We’ll continue our story with the final wave of migration. Come 1970, it is only logical that we observe a thicket of articles discussing the vibrancy of the Italian community in Bensonhurst. It is December of 1974, and Bensonhurst is a “mile-long” buffet. 18th Avenue is “an Italian banquet from anti pasto [sic] to dessert,” loaded with “delicacies imported from the old country,” as well as the “fresh prepared specialties unobtainable elsewhere.” I’m not properly doing justice to precisely how hungry this article made me, but you, dear reader, are just going to have to take my word. Florence Fabricant came out of my computer screen and socked me in the stomach. She goes on to describe the area as “young,” “growing,” and “vital.” Those are three really nice adjectives, and this article does a really effective job at setting one of this time period’s many stages. It manifests this intangible bliss and there is not a single indication to the reader that there was any sort of conflict in Bensonhurst ever.
And this article does not stand alone. In “New York Day by Day,” Haberman and Johnston reiterate Fabricant’s point: “18th avenue is the heart of” Bensonhurst’s “Little Italy.” When they dubbed it “Little Italy,” what they meant was “smaller-than-Italy-but-still-freaking-huge.” In Linda Cantoni’s article “Calzone Chez Brooklyn,” she mocks a prior article about calzones by Craig Claiborne and Pierre Franey, wondering out loud whether either of them “have ever visited the humble neighborhood of Bensonhurst.” She suggests that while it may not be on their “gustatory map,” she, a “lucky native” of the “solid Italian neighborhood” has “known and loved the tasty ‘filled bun’ for more than just ‘several years.’” The article is snarky and full of life, and it embodies every third person text on the Italian culture of Bensonhurst so beautifully. In this brief little piece, Cantoni effectively draws together the formalities of her culture, the food and the community, with the close knit attitude that epitomizes the time. It is articulated with a tone of confidence and assurance. And it is this confidence that provides for such an impressive juxtaposition with the tragedy and negative stereotypes that will shortly follow.
