was in a jersey with no shirt underneath and popping his head out the window kneeling from the seat facing towards the sidewalk as he was probably trying to catcall women.

There’s probably a lot of mob stories about Bensonhurst!

where it is located

I just picture a Italian security guard like the ones in McGinnis although they were Puerto Ricans.

Located in Southern Brooklyn, just ten minutes away from Coney Island is the blue collar neighborhood of Bensonhurst.

phenotypes

italians that o

commerce

Italian establishments

Not that many big chain stores for a big population like

park

chinese playing chess

On 18th Avenue, you could find salumerias (butchers), caffes, bakeries, and social clubs that cater to an Italian American population that has been for generations.

https://journalism.nyu.edu/publishing/archives/race_class/cops_benson/bensonhurst.htm

media

Honeymooners

Saturday Night Fever

Everybody hates Chris

history

Prior to becoming a residential neighborhood, Bensonhurst was mostly farmland. However, Arthur W. Benson, for whom the neighborhood was named after, divided lots into residential use.

Soon more families would live in Bensonhurst. In the late 19th century, the City of New York continued to expand and Brooklyn became the first modern suburb in the world.

As soon as the construction of the subway completed in 1904, many immigrant families moved from Manhattan to the outer boroughs.

segway...

Jews and Italians lived side by side with one another. However during the 1950s, an influx of more Italians poured into Bensonhurst, as these were arrivals not from overcrowded neighborhoods in Manhattan but rather from Italy. Jews, meanwhile, were leaving this neighborhood.

By the 1970s, Bensonhurst was predominately Italian and this trend continued until around the late 80's.

Today Bensonhurst is a mix of cultures. You will see Italians living with immigrants from various places including China, the former Soviet Union, and Mexico.

Bhurst is only about 17 percent Italain nowadays.

Despite the negative reputation that Bensonhurst has as an unwelcoming and hostile place for minorities

Blacks I personally feel less welcome

I have visited Bensonhurst and as a man of color I didn't really experience any hostility or ever felt I was unwanted.

I know that Bensonhurst, unfortunately has a history with racism, including the Yusef Hawkins incident and the stabbing of Al Sharpton. But it seems like race relations in the neighborhood have gotten better.

remember this was back in the 80s and racial tensions were big problems in all major American cities at the time.

anti black resentment

I have visited Bensonhurst and as a man of color I have never really experienced any hostility or ever felt I was unwanted. But then again, racism in Bensonhurst was always targeted against blacks more than any other race. There is a reason for this.

Italians, since they were the largest white ethnic group, to remain in the urban underclass were in direct competition with blacks and other minorities in the labor market. This is partly what fueled conflict between the two ethnic groups.

The education system failed many Italian American youths. As late as 1990, 20 percent of all Italian Americans dropped out of high school, which was almost as high as that of African Americans (24%). Since the education system was failing many Italian youths they were forced to often compete with blacks and Hispanics for the same low level jobs.

They were in a struggle!

Many

there was resentment among Italian Americans that blacks were getting all the jobs because of affirmative action when many Italians were still a part of the urban underclass.

High Profile Crimes: When Legal Cases Become Social Causes page 91

https://www.nytimes.com/1990/05/01/nyregion/20-dropout-rate-found-for-italian-americans.html

I saw black men standing and talking to one another on 18th Avenue, back in 2006, amd nobody was harassing them

NYU study Italian youths I love black music not

Yusuf Hawkins stealing cars

How these cultures mix

Despite its racist past, as evidenced by the murder of an African American who was buying a car in the neighborhood and the stabbing of Al Sharpton as he led a protest afterwards, as a man of color I feel race relations h

Italians with Mesicans and Chinese

However there is also intermingling between the cultures. You will see Italian Americans in Chinese fish markets just like you will see Chinese entering shops that almost exclusively sell Italian goods. That’s Just commerce not much intermingling!

Even today, blacks only account for one percent of the neighborhood.

cite source.

Some Italians say well we don’t want them in bc of crime the mob brought drugs might not want this too negative

St Dominick’s.

It’s in walking distance benonshudrt id a walkable neighborhood!

Although this has been less true as many Italians left but what I like about Bensonhurst is that family members are often in close distance with another. Many have ties to a local church.

Feasts in Bensonhurst.

Teens - gravesend park

Bocce and do they still do soccer matches?

Homes with bonsai trees

An intro Italians in NYC

The housing ranges from brick two family houses to four story apartment buildings. Some of the homes are built in the Italianate fashion.

Il Colosseo

An announcement for Valentine's Day where Italian American musicians would perform.

This kind of reminds me of Latino neighborhoods, where restaurants would have announcements of Latinx performers.

I tried a Chicken Paillard with potatoes and a salad as well as a cappuccino and it came to a total of less than twenty dollars.

The staff was friendly

Italian pride remains strong in Bensonhurst

Patisscerra Villabatte

This is an excellent bakery.

Of note, their ricotta is imported from Palermo, Sicily.

I love this store! Telco is an inexpensive store found in the Tri State Area.

I bought great gloves and a hat for less than ten dollars here! It is really hard to find such a deal where I'm from in Central Jersey.

An Italian flag in front of the Security D

Bari Pork Store

I love the Italian pride demonstrated in this neighborhood!

This is a great Italian butcher shop. I got a chicken pattie here and it was great.

The chicken patties here aren't like the ones that you get in the supermarket that are stale and hard as a rock with ice, at times.

The chicken pattie before and after it was made.

They are soft and spongy and have a great taste! When I was finished cooking it, this sandwich tasted better than any sandwich I have ever tried at any Italian deli around here.

As I bit into this sandwich, I realized I was eating the best sandwich I have eaten.

Better than Italian deli I have been to. I'll tell you that much!

chicken pattie from bensonhurst

The prototypical working class Italian American neighborhood.

this brings me back to the days when Italian Americans were mostly in working class neighborhoods like this before they ended up buying mansions in Northern Jersey and Long Island. Bensonhurst was once eighty percent Italian.

a lot of em left but italian presence will always be in NYC.

tri state area is God speaking this to me?

SICILIA!!!

St. Dominick's Roman Catholic Church

the roof looks like it says "wow" near where the reef is.

I have never been to an Italian mass in Bensonhurst so I figured YOLO.

I arrived late to the English mass.

I saw that the Italians there looked a lot like Puerto ricans.

i saw a family dark hair sicilian?

i saw an older Italian woman and a Latina middle aged mother warmly embracing each other

the priest was from Colombia and spoke Italian almost like Spanish

he made a good homily

dont be like some Protestant sects who worry about the end times coming and are depressed

don't be sad

Gioia

be happy joia rejoice in the Lord.

be honest your spiritual life starts with being honest

like spanish mass where priest talks he says

ask gabriela this

the priest in Italy I think is highly regarded

a father figure in Latin America

I saw an Italian American family

A guy was coming to his family after serving as an altar server. His older brother saluted him even hugged him after coming back from being an altar server. He looked mentally deficient the younger brother.

I just like the family unity in Italia

There was a guy next to me he looked like a Puerto Rican papi.

Old Italian couples like Latino old couples

priest makes a joke and parishioners smirk and laugh similar to Spanish mass. even a mass full of strangers feels like family in this heavily Italian neighborhood.

At jrf I saw a Latino couple maybe they were Italian sweet obedient guilt in Anglo eyes respectful