Dear Readers,
January jottings as we begin the New Year: Advice: Grazie to Mr. Fred Pisa of San Carlos, California.
1. Take a 10-30 minute walk every day. And while you walk, smile. It is the ultimate antidepressant.
2. Live with the e E’s – Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy.
3. Dream more while you are awake.
4. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
5. Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.
6. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.
7. Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present.
8. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
9. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
10. Enjoy the ride. Remember this is not Disney World and you certainly don’t want a fast pass. You only have one ride through life so make the most of it and enjoy the ride… Grazie to Mr. Mark Principe of San Francisco, California. Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so love the people who treat you right, forget about the ones who don’t, and believe that everything happens for a reason.
If you get a chance, take it. If it changes your life, let it. Grazie to Connie Martin of Tucson, Arizona. May your troubles be less, May your blessings be more, May nothing but happiness come through your door…
***
Building began on the Empire State Building in January 1930. Constructing the Empire State Building framework were hundreds of Italian American ironworkers, however their contribution was largely eclipsed by the fact that many of the ironworkers employed on the site were Mohawk Indians from an Indian reserve on the border between New York State and the Canadian province of Quebec.
For years the myth persisted that the “paesani” were afraid of heights and only the Mohawk Indians could work in the air, with the greatest of ease. It was in early 1929 that John J. Raskob, an early successful investor in the rising General Motors Company, heard rumors that Walter Chrysler was going to build an 809 foot building in mid-town Manhattan.
In the spirit of one-up-man-ship, he revised his plans upward to include a dirigible landing mooring mast (at the time, dirigibles carried passengers on transatlantic flights.) The sight of massive airships docking in the heart of the city, he thought, would inspire the imagination, but more importantly with a new steel frame to support the 200 foot tall mooring mast, the building would stand 1,250 feet tall and clearly put the height of the Empire State Building above the height of the Chrysler Building, making it the tallest building in the world.
The mooring mast was rarely used when it became apparent that dirigible descending passengers would be unwilling to cope with the heavy winds at 1,250 feet above street level; however the Observation Deck, atop the Empire State Building at the 1,050-foot level proved to be immensely popular with visitors.
Due to an economic downturn, when construction actually began in January 1930, new jobs were created and work went on twenty-four hours a day. At the peak of construction, the building rose four and a half stories a week and required over fifty-seven thousand tons of structural steel.
The Empire State Building opened on April 1, 1931, a month ahead of schedule. Due to the troubled economic climate, called “the Great Depression”, it was difficult to fill the building with tenants. At the time of its opening, only one quarter of the building had been rented. But the building continued to increase in fame, especially after it provided the setting for the climax of the 1933 film King Kong.
Revenues from fees charged for sightseeing on the observation decks reached one million dollars per year, reportedly outstripping income from rent. After the Second World War, the economic climate improved, and the Empire State Building found an increasing number of tenants.
The building finally became profitable in 1948. Today, the tallest building in the world is the uncompleted Burj Dubai skyscraper in the United Arab Emirates that had reached a height of 2,320 feet by the end of 2008.
***
Cracker, as in “Polly want a cracker” was the first word new parrot owners would often try to teach their birds. My mother’s friend, Stella, acquired a beautiful green parrot when her husband bought a liquor store from an elderly widow, who included the parrot as part of the sale.
Stella did not speak English and Polly did not speak Italian, but before long he could say “Hello Bella” or “Mangia, mangia.” I thought Polly was the most brilliant bilingual bird in the whole world until in Japan “Yosuke”, a parrot, flew out of his cage and got lost.
He did exactly what he had been taught: recited his name and address to a stranger willing to help. Police rescued the African gray parrot from a roof in the city of Nagareyama, near Tokyo. After spending a night at the station, he was transferred to a nearby veterinary hospital.
He kept mum with the cops but began chatting after a few days with the vet. “I’m Mr. Yosuke Nakamura,” the bird told the veterinarian. The bird also provided his full home address, down to the street number. When police checked the address, a Nakamura family lived there. The family told police they had been teaching the bird its name and address for about two years.
Reunited with his family, the bird entertained rescuers and veterinary staff by singing songs. Perhaps he aspired to be the “Parrototti” of song…..
***
D’Agostino Bros., the small chain of independent grocery stores in New York, with a bright red tomato logo stamped on their D’AG BAG, has roots in Abruzzi, Italy. It was their father Stefano who started the trek to America for his sons Pasquale and Nick to reluctantly follow.
Stefano D’Agostino had pioneered with two other men from the town of Bugnara, Abruzzi, Italy in the year of the “Great Blizzard”, 1888. Stefano got interested in his wife to be, through letters written by her brothers boasting about what a wonderful wife she would make. As a result of this overseas correspondence, Stefano married her in Abruzzi on one of his periodic returns home and then sailed back to New York.
Stefano sons Pasquale D’Agostino with his younger brother Nick pioneered the “Supermarket” concept in New York City. Pasquale once said that unlike many successful immigrants he had been a reluctant follower of the “American Dream.” Pasquale was born in Bugnara, Abruzzi, Italy in 1905.
He arrived in America in 1920, at the age of 15 and Pasquale became “Patsy.” By the time he was 45 he was dubbed the “Professor” by students at N.Y. City College, where he gave weekly lectures on the grocery business. Further proof that a diploma does not assure a knowledge of economics was his business ledger which showed a five million dollar gross on the credit side, in the 1950’s, when a dollar was a dollar in purchasing power.
Here is an excerpt from Patsy D’Agostino story, written in 1955 “How I made a million”: “I didn’t look to America for my future, I felt dragged here against my will. The stories I had heard were to the effect that Italians were treated like dirt, made to dig ditches or shine shoes.
I could only pray in my 15-year-old heart that God would let me earn enough money to go home and never see this place again. How wrong I was and let me say that my brother Nick and I thank God every day that He didn’t answer my prayers. Otherwise we would not be proudly looking at the sign “D’Agostino Bothers,” over the windows of our small chain of independent grocery stores in New York.”
God Bless America.
10631 Vinedale Street, Sun Valley, CA 91352 - Phone (818) 767-3413 - Fax: (818) 767-1410
