Session: 123456789101112131415161718         Page 203204205206207208209210211212213214215216217218219220221222223224225226227228229230231232233234235236 of 617

who lived in that neighborhood. What people always forget is that the South Village is a residential neighborhood. It's not 8th Street. And their neighborhood was being turned into a commercial neighborhood, and they resented it. What you have to admire about Italians is: they never moved. You know, everybody runs from the blacks. The blacks move into a neighborhood, the whites leave faster and faster. Not the Italians. That's true in the Upper East Side, in East Harlem -- they don't move. In the South Village, you cannot drive them out of their homes. And their homes are immaculate. They take a hundred-year-old tenement building that in some other part of the city would be an absolute slum, and they take care of it -- it's a labor of love -- and you can eat off the floor in their homes, and they don't move. They're a very vital element to any city.

Did some of the coffee houses at that time also feature poetry?

Yes, sure, poetry readings.

Did this come under the heading of entertainment?

Yes, unless the poet was humming. (laughs)

Well, what finally happened as far as getting control over the