This Thing Of Ours
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by NickyEyes1 » Sun Jun 08, 2025 3:44 pm
Patrickgold wrote: ↑Sun Jun 08, 2025 1:02 pm funkster wrote: ↑Sat Jun 07, 2025 9:51 am He has jumped the shark for sure. Just attended kids party on Harlem literally two doors down from Sorrentos, hasn’t it been figured that this is where the last supper meeting was? Just south of Sorrentos is a “Italian cafe” that was taken over by Albanians. It still has the Italian flag on the outside but it is Albanian. Supposedly a lot of gambling goes on in there among other things and these Albanians are paying a certain guy on Addison St at least 6 gs a month in “rent” money.
funkster wrote: ↑Sat Jun 07, 2025 9:51 am He has jumped the shark for sure. Just attended kids party on Harlem literally two doors down from Sorrentos, hasn’t it been figured that this is where the last supper meeting was?
by Patrickgold » Sun Jun 08, 2025 1:02 pm
by Patrickgold » Sun Jun 08, 2025 12:58 pm
by Ivan » Sun Jun 08, 2025 1:07 am
PolackTony wrote: ↑Sat Jun 07, 2025 10:58 pm While in the city limits, this was basically a suburban area, bordering suburbs like Elmwood Park and Norridge, and a second/third gen Italian settlement area, not one of the “old neighborhoods” in the inner city (so, kinda similar to SI if we were comparing it to NYC).
by PolackTony » Sat Jun 07, 2025 10:58 pm
by Ivan » Sat Jun 07, 2025 9:20 pm
by PolackTony » Sat Jun 07, 2025 8:49 pm
by Patrickgold » Sat Jun 07, 2025 8:32 pm
PolackTony wrote: ↑Sat Jun 07, 2025 3:06 pm NickyEyes1 wrote: ↑Sat Jun 07, 2025 1:34 pm PolackTony wrote: ↑Sat Jun 07, 2025 12:07 pm NickyEyes1 wrote: ↑Sat Jun 07, 2025 10:59 am Patrickgold wrote: ↑Sat Jun 07, 2025 10:49 am funkster wrote: ↑Sat Jun 07, 2025 9:51 am He has jumped the shark for sure. Just attended kids party on Harlem literally two doors down from Sorrentos, hasn’t it been figured that this is where the last supper meeting was? It’s a take out food only place now. They cut the building into three different businesses with one being Sorrentos. So it is very likely the picture was taken in one of the other businesses because there is no dining room area now. Just a counter to pay and pick up food and a kitchen in back. It's too bad Agostinos closed down. I went past there the other day and it's still empty End of an era, Fiasche family had Agostino's going for like 40 years there. They had that big kitchen fire in 2021 and managed to rebound from it, just to close for good two years later. Harlem Ave is... not what it used to be, though that's not news to anyone familiar with the area. This is also the way of the world. I know that the hope is that the relocation of the IASHF to Harlem is going to shore up the dwindling Italian character of that strip and spark a renaissance, but I wouldn't be overly hopeful about this myself. Tony I don't think I would go as far to say "dwindling" for the area. But the Italian character has definitely lessened in the last 10/15 years. Definitely the most concentrated area in Chicagoland Sure, “dwindling” might be an overstatement (or, at least, premature, as I think that will be the situation before too much longer) and “declining” more accurately captures what I meant. I can say that when I’ve gone back, Harlem Ave is noticeably not what it used to be, but nothing stays the same, so this is to be expected. There’s also multiple facets to this. On the one hand, you have the presence of Italian businesses and cultural institutions. My impression is that these are declining along Harlem Ave. The relocation of the IASHF is in part intended to stem this decline and reinvigorate the “Italian” character of the business strip. I hope that this is successful, but the fact that the former Agostino site remains vacant isn’t a good sign. Another facet is the actual demographic trends of the surrounding communities. My impression here is that decline in the proportion of Italian residents, both on the Elmwood Park and Chicago sides, has been even more notable than the decline of the business strip. Anecdotal, but from people I know who still live in that area, the surrounding communities are becoming more strongly Latino and Polish/Eastern Euro by the day. I don’t have objective figures for demographic change since, say the 90s/2000s, but I would imagine it has been considerable. And then, how many of the remaining Italians are older folks? How many younger Italians, with families, are buying homes in the area? What happens when the older cohort dies or sells their homes? Today, you see popular and successful Italian restaurants distributed all across the more affluent sections of Chicagoland, from the City to outlying burbs like the Barringtons. This reflects the increasingly dispersed nature of the Italian population of the region. One can’t put the cat back into the bag here, so to speak, and despite any attempts to shore up the Italian legacy of Harlem Ave, I don’t see this pattern as likely to change. Harlem Ave is, of course, never going to again be what it used to be. IMO, the best that can be hoped for is “managed decline”, where some businesses and institutions hold on while the surrounding communities retain an increasingly minor Italian population. Of course, none of these trends are unique to Chicago and are also very much evident around NYC.
NickyEyes1 wrote: ↑Sat Jun 07, 2025 1:34 pm PolackTony wrote: ↑Sat Jun 07, 2025 12:07 pm NickyEyes1 wrote: ↑Sat Jun 07, 2025 10:59 am Patrickgold wrote: ↑Sat Jun 07, 2025 10:49 am funkster wrote: ↑Sat Jun 07, 2025 9:51 am He has jumped the shark for sure. Just attended kids party on Harlem literally two doors down from Sorrentos, hasn’t it been figured that this is where the last supper meeting was? It’s a take out food only place now. They cut the building into three different businesses with one being Sorrentos. So it is very likely the picture was taken in one of the other businesses because there is no dining room area now. Just a counter to pay and pick up food and a kitchen in back. It's too bad Agostinos closed down. I went past there the other day and it's still empty End of an era, Fiasche family had Agostino's going for like 40 years there. They had that big kitchen fire in 2021 and managed to rebound from it, just to close for good two years later. Harlem Ave is... not what it used to be, though that's not news to anyone familiar with the area. This is also the way of the world. I know that the hope is that the relocation of the IASHF to Harlem is going to shore up the dwindling Italian character of that strip and spark a renaissance, but I wouldn't be overly hopeful about this myself. Tony I don't think I would go as far to say "dwindling" for the area. But the Italian character has definitely lessened in the last 10/15 years. Definitely the most concentrated area in Chicagoland
PolackTony wrote: ↑Sat Jun 07, 2025 12:07 pm NickyEyes1 wrote: ↑Sat Jun 07, 2025 10:59 am Patrickgold wrote: ↑Sat Jun 07, 2025 10:49 am funkster wrote: ↑Sat Jun 07, 2025 9:51 am He has jumped the shark for sure. Just attended kids party on Harlem literally two doors down from Sorrentos, hasn’t it been figured that this is where the last supper meeting was? It’s a take out food only place now. They cut the building into three different businesses with one being Sorrentos. So it is very likely the picture was taken in one of the other businesses because there is no dining room area now. Just a counter to pay and pick up food and a kitchen in back. It's too bad Agostinos closed down. I went past there the other day and it's still empty End of an era, Fiasche family had Agostino's going for like 40 years there. They had that big kitchen fire in 2021 and managed to rebound from it, just to close for good two years later. Harlem Ave is... not what it used to be, though that's not news to anyone familiar with the area. This is also the way of the world. I know that the hope is that the relocation of the IASHF to Harlem is going to shore up the dwindling Italian character of that strip and spark a renaissance, but I wouldn't be overly hopeful about this myself.
NickyEyes1 wrote: ↑Sat Jun 07, 2025 10:59 am Patrickgold wrote: ↑Sat Jun 07, 2025 10:49 am funkster wrote: ↑Sat Jun 07, 2025 9:51 am He has jumped the shark for sure. Just attended kids party on Harlem literally two doors down from Sorrentos, hasn’t it been figured that this is where the last supper meeting was? It’s a take out food only place now. They cut the building into three different businesses with one being Sorrentos. So it is very likely the picture was taken in one of the other businesses because there is no dining room area now. Just a counter to pay and pick up food and a kitchen in back. It's too bad Agostinos closed down. I went past there the other day and it's still empty
Patrickgold wrote: ↑Sat Jun 07, 2025 10:49 am funkster wrote: ↑Sat Jun 07, 2025 9:51 am He has jumped the shark for sure. Just attended kids party on Harlem literally two doors down from Sorrentos, hasn’t it been figured that this is where the last supper meeting was? It’s a take out food only place now. They cut the building into three different businesses with one being Sorrentos. So it is very likely the picture was taken in one of the other businesses because there is no dining room area now. Just a counter to pay and pick up food and a kitchen in back.
by funkster » Sat Jun 07, 2025 5:55 pm
by PolackTony » Sat Jun 07, 2025 3:06 pm
by funkster » Sat Jun 07, 2025 1:48 pm
by NickyEyes1 » Sat Jun 07, 2025 1:34 pm
by B. » Sat Jun 07, 2025 12:09 pm
PolackTony wrote: ↑Sat Jun 07, 2025 12:04 pm B. wrote: ↑Sat Jun 07, 2025 11:33 am Bomp felt that Licata could have sent word to Giancana directly to settle it but didn't want to, as he enjoyed putting Fratianno in limbo and Fratianno was to be shelved or otherwise treated as persona non grata. An important point also. Licata didn't *have to* block Fratianno here, but given that the transfer seems to have been conducted improperly, this gave Licata pretext to use the issue against Fratianno, a trouble maker for two successive LA administrations by this point.
B. wrote: ↑Sat Jun 07, 2025 11:33 am Bomp felt that Licata could have sent word to Giancana directly to settle it but didn't want to, as he enjoyed putting Fratianno in limbo and Fratianno was to be shelved or otherwise treated as persona non grata.
by PolackTony » Sat Jun 07, 2025 12:07 pm
by PolackTony » Sat Jun 07, 2025 12:04 pm
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