Italian-American

Pizza Night in Jersey – 60s New Jersey

 

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Pizza Town
Route 46 , Garfield , New Jersey

“The First Place I ever had a Calzone!”



 

My first memories of PIZZA were from Bella Pizza in East Rutherford, New Jersey. I was a young boy and this Pizzeria just opened on Park Avenue. It was a standard Pizzeria like many others found all over the New York-New Jersey metro area, serving solid pizza just the way the locals like it. The pizza was of a high standard as all the pizza must be if you’re going to make and sell Pizza in the heavily Italian-Populated New York and New Jersey areas. A large pie which you just ordered as a Pizza, the one that is known as Pizza Margherita in Italy is made of the pizza dough topped with tomato sauce, Mozzarella Cheese, salt, pepper, and a little olive oil. Basta!

   The Pizza in America are much larger than those made in Italy and are cut into 8 triangular slices and are enough for 2 or 3 people to eat, or even four if you’re not that hungry or sharing a Pizza just as a snack in-between meals. I can still remember the price of the pizza at Bella Pizza in East Rutherford back in the 60s a whole pie cost just $1.50 and a slice was .20 cents. So if you wanted what they call in Napoli and all over Italy the Pizza Margherita, you just simply ordered a Pizza, or a Cheese Pie, or simply a Pie, meaning it was with Tomato, Mozzarella , and Basil and no other toppings. And if you wanted extra toppings, you just say a Pepperoni Pie, or half mushroom half pepperoni, or a Sausage Pie or whatever. That’s the way it was and more or less still is with ordering Pizza at your standard pizzeria. Nowadays most pizza cost between $2.25 and $2.75 a slice and about $16.00 to $20 and even more for a whole plain pie.

   Anyway, as most kids did and do, we loved eating pizza, and on most Friday nights it was Pizza Night for many families in Jersey. Mom didn’t want to cook that night, the kids loved getting pizza and looked forward to it as a special treat on Friday nights, as we knew it as Pizza Night and we just loved it. We’d have pizza, Coca-Cola and some sort of sweets, a cake or Ice Cream for desserts after we ate our Pizza. Yes Friday Night Pizza was always a much loved treat as a child growing up in Jersey in the 1960s and 70s. We’d listen to WABC Radio and Top 20 Hits, R&B, and Rock-N-Roll and all was fine in the World, we had all that we needed. How I miss those sweet days of youth and a simpler time than today. Back then you had everything you needed in life. We had Radio and TV and we still do today. We had Cars that were beautiful unlike some of the ugly ones of today. We had the Telephone, no cel phones or internet, we didn’t need them. We all had a Football, a Basketball, a Baseball Bat, Baseball, and Glove to play Baseball, Basketball, and Football as all healthy American boys did back then. We didn’t have Video Games but we had Aurora Racing Car sets, maybe Electric Trains, and wonderful Board Games like; Monopoly, Candyland, Chess, Checkers, Stratego, and Battle Ship. And one of the most wonderful things we had back then in the 60s & 70s was great music unlike the Crap they call music today, we had Great Top 100 Hits, wonderful R&B sounds of Motown and The Philly Sound, we had The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Rock-N-Roll, what do the kids have for music today? Sadly, just Crap Rap and the other garbage they think is music. Yes it’s quite sad what has happened to music in the past 20 years. But yes we had everything we needed; Radio, TV, cars, a stereo, Sports, great music to listen to, and Pizza, we always had Pizza, we still do.

   Well sorry, I got off topic, but it’s all part of the story you see. In Italy when it comes to Pizza it’s a bit different than the way Pizza is done in America. Pizza was born in Napoli where it is revered into a high religion and is to made just so. The Pizza is much smaller and is made for one and they do not make slices unless you are in Rome or other parts of Italy where they make Pizza that is made in large pans ahead of time and then cut into squares and heated up when a customer orders some. That’s Pizza Taglio, and most Pizza made in Italy is Neapolitan Pizza that is made to order. As we’ve said they are individual sized (about 12” round) for one person and made to order and are cooked in hot wood burning ovens to strict standardized specifications. A Pizza Margherita made in the true Neapolitan fashion is made with fresh tomato puree, olive oil, salt, fresh garlic, basil, and mozzarella placed on top, then the pizza cooks in the hot wood burning oven, and is ready in just about 4-5 minutes. Pizza Margherita was created by Raffaella Esposito in 1889 where he was working at Pizzeria di Pietro. He made the Pizza and named it in honor of Queen Margherita of Savoy who was visiting Naples (Napoli) at the time. American Pizza on the other hand is made with a cooked sauce and we tend to put more sauce and cheese than they do in Italy .

   Now, my own experience eating Pizza in Italy. Well the first pizza I first had in Italy was Pizza Taglio (pan Pizza) and not the Classic Neapolitan Pizza, which is by far the dominant pizza in all Italy, and though there is Pizza Taglio which is sold in square slices, it’s a mere fraction as far as its presence goes, which is just about 1% of all Pizza consumed in Italy is Pizza Taglio, the rest being classic Neapolitan. Anyway, there’s very good pizzeria that makes Pan Pizza close to the train station in Rome. Like other pizzerias that make Pizza Taglio in Italy, there’s an array of different pizzas with different toppings that are already made and are laid out before you. You choose which type of pizza you’d like, tell them the size you want, they cut it and weight it to determine the price by weigh.

Yes the pizza is a bit different in America, but it’s dammed good, and America makes the world’s best pizza outside of Italy. And as far as Pizza goes in America, everyone knows that the best Pizza in the country is made in New York, and especially in Brooklyn with great shrines to Pizza in the form of; Tottono’s in Coney Island, Grimaldi’s, and DiFara Pizza by Pizza Maestro Dom DeMarco. Then you’ve got John’s on Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village and the first Pizzeria ever to exist in the United States Lombardi’s on Prince Street, established in 1905.

   Anyway, enough with the technicalities of Pizza, sometimes things are analyzed too much, just eat it and enjoy. We loved eating Pizza on Pizza Night or any time of the week when we were lucky enough to get it. And there is one particular time that I always remember. We went on a trip with our local church to the big beautiful Riverside Cathedral in New York one time, and it was a very special trip. When we came home, the Priest and other church officials made a little Pizza Party for us in the church basement. They ordered a bunch of Pizzas for all the kids (Grownups too) and it was a very special thing for us, as pizza always was and even so to this day. Yes there’s nothing like when you’re a child and they have a Pizza Party for you, we just loved it. And so these are my memories of Pizza.

 

Excerpted From “MANGIA ITALIANO” Memories of Italian Food  




     by Daniel Bellino-Zwicke

 

 

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Typical Large Pie for PIZZA NIGHT in The 60s



 

Read about PIZZA NIGHT , CANNOLIS, PROVOLONE, MEATBALLS, 
Growing Up Italian in America, Italian Food, Italy, and more, 
in best selling author Daniel Bellino-Zwicke’s 
latest book, Mangia Italiano – Memories of Italian Food.


 

 

 

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MANGIA ITALIANO !

The Latest From Daniel Bellino “Z”





PIZZA DOUGH RECIPE

POSITANO The AMALFI COAST

TRAVEL GUIDE – COOKBOOK

100 REGIONAL RECIPES – NAPLES

Including – PIZZA DOUGH PIZZA Recipe
POSITANO CAPRI NAPLES SORRENTO


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A Brief History of GREENWICH VILLAGE

EARLY SUNDAY MORNING
 
by Edward Hopper
 
7th Avenue, Greenwich Village NY
 
 

Greenwich Village is one of the world’s most famous neighborhoods, located on the southwest corner of downtown Manhattan in New York City.

Steeped in history, the village is also known as “West Village” or simply “the Village.” It has Broadway on the east, the Hudson River on the west, Houston Street on the south, and 14th Street on the north. Surrounding communities include East Village to the east and Chelsea to the north.

Originally a small farming community, the area surrounding the village was once marshland. It was referred to as “Sapokanikan” in the 16th century. The land was turned into a pasture by the Dutch settlers in the 1630s and then it came to be known as “Noortwyck.”

In 1664, the village developed as a hamlet separate from the larger downtown Manhattan when the English occupied the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam.

It officially became a village in 1712 and was first referred to as “Grin’wich” in the records of the Common Council. As a result of recurring yellow fever in New York City in 1820s, many people fled to the healthy area of Greenwich Village and remained there. The village was converted into a military parade ground and park in 1826.

With a history spanning nearly two centuries, Greenwich Village was a mecca to Bohemians, and they played a major role in propagating new political, artistic, and cultural ideas in the area.

Since the turn of the 20th century, the Village has been a destination to famous artists, writers, entertainers, and intellectuals, such as E.E. Cummings, Eugene O’Neill, and Edgar Allan Poe.

The village also remained home for political rebels such as John Reed and Marcel Duchamp who proclaimed the founding of “The Independent Republic of Greenwich Village.” Further, the village’s role as a center for movements is remarkable.

Presently, the Village is a vibrant area, dominated by some important monuments, beautiful townhouses, multitudes of dining areas, and a wacky serpentine layout of streets.

The Federal-style row houses, Greek Revival townhouses, and quaint carriage houses, apart from the office buildings of the late 19th century and towering 20th century apartment buildings, reflect the creative and diverse population of the Village.

The heart of the neighborhood is the historic Washington Square Park, which is a hub of activities such as chess playing, skateboarding, and walking or jogging. The Village is also the seat for some of the important educational institutions in the nation, such as New York University (NYU) and New School University.

The world’s oldest gay and lesbian bookstore – Oscar Wilde Bookshop – is located here. Petrosino Square, Little Red Square, Time Landscape, Desalvio, Thompson Street, and William Passannante Ballfield are other important landmarks in the village.

Also, located here is The Cage, officially known as the West 4th Street Courts. It is one of the most important venues for the city-wide amateur basketball tournaments. In addition, the Village is the place for the renowned Halloween Parade – a mile-long parade of life-sized puppets and masqueraders that draws more than two million spectators.

 

 
 
 
 
 
Macdougal Street
 
 
Macdougal Street and Bleecker Street are two of the most famous and historical streets in all of Greenwich Village. They were the main streets that spawned such Bohemian Types as Jack Keroac of the Beat Generation known as Beatniks. Macdougal Street and Bleecker Streets and the area where they converge was the epicenter of Folk Music in Greenwich Village in the many clubs, cafes, and Coffee Houses back in the 1960s with such musical artists as Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Maty Travers of Peter Paul & Mary, John Sebastian, John Phillips and Cass Elliot (Mamma Cass) of the Mammas & Pappas, Pete Seger, John Denver and others, and later on such notables as Jimi Hendrix at Cafe Wha, Steven Tyler and Aerosmith.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Map of GREENWICH VILLAGE
 
 
 
 
 
 
SUNDAY SAUCE is NEW YORK ITALIAN
 
 
Greenwich Village for a long time from the early 1900s to the early 1960s was primarily an Italian Neighborhood made up of immigrants of the Southern Italian enclaves of Naples and Sicily, as well as some from Genoa, Calabria, and Abruzzo. There are still a few great old Italian businesses left like; Monte’s Trattoria (Since 1918), Raffetto Pasta Co. since 1906, and PORTO RICO COFFEE owned by the Longo Family Since 1907, and CAFFE REGGIO since 1927, which features paintings from the School of CARAVAGGIO and Renaissance  Benches from a Medici Pallazzo that can actually sit in as you sip your Italian Cappuccino and listen to Classical Music in a most delightful way. This is just a little taste of the charms of Greenwich Village New York.
 
 
 
 
Daniel Bellino Zwicke
 
 
Native Writer of Greenwich Village
 
 
 
  
 
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SINATRA “FRANK SINATRA That IS”

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    Sinatra. The name? What does it that word, the name invoke? Well for me and millions of  Italian-Americans over the years, the name Sinatra conjures mostly love, Happiness,  good-times,  wonderful memories, and “Pride.” These emotions that are all one really need to be happy and content. That’s what is important. Along with good health and family togetherness. And, by the way, you don’t have to be Italian-American to love Sinatra, most everyone does.

    My love of Frank Sinatra, the man and his music began when I  was a young boy  growing up in East Rutherford,  New Jersey,  always in sight  of the wondrous skyline of my beloved New York City. As far back as I can remember,  my  mother used to play all her fine records  on her  RCA  Victor  Record Player. Songs like Strangers in The Night,  The  Summer  Wind, The Lady  is  a Tramp,  Fly Me to the Moon, Come Fly with  Me,  and  so many more. She played Sinatra all  the time, along with Sammy, Dino, Elvis, Al Martino,  Tony Bennett and  Nat King Cole. Those were her favorites and  Frank Sinatra was always  number one for the entire  Bellino Family, especially for Me, my Mother, Sister Barbara, and Uncle Frank.  

    Whether listening to a record or seeing the man live, this man  sang with so much emotion that you could  actually feel it within yourself, the feelings and

emotions he  was trying  to convey.  He tried and he always succeeded, whether he was singing a fun happy  song  like  “Luck Be  a Lady,”  “I’ve  Got  the World on a  String”,  or the incredible  way  he sang a torch song,  and  sang  these songs in a way no other could.  Songs  of  lost love  and  Bittersweet  Romances like  “You  and Me,”  The  World  We Knew,  The Second Time  Around,  and  “If  I Had You,”  many others of  course.  You could  feel the pain of hurt and lost love. They say the reason he had  this very  special touch  with torch songs was because he was thinking  of,  and singing  about  the Greatest Love of  his life,  Ava Gardner, Frank’s proverbial Girl That Got Away.

    The man  had such a way with lyrics and music, he’d  take  those  songs  and  make  them his own.

These  songs  were, still, are, and always will be wonderful  gifts  to his hundreds of  millions of  fans, to The World, to the history of mankind, to the Millions Who Loved and adored him, Frank Sinatra.

   We Italian-Americans  are deeply proud that he

was one  of our own.  He  was an Icon, The Twentieth Century’s  greatest  entertainer,  a National Treasure and source  of pride,  whom Italians looked-up-to and could brag  about, he was of Italian blood, same as us. That our roots  were from the same place (my family in particular the Bellino family came from the same town as Sinatra Family in Sicily, Lercara Friddi) as well as so many  of  our  forbearers  of  Italy to  precede us, people like Leonardo Da Vinci,  Brunelleschi, Giotto, Verrazano, Columbus,  Marconi, and Michael Angelo. In America we had Italian Americans like; Joe Di Maggio, Dean Martin (Dino Crochetti), Tony Bennett (Anthony Benedtto),  Al  Pacino,  Francis  Ford  Coppola,  Robert Mondavi,  Jake La  Motta, Rocky  Marciano,  and so many more, and of all those incredible people, Sinatra was tops. He still is.

   There are have  been all kinds of great singers in this  World,  people like  Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, Dean Martin, Al Green, Pavarotti, and on-and-on, but never a performer quite like Sinatra.  His singing,  the way he handled  a song, was beyond compare. Frank sang with incredible feelings and emotions.

   If  you were fortunate to ever see Sinatra perform  live, it  was an experience like no  other. You know how he makes  you feel so good when  you listen to one  of  his many  great recordings?  Well  multiply  that  by 100  and  you just start  to  understand. The emotions  one  felt  at  a  Sinatra Concert.  Emotions quite similar to the magical  euphoric  feelings  you’d get  as  a child running down  to the  Christmas Tree,  opening  your presents on Christmas Day. You’d get that special toy you’d  been dreaming of, and. You are in Seventh Heaven. Euphoria!  Do you remember?

    For any great  Sinatra fan, seeing  the man perform live, being  at a  Sinatra  Concert, it’s akin to being a child again,  under that Christmas Tree,  to open that  special present, that’s a Sinatra  Concert. Better!

    When you went to a Sinatra Concert there would

be so much love, joy,  happiness, and adulation for

the man  that you could literally feel it in the air. It made  you shiver and sent chills up and down your spine, “Literally.” People would  be screaming out, “We love you  Frank”, both men  and women, and he’d reply back,  “I  love you too”,  in  a way,  only

Frank  could do. He truly did Love and appreciate

his  fans and had such a fantastic rapport with his audience.

    Frank had  great  conversations with his audience. Guys felt as his pal,  and women his lover, these are messages he conveyed, and his fans adored him for it.

There have been so many great performers over the years, but there never was, there is not now, and there will never  ever be another  quite like that man, Francis Albert Sinatra. Never.

    I’ve been a tremendous fan of his since early childhood.  I grew  up listening  to the Beatles, Elvis, The Rolling Stones, all the great Motown and Philadelphia  Sound artists,  as well as many other Rock and Pop Stars.

   Along with the Pop, R&B, and Rock music that most  kids of  my  age  would  listen to at the time, I  added artists of my parent’s generation as well,  artist  like;  like Sinatra,  the rest of the Rat Pack,  Louis Armstrong,  Bobby Darin, and others. These artists that most  children and young adults didn’t  listen to  unless they  were the chosen few who had the good  taste and capacity to appreciate at tender young  ages, musicians like; Armstrong, Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald  and others. No matter that these older  artists were of their generation or not, their music was great, and even at such a young age, I could love and appreciate. Sammy, Sinatra, Dean and others were great performers  who made great music, and that all there was to it.

    When I was in high school, I had a few friends who  were heavily into Sinatra as well.  Most kids thought he  was “boring”  and  old-fashioned. We knew better!   We were all  of  Italian  ancestry and we were proud of  him  and of ourselves that although we were from another era, we were sophisticated enough, at such young ages to appreciate great performers of our parents and grandparents generation, we were Cool and  we  knew it!  Hey, Facts-Are-Facts, and that was a fact, “We Were Cool.” We looked  at  ourselves as The Jr. Rat Pack, Cool, Sophisticated, and Confident!!! Frank gave us that confidence and

Bravado!

    The sad day in which Frank Sinatra passed away,

I  received four messages of condolence, one from my sister Barbara, one from my brother-in-law Noel, one  from  my friend Selena, and one from my good buddy Jimmy Starace.  That’s how much  I loved the man, what a big fan I was, and all my friends and family knew it, thus the messages of condolence. I  wouldn’t be surprised if that happened to a couple Million other Sinatra fans as well.

   We were blessed with his presence for a long time. We  still are, through all  his fabulous recordings (12   Hundred Songs )  and  the memories, they evoke

feel ings of  girlfriends, Love, our  mothers,  fathers, and of Frank.

    I made sure that  I went to see the man perform

live on seven extraordinary  occasions. These concerts hold many wonderful memories that I will have for the rest of my life, along with the numerous dinners  with friends and family spent listening to his incomparable recordings and having Sinatra Parties on  Saturday nights when WNEW AM in New York used to  have a  show every Saturday night for years called  “Saturday  with Sinatra”, well,  as only New Yorkers could do.

   New Yorkers being Franks most loyal fans. This

is  where he  got his start.  The show  was hosted by

Sid Marx’s. Sid and some of his special guests would tell all sorts of wonderful stories about Frank. There would be guests who knew Frank personally, as well as listeners  who would call in and tell stories of how they  “Fell  in Love”  listening to Sinatra or how they met him one time, or of performances that they went to. The show was three hours of listening to Sinatra’s unrivaled music and of stories and antidotes of “The Man.” For Sinatara Fans, this weekly Saturday Night Show was pure bliss.

   Sinatra was loved all over the World, and people could tell you all sorts of interesting antidotes pertaining to all parts of the globe. I have a particular interesting memory of  him combined  with a great food and wine trip in Italy. I  was in the small wine town  of  Greve in Chianti  Classico, Italy having a nice  little  dinner  with  a  friend.  We  were in this

great  little Enoteca eating  the famed local Salumi

and Paparadelle  with Wild  Boar Ragu. We were a

bit surprised (I don’t know why) to hear both Sinatra  and  Billy Holiday  recordings playing at this little  place.  The owner  walked by  to  see how we were doing. I  gave him a thumbs-up and told him, “Great music”.

    “You  like Billy Holiday?” he inquired.  We had a nice little conversation with him about Billy, Sinatra, and wine.

    He told us that he had lived and worked for a few years  in New York.  This guy was  a big fan of Frank,

Billy Holliday, and New York City. So, that’s Sinatra, loved  the World over,  even in little towns like Greve in Chianti.

LA TAVOLA ..ITALIAN-AMERICAN NEW YORK’S ADVENTURES of The TABLE

LA TAVOLA  by Daniel Bellino Zwicke,  available August 2011 on AMAZON.com

Ever wonder what it would be like to have a book that could be described as A Year in Provence meets New York Italian America? Well that sort of explains La Tavola. A book about Italian-American Friends and Family in New York and the metropolitan area surrounding it. Where tables are filled with
Chianti, Antipasto, Pasta, Sausage, and Meatballs instead of Coq au Vin and Bouf Bourguignon, and the lush rural Sun-Soaked landscape of Provence in The South of France is replaced with Italian-American New Yorker’s in Brooklyn, Jersey, Manhattan, and Da Bronx, home to Dion and The Belmonts, Al Pacino, and Jake LaMotta.
The characters in La Tavola replace the French of A Year in Provence with Italian-Americans, Italian and Italian-American Food replace the French and French Food while Trattoria and Pork Stores are in place of the French by Butcher and Bistros. La Tavola is filled with many wonderful stories of life among the Italians of New York, with many antidotes and info on; who has the Best Sausages or Cannoli, which are the best Italian Restaurants, Caffes, and Italian Pastires. Including 30 Wonderful Recipes from Daniel and his Family. Enjoy!

AUGUST 2011 at AMAZON.comLA TAVOLA