Italian neighborhoods in North America

[eixample]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Dyker Heights, which is probably the most "authentic" urban Italian American residential enclave in the U.S., is most Italian area of Brooklyn

What makes it the 'most authentic'? Post-WW II migration?

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by eixample

What makes it the 'most authentic'? Post-WW II migration?

Do NOT challenge Crawford. He is THE expert on every subject and every neighborhood in every city on the planet, not just America.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by eixample

What makes it the 'most authentic'? Post-WW II migration?

Lots of 1960's and 1970's migration from Southern Italy. So one of the few remaining enclaves of first-second generation Italians.

But it's obviously an aging neighborhood.

[Docere]

Italian American

Richmond NY 31%*
Putnam NY 29.1%*
Gloucester NJ 25.9%
Ocean NJ 25.9%*
Suffolk NY 25.5%*
Monmouth NJ 24.8%*
Lawrence PA 24.4%
Sussex NJ 23.5%*
Lackawanna PA 23.3%
Middlesex CT 22.9%
Hunterdon NJ 22.4%*
Morris NJ 22.3%*
Dutchess NY 21.9%*
New Haven CT 21.4%
Kent RI 21.1%
Litchfield CT 21%
Washington RI 21.1%
Warren NJ 20.9%
Bristol RI 20.8%
Pike PA 20.4%*
Nassau NY 20.1%*
Schenectady NY 19.5%
Herkimer NY 19.4%
Ulster NY 19.3%
Westmoreland PA 18.9%
Mahoning OH 18.5%
Saratoga NY 18.4%
Cape May NJ 18.3%
Beaver PA 18.1%
Niagara NY 18%
Washington PA 18%
Atlantic NJ 17.8%
Monroe NY 17.7%
Westchester NY 17.7%*
Bergen NJ 17.6%*
Berkshire MA 17.6%
Elk PA 17.6%
Iron MI 17.2%
Onondaga NY 17.2%
Luzerne PA 17.1%
Oneida NY 17.1%
Delaware PA 17%
Fairfield CT 16.9%*
Providence RI 16.9%
Tolland CT 16.8%
Columbia NY 16.5%
Greene NY 16.5%
Camden NJ 16.4%
Essex MA 16.4%
Plymouth MA 16.4%
Montgomery NY 16.3%
Albany NY 16.2%
Erie NY 16.2%
Allegheny PA 16.1%
Burlington NJ 16.1%
Fulton NY 16.1%
Lake OH 16.1%
Monroe PA 16.1%
Bucks PA 15.9%
Genesse NY 15.9%
Rensselear NY 15.9%
Orange NY 15.8%*
Montgomery PA 15.5%
Hartford CT 15.2%
Rockingham NH 15.2%
Chester PA 15%

* New York metro

[KDD]

If you told me 14 Pennsylvania counties were on the list and Philadelphia wasn't one of them, I wouldn't believe you. The only one that to me is a head scratchier is Elk, I thought it was all German loggers there. Then again, its so small, one big ole Catholic family moving there might make the difference.

[Docere]

I used 15% as the cutoff (roughly 3x the Italian American share of the US population). All but three of these counties were outside the Northeast.

[Shawn]

Missed a few big ones:

Kent RI: 23.2%
Washington RI: 21.4%
Middlesex MA: 16.2%
Norfolk MA: 15.5%

[Docere]

I used this source:

https://statisticalatlas.com/United-States/Ancestry

[JManc]

Staten Island probably has more gold chains and Camaro's per capita than anywhere else in the world.

[Docere]

Half the NHW population in Staten Island is Italian. No other county comes close in that respect, though 30%+ is common throughout the New York area. About one third of the white population in Gloucester County (South Jersey) also.

[edale]

Wow, that list of counties is pretty striking. All Northeast plus a couple random Ohio and one Michigan county.

[Docere]

Yes throughout the urban and industrialized Northeast the Italian population represents a sizeable share of the population

There's even a notable difference between the "interior Northeast" (i.e. western NY and PA) and the "east north central" region in terms of Italian percentage.

Incidentally the lack of a visible Italian presence in Maryland/DC separates it from the "real" Northeast as well.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by edale

Wow, that list of counties is pretty striking. All Northeast plus a couple random Ohio and one Michigan county.

That MI county is a super-isolated Michigan mining county. They probably haven't had immigration (from anywhere) in at least a century, so the Italian cultural feel has to be pretty minimal at this point. Though there are nearby Finnish cultural traces (Finns are the largest white ethnicity in much of MI's Upper Peninsula).

[Docere]

There are obviously a lot more Italian Americans in Macomb but a smaller percentage of the population.

A 10% cutoff is too large a list with the Northeast included, but outside the Northeast the list of 10%+ Italian American counties wouldn't be that long, I suspect.

[James Bond Agent 007]

• Video Link

[Shawn]

Originally Posted by James Bond Agent 007

• Video Link

Anthony died last week His real name was Anthony Martignetti, he was a North End native kid hanging out with friends when some production scouts asked him for directions. They liked how he helped them out, and decided to cast him in their upcoming commercial.

[James Bond Agent 007]

^ Yeah I read that in the comments in the video. RIP.

[Docere]

That end came out just as the old "Little Italies" were dying out.

At that time, Italians were sort of seen as laggards in terms of white flight, the "last European ethnics" living in cities. Today Italians are among the most suburbanized of ethnic groups.

[Crawford]

Italians took a bit longer to transition to the suburban periphery. They arrived later, tended to be in working class professions, and tended to resist ethnic change to a greater degree. And I may be caricaturing a bit, but Jews tended to value education more (so "changing" schools were more of a threat), and had a greater wish and means to avoid conflict.

Canarsie: The Jews and Italians of Brooklyn, is a good read describing the varying reactions to demographic/cultural change. Canarsie was a (secular) Jewish/Italian mix, but when demographic change hit, Jews mostly vacated the area by about 1980, while Italians remained the largest demographic group till the late 90's or so.

Bensonhurst had similar patterns, with (secular) Jews largely vacating by 1980, but Italians dominant until maybe 10-15 years ago. Bensonhurst is now growing more Jewish, but that's because of Orthodox overflow from Borough Park. Also, Bensonhurst overall changed more slowly because the immigrant replacement groups were Chinese and former Soviet, not (black) Carribean, as in Canarsie.

[JManc]

Jews saw education as power after systemic persecution and genocide where as Italians and other ethnics never had that history.