Celebrating Community
I first put Ernie Paniccioli’s name to his face when I saw Juan Carlos Pinto’s portrait of him hanging up at OYE Studios in Brooklyn. There are always many artworks on display at Pinto’s studio. Some are completed projects; some are works in progress. But this portrait really spoke to me. The hint of a smile, but yet the face […]
Lindsay LeBorgne is a fourth-generation Local 40 ironworker and Brooklynite with roots in the Mohawk communities that stretch along the border of the United States and Canada. His grandfather worked on the first generation of skyscrapers in New York City. And Lindsay’s father worked on the original World Trade Center. After 9/11, Lindsay worked long shifts in the rubble of […]
I met Thunder, also known as David Midthunder, through my longtime friend Jeff LoMaglio “Is Thunder going to be ok talking to me?” I asked timidly. “I’m an outsider,” I added, hoping that my interest would not come off as intrusive or inauthentic. “He’ll talk to you because you’re my friend. We’re family. It’s that simple,” said Jeff. When I […]
Eager to learn more about Mayan culture and history, my friend Eddie Deleon arranged a meeting with his friend Joel, a practicing Maya from Guatemala, at Ix Restaurant (pronounced eesh) on a Sunday afternoon. Eddie is a Guatemalan born photographer who now lives in Brooklyn. I met Eddie through my friend Juan Carlos Pinto, a Brooklyn based artist, who is […]
I first met Roman Perez through a mutual friend, Juan Carlos Pinto, a local Brooklyn artist. Juan Carlos invited me to the blessing ceremony of a mural he made in Newkirk Plaza. The mural decorates the inside of a tunnel connecting Newkirk Plaza to a pedestrian street. “Come to my showing of the mural. And I want to introduce you […]
I’ve been going to Vincent’s Barber Shop on Cortelyou Road in Brooklyn since I moved to the Ditmas Park area in 2003. Until recently, there has always been a packed crowd waiting for haircuts and shaves. And now, since COVID, when I walk into the shop, I wear a mask. Everyone who enters the shop has to wear a mask, […]
Many New York City residents, especially those of us who are from New York City, think we know everything about our beloved hometown. But the fact is, we do not. I joined the Victorian Flatbush Tour, which includes parts of Ditmas Park, Prospect Park South, and the historic Albemarle-Kenmore Terraces, on a Sunday afternoon. The tour wound around a small […]
I’ve been going to Vincent’s Barber Shop on Cortelyou Road in Brooklyn since I moved to the Ditmas Park area in 2003. Until recently, there has always been a packed crowd waiting for haircuts and shaves. And now, since COVID, when I walk into the shop, I wear a mask. Everyone who enters the shop has to wear a mask, […]
Located in the middle of Grand Street, just one store down from Ferrara’s Pastry Shop, E. Rossi & Company, opened in 1910. It is one of the last remaining authentic stores in Little Italy. “Initially,” says Ernie Rossi, grandson of the owner, “we sold newspapers and magazines. Then we began publishing translation books, enabling native Neapolitans to translate their dialect […]
Founded in 1890, Frankel’s began by selling clothes and goods to union workmen, such as longshoremen and ironworkers on the corner of Third Avenue and 40th Street. “My father, Marty, named me Erik to sound more Norwegian,” chuckles Erik, great-grandson of the founder. Erik, who spent years living in Hanoi, now lives above the store. “Many people don’t know it, […]