On the street where I lived

Marie5656

Marie5656

SF VIP
Location
Batavia, NY
I grew up in Batavia NY. On the great south side. Small town living at it's best. Most of the South Siders were Italian or Polish. There were two Catholic Churches...known as the Italian one and the Polish one. I ended up being a mixture of both heritages. My Italian grandparents settled on the street. A sociology instructor in college once told us that it was not unusual for immigrant families to leave near each other. True in out family. My grandparents were an example. They lived on the corner of two streets. Next door was one son, in the upper apartment of their home was another Uncle. My parents lived across one of the streets, and another uncle lived a couple doors down from us. My Nonna's brother lived across the other street.
Attached is a picture, from around 1929 of the building my grandpa had built. He had a store in there, and apartments upstairs. The building is still standing today. On a cement plate on the top of the building is our last name.

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Nostalgic. Looks like a sturdy brick building and will be around for some time unless they tear it down to replace it with a new structure. They've done that around here and it is heartbreaking to see them torn town. The one man wearing a butchers apron, that's not your grandpa is it? I remember grocers wearing them.
 
Yep, Carla. That is grandpa, and Nonna right next to him. The one man leaning against the building with the vest and tie is my dad.
 

I live in Philadelphia ,Pa and when my grandparents both my Mother's and my Father's , came to America they lived in Phila. Growing up most of my Mother's family lived in the same neighborhood ,and so did some of my Father's. I had 5 of my Mom's sister's and 4 of her Brothers and their families. On my Dad's side I had 4 of his sisters and his 1 brother all within walking distance from our house. It was wonderful growing up with so many cousins around. Many of us were even in the same school. We all spent the holidays together and even summer vacations. Of course over the years things have changed soo much. Family members passing away and now the family has dwindled down
I wish my children and grandchildren had a childhood like I did.
 
I really enjoyed your story and photo. The city I grew up in was loaded with immigrants, too and they did stick to certain neighborhoods. Many Italian families started small grocery stores.

old grocery store wtby.jpg

These are not my own relatives but just one of many that were in our town. You could get the best sandwiches in the world from some of these old Italian grocers!
 

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