Friday, November 23, 2007
Star-burst Over Prince Street : The 4th of July Before Giuliani and Gentrification in "Little Italy"...
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiULv41b6Z0BcKhajUNSLm8SXdB2MEcRG1EDvnx2XAlOSPDwZmDS8CS6eYsRFyGHpQYa3a3iGlUtf6q76XZOCHggVhy6RRN4A_lsabclV7vHv5fZRuRnyrDw3jMPhDO-alR1a70/s400/starburst+over+mott-2jbs.jpg)
No ... on the next 4th of July DO NOT try this at home but ....
Before the Giuliani administation took charge allowing the developers to take over the neighborhoods , the people still ruled in this city and every 4th of July some of them provided the best pyro-technics display in the city ... or in any other city for that matter .
Every year in "Little Italy" right after the big Macy's show over the river a pyro-technic extravaganza took over the streets and sky of downtown NYC . You saw the same fire-works as in the Macy's show but downtown you were 25 ft. or less from them when they were launched or exploded....not across a damned river surrounded by cops .
The display downtown was perhaps not the safest of public events . Sometimes , for example , the aerial bombs didn't make it out of the mortar tube before they exploded . When this happened the immediate area was showered with hot sparks ... falling on the by-standers as well as on the near-by large mound of yet-to-be-launched bombs . There were surprisingly few injuries .
The event was entirely a neighborhood administered affair with many visitors present and consistant with a desire for a safe neighborhood display only certain experienced individuals were allowed to launch the bombs . Traditional custom and sensibility as well as the summer heat demanded wearing sensible traditional fashion such as here a "wife-beater" for instance . We recollect that tradition also dictated that the bombs be lit by cigar as often as possible .
We would show you more of this traditional event but for the problem that the images are lost somewhere in our enormous file-room here at NMNL world headquarters .
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]