Chicago Italians

A hooded armed robber bursts into the Bank of Italy and


forces the tellers to load a sack full of cash.


On his way out the door with the loot, one brave Italian customer grabs the


hood and pulls it off revealing the robber's face.


The robber shoots the guy in the head without hesitation!


He then looks around the bank to see if anyone else has seen him.


One of the tellers is looking straight at him. The robber walks over


and calmly shoots him in the head.


Everyone by now is very scared and looking down at the floor.


"Dida anyone elsa see a my face?" calls the robber.




There follows a tense silence. Then an elderly Italian gent, looking


down, tentatively raises his hand and says:




"I tinka my wifa may have caughta glimpse"

Neighborhood:
Little Italy/
University Village 1068 W. Taylor St.
Chicago, IL 60607

Mario's Italian lemonade has the consistency of a Slurpee and is like store-bought Italian ices, ''only better,'' promises Dorothy DiPaolo, the current owner's mother. Mario's ices consist of chilled slushlike lemonade, fruit and syrups in various flavors including fruit cocktail, pina colada, chocolate and banana. Lemon is the No. 1 flavor. DiPaolo opened the business in the '50s with her late husband, Mario. The wooden stand is Italian green, white and red, sprouting from the front of a brick rowhouse next door to Jamoch's Caffe. DiPaolo says that when she and her husband opened their stand, there were many stands and pushcarts in the neighborhood. Over the years, most have disappeared. She says customers from many years ago who went to nearby St. Ignatius come back and bring their children. Mario's also sells snacks including snowballs, seeds and nuts, lupini beans, dried chickpeas and candy.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Exterior view (in 1909) of the storefront office of P. Schiavone & Son, bankers and steamship agents, located at 925 South Halsted Street.Little Italy is located in the Near West Side community area of the city of Chicago, Illinois. It encompasses a 12 block stretch of Taylor Street east of Ashland Avenue and the streets to the north and south for several blocks in each direction. The neighborhood lies between the Illinois Medical District to the west and the University of Illinois at Chicago to the east. It is a neighborhood of strongly Italian influence.

Little Italy never had a concentration of Italian-Americans that constituted a majority.[1] Other ethnicities have always been present in the area known as "Little Italy."[2] Nonetheless, the neighborhood was given its name due to the strong influence of Italians and Italian culture on the neighborhood throughout the 19th and 20th century.

Though the Italian population declined throughout the late 20th century, many Italian restaurants and groceries remain in the formerly prominent Taylor Street corridor.[3] The neighborhood also hosts the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame as well as the historic Roman Catholic churches Our Lady of Pompeii, Notre Dame de Chicago, and Holy Family 1940s to present Italians began arriving in Chicago in the 1850s in small numbers. By 1880, there were 1,357 Italians in the city.[4] By the 1920s, Italian cookery became one of the most popular ethnic cuisines in America, spawning many successful bakeries and restaurants—some of which prospered for generations and continue to influence the Chicago dining scene today.[3] By 1927, Italians owned 500 grocery stores, 257 restaurants, 240 pastry shops, and numerous other food related businesses that were concentrated in the Italian neighborhoods.[3] One success story is that of the Gonnella Baking Company, Chicago’s largest producer of Italian bread and rolls.[5]

The immigration of Italians accelerated throughout the late 19th century and into the early 20th century. Chicago's foreign-born Italian population was 16,008 in 1900 and peaked at 73,960 in 1930.[4] The largest area of settlement was the Taylor Street area, but there were also 20 other significant Italian enclaves throughout the city and suburbs.


1940s to present
Following World War II, several developments hindered the cohesion of the community. The construction of the Eisenhower Expressway and the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical district forced many to move. The establishment of the Circle Campus of UIC in the 1960s by Mayor Richard J. Daley further dispersed the community. During the construction of the 100-acre UIC campus, 200 businesses and 800 homes were bulldozed in Little Italy, with 5,000 residents displaced.[6]

By the end of the 20th century, Little Italy was one of many formerly high-profile elements of the city’s geography that had become a mere shadow of itself.[7] Few long-time residents are left in the community. Census data for the Taylor Street Little Italy tract showed only 1,280 people reporting Italian as their primary ancestry in 1990. In 2000, the number was 1,018.[8] However, Chicago’s foodways continue to rely on their roots in the intimate neighborhood cuisines, including cuisine from the surviving Italian restaurants in the formerly prominent Taylor Street corridor.[3]


Recent gentrification
Rents in the area have risen in the past few decades due to an influx of condominiums, townhouses, and the proximity of Little Italy to UIC and the Loop. An example of this gentrification: in the 1990 census, no homes in the Little Italy sample area were reported to be worth more than $400,000. By contrast, according to the 2000 census, 62 homes were reportedly worth more than $500,000, and 13 of those were worth at least $1 million.[8].


Landmarks
Two of the more significant landmarks of Little Italy were the Catholic churches of Our Lady of Pompeii and Holy Guardian Angel founded by Mother Cabrini.[9] Holy Guardian Angel was the first Italian congregation in Chicago. The parish was established in 1898, and the church was built on Arthington Street in 1899. Due to the burgeoning population, a second major Italian church, Our Lady of Pompeii, was founded in 1911.[10] The Holy Guardian Angel Church was razed for the construction of the expressway system.[11] The Our Lady of Pompeii Church is now a the Shrine of Our Lady of Pompeii.

Hull House, Jane Addams' settlement house known for its social and educational programs was also located within the Little Italy area.

In recent years, the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame (founded in 1977 in Elmwood Park, Illinois) was relocated to a new building in Little Italy.


Other "Little Italies" in Chicago

A three story apartment house and a one story dwelling in Little Hell in September 1902.Several other areas in Chicago had significant Italian populations aside from Taylor Street, which has popularly been known as Chicago's "Little Italy."


Little Sicily or "Little Hell"
In the 22nd Ward on the city's Near North Side, a Sicilian enclave known alternately as "Little Sicily" and "Little Hell" was established in an area formerly populated by Scandinavians.[12] It was considered the most colorful Italian neighborhood,[9] and was home to 20,000 Italians by 1920.[9] However, the neighborhood no longer exists today due to the construction of the Cabrini-Green public housing projects on the site during and after WWII. By the mid 1960s, the rising violent crime rate and other social problems that came as a result of the housing projects caused an exodus of many of the original inhabitants of the area.[12]


"Heart of Italy"
On the city's South Side, a community centered on 24th and Oakley called "Heart of Italy" or "Little Tuscany" is composed mostly of Northern Italian immigrants. This neighborhood is home to the yearly Festa Pasta Vino, an Italian food and wine festival that claims to be "Chicago’s largest celebration of Italian culture".[13]


References
^ a b Grinnell, Max. "Encyclopedia of Chicago "Little Italy"". Chicago Historical Society. Retrieved on 2007-02-07.
^ Binford, Henry C., "Multicentered Chicago", The Encyclopedia of Chicago, p. 548-9, Eds. Grossman, James R., Keating, Ann Durkin, and Reiff, Janice L., 2004, The University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-226-31015-9
^ a b c d Poe, Tracy N., "Foodways", The Encyclopedia of Chicago, p. 308-9, Eds. Grossman, James R., Keating, Ann Durkin, and Reiff, Janice L., 2004, The University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-226-31015-9
^ a b Vecoli, Rodolph J., "Italians", The Encyclopedia of Chicago, Eds. Grossman, James R., Keating, Ann Durkin, and Reiff, Janice L., 2004, The University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-226-31015-9
^ Kraig, Bruce, "Food Processing", The Encyclopedia of Chicago, p. 304, Eds. Grossman, James R., Keating, Ann Durkin, and Reiff, Janice L., 2004, The University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-226-31015-9
^ Leroux, Charles, "Cold Shoulder: UIC and its neighborhood are thriving but the two have yet to embrace", Chicago Tribune, September 25, 1991.
^ Binford, Henry C., "Multicentered Chicago", The Encyclopedia of Chicago, p. 552, Eds. Grossman, James R., Keating, Ann Durkin, and Reiff, Janice L., 2004, The University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-226-31015-9
^ a b Paolini, Matthew and Craig Tiede, "Economic upswing in Little Italy comes with a price" Medill News Service. December 1, 2005.
^ a b c Candeloro, Dominic (2006). "[http://www.virtualitalia.com/ch/chicago_italians1.shtml chicago's italians immigrants, ethnics, achievers, 1850-1985 - part 1]". virtualitalia.com. Retrieved on 2007-04-19.
^ Candeloro, Dominic Lawrence Chicago's Italians: Immigrants, Ethnics, Americans p. 24
^ Candeloro, Dominic (2006). "[http://www.virtualitalia.com/ch/chicago_italians2.shtml chicago's italians immigrants, ethnics, achievers, 1850-1985 - part 2]". virtualitalia.com. Retrieved on 2007-04-19.
^ a b Seligman, Amanda, "Cabrini-Green", The Encyclopedia of Chicago, Eds. Grossman, James R., Keating, Ann Durkin, and Reiff, Janice L., 2004, The University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-226-31015-9
^ "Chicago's Festa Pasta Vino". Retrieved on 2007-02-08.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

My wishes for you in year 2010


Great start for Jan,

Love for Feb,

Peace for march,

No worries for April

Fun for May,

Joy for June to Nov,

Happiness for Dec,

Have a lucky and wonderful 2010.

Christmas is a time for love and fun,

A time to reshape souls and roots and skies,

A time to give your heart to everyone

Freely, like a rich and lavish sun,

Like a burning star to those whose lonely sighs

Show need of such a time for love and fun.



For children first, whose pain is never done,

Whose bright white fire of anguish never dies,

It's time to give your heart to every one,



That not one angel fall, to hatred won

For lack of ears to listen to her cries,

Or arms to carry him towards love and fun,



Or friends to care what happens on the run

To adult life, where joy or sadness lies.

It's time to give your heart to everyone,

For God loves all, and turns His back on none,

Good or twisted, ignorant or wise.

Christmas is a time for love and fun,

A time to give your heart to everyone

Merry Chrixst

GOT MY VOTE
With many a Chicagoan having part time residences in Arizona thought this might be a great piece of info



You probably know him as “America’s Toughest Sheriff,” a name given to him years ago by the media. It’s a name he certainly has earned as head of the nation’s third largest Sheriff’s Office which employs over 3000 people. But even before he became Sheriff in 1993, Joe Arpaio was one tough lawman. After serving in the U.S. Army from 1950 to 1953, and as a Washington, D.C., and Las Vegas, NV, police officer for almost five years, Arpaio went on to build a federal law enforcement career and a reputation for fighting crime and drug trafficking around the world.









He began his career as a federal narcotics agent, establishing a stellar record in infiltrating drug organizations from Turkey to the Middle East to Mexico, Central, and South America to cities around the U.S. His expertise and success led him to top management positions around the world with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). He concluded his remarkable 32-year federal career as head of the DEA for Arizona.







In 1992 Arpaio successfully campaigned to become the Sheriff of Maricopa County. Since then he has been reelected to an unprecedented five 4-year terms. During his tenure as Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arpaio has consistently earned extraordinarily high public approval ratings.







With over four decades experience in law enforcement, Arpaio knows what the public wants, “The public is my boss,” he says, “so I serve the public.” He has served them well by establishing several unique programs.







Arpaio has over 10,000 inmates in his jail system. In August, 1993, he started the nation’s largest Tent City for convicted inmates. Two thousand convicted men and women serve their sentences in a canvas incarceration compound. It is a remarkable success story that has attracted the attention of government officials, presidential candidates, and media worldwide.







Of equal success and notoriety are his chain gangs, which contribute thousands of dollars of free labor to the community. The male chain gang, and the world’s first-ever female and juvenile chain gangs, clean streets, paint over graffiti, and bury the indigent in the county cemetery.







Also impressive are the Sheriff’s get tough policies. For example, he banned smoking, coffee, movies, pornographic magazines, and unrestricted TV in all jails. He has the cheapest meals in the U.S. too. The average meal costs about 15 cents, and inmates are fed only twice daily, to cut the labor costs of meal delivery. He even stopped serving them salt and pepper to save tax payers $20,000 a year.







Another program Arpaio is very wellknown for is the pink under shorts he makes all inmates wear. Years ago, when the Sheriff learned that inmates were stealing jailhouse white boxers, Arpaio had all inmate underwear dyed pink for better inventory control. The same is true for the Sheriff’s handcuffs. When they started disappearing, he ordered pink handcuffs as a replacement. And later, when the Sheriff learned the calming, psychological effects of the color pink—sheets, towels, socks— everything inmates wear, except for the old-fashioned black and white striped uniform, were dyed pink.







Arpaio has started another controversial program, the website WWW.MCSO.org, so that all those arrested (about 300 per day) are recorded on the Sheriff’s website as they are booked and processed into jail. Just under a million hits daily come into the website, making it one of the most visible law enforcement sites on the World Wide Web.







In addition to these tough measures, the Sheriff has launched rehabilitative programs like “Hard Knocks High,” the only accredited high school under a Sheriff in an American jail, and ALPHA, an anti-substance-abuse program that has greatly reduced recidivism.







As chief law enforcement officer for the county, Arpaio continues to reduce crime with hard-hitting enforcement methods. His deputies and detectives have solved several high-profile murder cases, including nine child murders. The posse, whose ranks have increased to 3,000 members under Arpaio, is the nation’s largest volunteer posse. Posse men and women help in search and rescue and other traditional police work as well as in special operations like rounding up deadbeat parents, fighting prostitution, patrolling malls during holidays, and investigating animal cruelty complaints. The posse’s contributions are invaluable and essentially free to taxpayers.







No wonder Sheriff Arpaio has been profiled in over 2,000 U.S. and foreign newspapers, magazines, and TV news programs. His leadership and the excellent work of his staff have catapulted the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office into the ranks of elite law enforcement agencies.







On a personal note, Sheriff Arpaio and his wife Ava have been married for over 51 years and have two children, both residing in the Phoenix area. The Arpaios have four grandchildren.

I Owe My Mother

1.. My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE .



"If you're going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning."





2. My mother taught me RELIGION.



"You better pray that will come out of the carpet."







3. My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL..



"If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week!"







4. My mother taught me LOGIC.



"Because I said so, that's why." ;







5. My mother taught me MORE LOGIC .



"If you fall out of that swing and break your neck, you're not going to the store with me."







6. My mother taught me FORESIGHT.



"Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you're in an accident.."







7. My mother taught me IRONY.



"Keep crying, and I'll give you something to cry about."







8. My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS .



"Shut your mouth and eat your supper."







9. My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISTS.



"Will you look at that dirt on the back of your neck!"







10. My mother taught me about STAMINA .



"You'll sit there until all that spinach is gone."







11. My mother taught me about WEATHER.



"This room of yours looks as if a tornado went through it."







12. My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY.



"If I told you once, I've told you a million times. Don't exaggerate!"







13. My mother taught me the CIRCLE OF LIFE.



"I brought you into this world, and I can take you out."







14. My mother taught me about BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION .



"Stop acting like your father!"







15. My mother taught me about ENVY.



"There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don't have wonderful parents like you do."







16.. My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION.



"Just wait until we get home.."







17. My mother taught me about RECEIVING .



"You are going to get it when you get home!"







18. My mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE...



"If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they are going to get stuck that way."







19. My mother taught me ESP.



"Put your sweater on; don't you think I know when you are cold?"







20. My mother taught me HUMOR.



"When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don't come running to me.."







21. My mother taught me HOW TO BECOME AN ADULT .



"If you don't eat your vegetables, you'll never grow up."







22. My mother taught me GENETICS.



"You're just like your father.."







23. My mother taught me about my ROOTS.



"Shut that door behind you. Do you think you were born in a barn?"







24. My mother taught me WISDOM.



"When you get to be my age, you'll understand.."







And my favorite:



25. My mother taught me about JUSTICE ...



"One day you'll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you!!

Name : Dennis Farina


Date of birth : 29 February 1944


Birthplace : Chicago, Illinois, USA


Height : 6' 1½


Profession : Actor

Dennis Farina Detailed Biography


Lovable tough guy character actor Dennis Farina was already well into his first career as a Chicago cop before he was able to turn his occasional acting gigs into a prodigious new line of work.



Raised in Chicago by Italian immigrant parents, Farina joined his hometown's police force in the mid-'60s, settling into a life of law enforcement. When he was hired to be a local consultant on Michael Mann's film Thief (1981), however, Farina wound up with a bit part as the villain's heavy. Farina continued to moonlight as an actor for several years, appearing in local theater and occasional movies, including Final Jeopardy (1985) and the Chuck Norris vehicle Code of Silence (1985). Though Dennis Farina never took an acting class, Farina was a natural; after Michael Mann offered him the lead in the series Crime Story in 1986, Farina left the police force to play a TV cop. During his 1986-1988 stint on the series, Farina also played FBI agent Jack Crawford (Scott Glen's part in Silence of the Lambs [1991]) in Mann's stylish thriller Manhunter (1986), was the Birdman of Alcatraz in the TV movie Six Against the Rock (1987), and a cop in TV movie mystery Through Naked Eyes (1987).



Drawing on his no-nonsense charm as well as his eclectic life experience, Farina continued to shine in roles on both sides of the law, such as serial killer Angelo Buono in The Case of the Hillside Stranglers (1989) and the lead prosecutor in the TV docudrama Blind Faith (1990). As nimble with comedy, Farina went up against Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin as a mobster in the popular buddy yarn Midnight Run (1988). Dennis Farina's versatility firmly established by the 1990s, Farina's early '90s work ranged from playing a billionaire in People Like Us (1990), to Banquo in a New York gangland version of Macbeth, Men of Honor (1991), as well as supporting roles in the comedy Another Stakeout (1993), Bruce Willis actioner Striking Distance (1993), John Turturro's Italian-American family drama Mac (1993), and vicious neo-noir Romeo Is Bleeding (1994).



Farina's appearance as John Travolta's nemesis, hilariously bumbling tough guy Ray "Bones" Barboni, in Barry Sonnenfeld's adaptation of Elmore Leonard's Get Shorty (1995), led to his most notable hit since Midnight Run. His career hitting a new high, Farina co-starred with Bette Midler as reunited exes in Carl Reiner's That Old Feeling (1997), and starred as a Sicilian bigwig in the high-profile TV miniseries Bella Mafia (1997). Though his Marshall Sisco made only a brief appearance in Steven Soderbergh's esteemed Elmore Leonard adaptation Out of Sight (1998), Farina was pitch-perfect as Jennifer Lopez's protective dad. After joining the superb corps in Steven Spielberg's award-winning Saving Private Ryan (1998), Farina returned to series TV, playing smooth detective Buddy Faro (1998); the series, however, lasted only one season.



Returning to films, Farina followed his role as the police captain who recruits The Mod Squad (1999) with another comic turn as a New York gangster who sets the diamond larceny plot in motion in Snatch (2000), adding a dash of Hollywood celebrity (along with Brad Pitt and Benicio del Toro) to British lad director Guy Ritchie's sophomore effort. The releases of two of Farina's next films, Barry Sonnenfeld's caper Big Trouble (2001) and Edward Burns' romantic comedy Sidewalks of New York (2001), were delayed after the terrorist attack on New York on September 11, 2001. Sidewalks of New York surfaced later in 2001, but the romantic comedy failed to charm a large audience. Big Trouble finally made it into theaters in the first half of 2002, but despite the big name cast, Sonnenfeld's farce joined such high profile fare as Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle Collateral Damage (2002) and the espionage actioner Bad Company (2002) on the list of 9/11-delayed flops. Farina's next film, the broad, witless comedy Stealing Harvard (2002), also failed at the box office. Farina returned to television during the fall 2002 season with a lead role as a comically monstrous Meet the Parents-esque father-in-law on the sitcom The In-Laws (2002). Despite initially withering reviews, The In-Laws managed to show signs of ratings life.