#116th street

[fuckyeahtravelphotos]

Above 116th street

[pleasantavenuemafia]

Fat Tony Salerno: Pleasant Avenue: The Way It Was

Excerpt from Pleasant Avenue: The Way It Was

Back then all the way up to 1988, Fat tony was the boss of the Genovese crime family and the second most powerful mafia figure in New York, next to Paul Castellano, the head of the Gambino crime family.

Years later in 1988 Fat Tony Salerno was convicted in in a scheme to allocate contracts and obtain payoffs for constructing the concrete superstructures of 16 Manhattan buildings, including the Jacob J. Javits Convention Center and the Trump Plaza. He got 70 years for that. And other 100 years for operating the "commission" that ruled the Mafia throughout the United States.

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All in all Fat Tony received 170 years in prison. He died of complications from a stroke in 1992. Upon his death, Fortune magazine named Salerno the richest and most powerful mobster in America.

Born and raised in East Harlem on Pleasant Avenue, Fat Tony had his eulogy at Our Lady of Mount Carmel church on 115th Street in 1992.

Check out Pleasant Avenue: The Way It Was on Amazon – Click Here

Father Peter Rofrano claimed that “God walked with him.” I don’t know about that, maybe God walked with Fat Tony Salerno because he wanted to make sure Fat Tony got on the downtown train to the other place. He was buried where most Pleasant Avenue associates are buried, in the Old Saint Raymond’s cemetery in the Bronx, New York . . . .

[wanderingnewyork]

Looking eastward along 116th Street from Morningside Park, Manhattan.

[haikumaker]

Broadway, up near Columbia, 1966.

[pleasantavenue116thstreet]

Pleasant Avenue: The Way It Was

Sometimes though, life on Pleasant Avenue was truly gratifying. There was an old woman on Pleasant Avenue and 114th street that would sell jelly apples.  She would put the apple on a stick and dip the apple in a jar full of hot jelly.  The price of the jelly apple was two cents.  I had two cents, but I was afraid to go over to this old and scary lady.  Her dress was oversized.  Her shoes were black and shiny and they looked as if they belonged to her husband. 

Check out Pleasant Avenue: The Way It Was on Amazon – Click Here

116th and Pleasant Avenue

She had two large spaces between her two front teeth.  To buy an apple from her, one had to walk two steps down off of the sidewalk.  She had an old cast- iron stove, which had red- hot coals burning for fuel.  On the stove she had a large pot of boiling bright red jelly. 

One morning I took a chance and as I walked over to the old lady, I said, “Let me have a jelly apple.”  Looking at me with piercing eyes and a weird cackle she says, “Have you got two cents, Sonny?”  I said, “Of course I have,” as I dig into my worn- out pants pocket.  As I fiddle around in my pocket, I discover a hole in it.  I am worried as I look into my other pocket.  “Well,” the old lady says, “I can’t wait forever, where’s the two cents?” 

Check out Pleasant Avenue: The Way It Was on Amazon – Click Here

I am still looking for the two cents when the old lady shouts, “Why you stupid kid, the two cents is on the ground.  What do you have a hole in your pocket?”   When I see the two cents on the floor, I pick it up and I give it to the old lady.  The old lady sticks a Popsicle stick into the red apple and stuffs it into a juicy, red, boiling pot.  When she takes it out the hot jelly is dripping all over the stick.  She puts a napkin on the stick and says, “Here’s your jelly apple and get out of here!”  - That's the way it was on 116th Street and Pleasant Avenue

[harlemgal-inc]

Pods arrive in Central Harlem along with a gigantic mural

Dining pods have arrived to part of the restaurant scene in Harlem. And a giant mural on the northwest corner of Frederick Douglass Blvd and 116th Street is going up to commemorate this form of outdoor dining! If you live in the area, you can’t miss the mural (or the pods). The mural looks awesome!

Dining pods are now lining FDB from 116th to 120th Street at the following restaurants: Bixi…

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[harlemworldmagazine]

Men Hurt When Gunman Fires Into Harlem Crowd

Men Hurt When Gunman Fires Into Harlem Crowd

NY Post reports that two men were hurt when a gunman fired into a Harlem crowd, police said. (more…)

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