Larry Cole Eubanks

The Bard of Atlantic City

I did not see Snooki, The Situation or JWoww on the beach at Atlantic City near the southern end of the Jersey Shore. 

I saw no signs they had partied anywhere near where I walked in late August. The playground for these loud-mouthed heavily muscled guidos and their sassy big-haired guidettes lies further north in Seaside Heights.

Instead on my stretch of the Atlantic City beach, between the Tropicana, The Chelsea and Hilton Hotels, I met a poet disguised as an ice cream vendor.

Tall, wiry and athletic dressed in army boots, tan cargo pants and a military fatigue cap wearing black framed orange lens sunglasses Cole Larry Eubanks moves across the hot sands, weaving past scores of colorful beach umbrellas and matching chairs with a steady graceful rhythm. He covers this ten-block radius many times over hauling his mini trunk sized hot icebox strapped over his shoulder. He sells ice cream cones, sandwiches, ices, Oreo-cream sticks, snicker bars and more. As a bonus he dispenses his poems for free but not to everyone.

Eubanks, 61, is personable, articulate and tireless considering now many times he treks back-and-forth with his wares. Engage him in conversation beyond the usual “what do you sell,” and he reveals he is a poet.  Ask him what he writes about he replies “would you like to hear one?” Of course you shrug a shoulder and mutter, “okay” expecting a light-hearted Good Humor or Mister Softie type jingle. After he recites two lines you know this is special.

Eubanks speaks with clarity and passion. His is serious and intent. You roll with his every word hoping you grasp his message.

Forever the educator he is not looking to impress his audience with fancy rhymes or puffery. He is serious about sharing his convictions and educating as well. He achieves this by connecting past with present. His words nullify the sound of waves breaking on the surf. They pierce the laughter and screams of children playing nearby and slip through the whistling wind bouncing off the rough waters of the Atlantic. He finishes. You regret this is a one-time deal as he wanders away, especially when his next words  are “ice cream, frozen ices”

Eubanks, 61, called The Professor, by an Atlantic City Weekly columnist, taught in the Philadelphia and Atlantic City school systems for 28 years. The former high school teacher retired in 2005. He has read his works at a Buddhist monastery, at Apiary Magazine events, on the Café Improve television show, local radio, Tunes against Turmoil rock concert, and books stores in south Jersey and Philadelphia. In 2008 “Poets against War” honored Eubanks and several international poets for their works.

He has conducted workshops at the Teen Arts Center Festival at Stockton College and has read at the Atlantic Cape Community College, both in south Jersey.

Eubanks writes about the brutalities of war, slavery and social injustice. In his biographical Clenched he describes his childhood with an abusive father. 

He joins historical events with current ones.

in Playing Softball in America he begins with “my American daughter playing softball, unwinds at why her trying to-be-american dad has frozen….to his memory of the horror experienced by girls in under Taliban rule.”

In Angel From Harper’s Ferry (see below) he describes a dream-like jail cell encounter between abolitionist, John Brown and Dr. Martin Luther King, JR. Brown, in prison for leading an armed insurrection to end slavery was tried and hanged for treason in Virginia. Dr. Martin Luther King, JR., arrested for his planned non-violent protest against racial segregation, wrote his powerful “Letter from Birmingham jail” during his incarceration in that city. Speaking in the first person Brown counsels King and discusses the burden of slavery and King’s place in this fight.

Eubank is the current “Poet of the Year” for the Literacy Volunteers of America Atlantic/Cape May. His work is featured in “E Pluribus Unum: An Anthology of Diverse Voices produced by The Light of Unity at Philadelphia’s Moonstone Arts Center. 

Angel From Harper’s Ferry

On December 2, 1859, my neck snapped

and I pendulumed in the Charlestown sun.

swinging, completely at ease,

the breeze whispered a divine mission.

many would fine that iconic

with kansas blood still on my hands,

but I was always God-guided.

now a spirit, i am back in a cell not unlike

the one I just vacated in virginia 109 years ago.

in the room sleeps a small black man

while he rests, a century of history flashes

between us.

it seems shortly after my death,

america went to war just as I did as an individual

over the same stain…slavery

and 600,000 died.

coincidentally, the assassin of the president

was at my execution…

i think they killed the wrong man.

while the prisoner slept, i fed him dreams

in preparation for our visit.

gently, i commanded him…awake.

first, we talked about working for

 a similar cause with dissimilar means.

he wanted to know about frederick d.

i told him i hid out at his house for three weeks

and that they were two of a kind…

same sharp mind, same resolution.

he told me local clergymen

were warning him…slow down

and wondered if he was moving too quickly.

i said if God wanted him to be more moderate

the last one he would have sent was john brown.

martin laughed so hard the guard came,

but all he saw was my new friend.

i loved seeing him relax.

he said before you go…one question…

how do you plan projects not

knowing when you are going to die?

i said, martin no one knows that,

but your case is an exception…

you have four years and twelve days.

then he took out a pen and wrote his letter

from a birmingham jail…

Salvatore Licitra, 43, Hailed as the 
Next Pavarotti, Dies

Photo from Licitra's CD, The Debut, released by SONY 2002

Salvatore Licitra, often called the heir to Luciano Pavarotti, died on September 5 in Catania, Sicily, after nine days in a coma, from injuries sustained in a motor-scooter. He was 43.

A cerebral hemorrhage may have caused him to lose control of his Vespa, according to his website salvatorelicitra.com.

He suffered severe head and chest injuries. His girlfriend who rode with him was unharmed.

Born in Bern Switzerland of Sicilian parents on Aug. 10, 1968, Licitra grew up in Milan. At 18 he worked as a graphic artist for Italian Vogue in Milan. A year later, at the urging of his mother, he enrolled at the Parma Conservatory. Later he studied with tenor Carlo Bergonzi and continued working at the graphics shop he founded with his brother.

Licitra made his stage debut in 1998 in a student production of Un Ballo in Maschera in Parma. An impressive performance in Un Ballo in Verona earned him an audition with Ricardo Muti, currently the music director of the Chicago Symphony. This led to the role of Alvaro, in La Forza del Destino at Milan’s La Scala in 1999 and Tosca in 2000. He made his United States debut at the Richard Tucker Music Foundation Opera Gala as a guest soloist in 2001 in New York.

Licitra came to New York in May 2002 as an eleventh hour replacement for the ailing Pavarotti, in Puccini’s Tosca at the Metropolitan Opera.

Pavarotti had agreed to do two farewell performances but missed the first one due to illness. His understudy performed adequately. Fearing another fiasco and seeking a stronger back up the Met contacted Licitra in Milan.

Licitra took the Concorde from London to New York and arrived in the city at 9 a.m. That day he spent 12 hours rehearsing and studying videos before retiring to his Central Park South hotel suite not knowing if Pavarotti would sing the following night.

The next day Licitra walked around Central Park to ease his tension. When he arrived at the Met he reviewed more tapes still unaware of Pavarotti's status. One hour before curtain he learned Pavaroti would not perform. He met conductor James Levine, for the first time, thirty minutes before the opening.

Before a packed house with seats going for as much as $1875, plus a few thousand people watching on a large screen on the Lincoln Center Plaza, Licitra wowed the audience. They responded by giving him lengthy ovations at the conclusion of arias,  “Recondita armonia” and “E lucevan le stelle” and a three-minute ovation at the end. The Washington Post reported critics applauded Licitra for his “powerful impression," “long lyrical arcs,” “exciting voice,” in a “star-is-born performance.”

In his passing Peter Gelb, the general manager of the Met, called Licitra one of the greatest natural talents of his generation.

Inconsistent performances throughout his career attributed to vocal strain and poor technique left many wondering if he would ever fulfill his potential of becoming the “fourth tenor” (joining Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, and Jose Carreras. Although he never reached their level Licitra played important roles in all the major houses including Paris, London, Vienna, San Francisco and Chicago.

Under the Sony label he recorded The Debut, Duetto with Argentine tenor Marcelo Alvarez, and Forbidden Love. He sang the soundtrack for The Man Who Cried which starred Cate Blanchett and Johnny Depp.

While dining at a favorite haunt of Met singers after his Met debut Licitra was asked “How is this night different from others.” He replied “Tonight I sit at the maestro’s table. Before I used to sit in the back.”

His parents and brother survive him.

Tenor Salvatore Licitra sing's Mario Cavaradossi's act I aria from Puccini's Tosca from a 2000 La Scala Production, conducted by Carlo Muti. The Sacrestan is played by Alfredo Mariotti. (Ed.note: Licitra at his best)

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsYMXQXsx30 

Holy Innocents Church: Discovering Constantino Brumidi, Eugene O'Neill, Joyce Kilmer and Russell Chambers 

In a city with many houses of worship some of architectural and historical importance the Church of the Holy Innocents, in the heart of the Fashion Center, is not on most people’s list of places to visit.

Tourists stream to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, one of the world’s largest churches, or to admire the beauty of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, or the magnificence of the Eldridge Street Synagogue. Few outsiders visit Holy Innocents.

This Roman Catholic Church on West 37 Street, between Times and Herald Squares, has a medium-sized diverse congregation of immigrants, midtown business people, commuters and shoppers. It shares the street with wholesale clothing stores and fashion showrooms.

Built in 1870 Holy Innocents, one of the oldest buildings in midtown, is a link to a vanished past. In the mid-eighteen hundreds the city’s theater and entertainment district centered on 14^th street. As the city-expanded north, the district moved to an area stretching from 23rd and 42^nd streets. It became the Tenderloin, a red light district with saloons, brothels, dance halls, casinos, and thugs.

Originally established in 1866 on the site of an Episcopal Chapel on 37^th and Broadway, the parish preceded the Tenderloin. A densely populated, crime-ridden area had a large immigrant population, mostly Irish, but also other groups including African American, living in rooming houses and tenements. It also preceded Times Square (then called Longacre), the Broadway theater district and the Garment Center, America’s hub for clothing manufacturing and now mainly design and headquarters for fashion companies.

In 1883 the Metropolitan Opera opened a few blocks from the church. One of America’s great playwrights, Eugene O’Neill, who lived a few blocks away, was baptized at Holy Innocent’s, and then known as the Actor’s Church.

Architect Patrick C. Keely designed Holy Innocents and nearly six hundred churches including cathedrals in Chicago and Boston.  With seating on two levels this Gothic  style church has a white marble main altar and over 70 stained glass windows.

Above the altar is a three-story fresco, the Crucifixion, painted by Constantino Brumidi.

Born in Italy in 1805, Brumidi grew up in Rome. He painted frescoes for the Vatican. Imprisoned for stealing church artwork, which he moved for safekeeping during the revolution of 1848-49, Brumidi came to America after his pardon. He spent 25 years, 1854 to 1879, painting frescoes in the Capitol.

His masterpiece the “Apotheosis of George Washington” covers the canopy of the Capitol’s dome and the President’s room, the Senate reception and committee rooms. The capitol’s north corridor is known as “Brumidi’s corridor.” room, the Senate reception and committee rooms.

St. Stephen Church on East 28^th has 42 of his works including the “Martyrdom of St. Stephen.”

Brumidi died in 1880 in Washington D.C.

In the dimly lit northwest corner of Holy Innocent is another noteworthy work “The Return” 
by Charles Bosseron Chambers. Less than three foot high, posted to a column, it is not visible as you enter the church.

Born in St. Louis in 1882, Chambers, known for his figurative art, mostly portraits with religious themes, studied in Berlin. He moved to New York in 1916 and settled at the Carnegie Studios at Carnegie Hall.

One evening, Chambers who worshipped here, saw a solder huddled before the cross. The man sought repentance for his licentious life, days before leaving to join the French Army in WWI. Inspired by the site of the man kneeling illuminated by the lights from a few candles on a votive Chambers made a sketch and invited the soldier to pose for him in his studio.

He also did  “Light of the World”, a portrait of the infant Jesus one of the most popular religious paintings of the day.

The crucifix which still stands at Holy Innocents also affected the life of Joyce Kilmer, a major poet of the early twentieth century.

Kilmer, born in New Brunswick, New Jersey in 1886, authored three books of poetry including his renowned Trees. He wrote for the New York Times located nearby. Kilmer prayed at this crucifix for months for his daughter afflicted with infantile paralysis. He later converted to Catholicism.

In 1917 Kilmer volunteered for WWI and joined the 165^th Infantry Rainbow Division. Killed the following year at 31, Kilmer received the French Croix de Guerre. He wrote his poem Rouge Bouquet on the battlefield in France where he is buried.

                                        ROUGE BOUQUET

                                 There is on earth no worthier grave

                                 To hold the bodies of the brave

                                 Than this place of pain and pride

                                 Where they nobly fought and nobly died.

For info see Holy Innocent. Located at 128 West 37th Street - 212-279-5861.

   Searching For Joe Garagiola
        at the Polo Grounds

Mays catching the ball a few feet in front of the wall.

For most people “seeing is believing” but not for Anthony Scillia.

Dr. Scillia, a psychiatrist from Denville, New Jersey is a life long San Francisco Giants fan. His allegiance to the team dates back to its days at the Polo Grounds in upper Manhattan, across the Harlem River from Yankee Stadium.

When Dr. Scillia read Joe Garagiola, had a direct view of “The Catch” Willie Mays’ dramatic game-saving over-the-head grab of Vic Wertz’s 450-foot blast in the eight inning of game one of the 1954 World Series against the Cleveland Indians, he wanted proof.

Who could blame him?

(First, for most of us, “Who is Joe Garagiola?”)

How did Garagiola, who played for the St. Louis Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago Cubs wind up at the game? And how did he have one of the best seats of the 52,751 fans there.  A journeyman player, his best-known baseball achievement is growing up in The Hill section of St. Louis, near his close friend, New York Yankee Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra.

“I was not the best catcher in baseball. I wasn’t even the best catcher on my block,” Gariagola once said.

His career took off after his playing days ended. Author of “Baseball is a Funny Game” he hosted NBC’s Today Show and its Saturday Game of the Week. He often guest-hosted Johnny Carson’s The Tonight Show including the Beatles only appearance on that show and was a panelist on To Tell The Truth

 “THE CATCH”

The score tied 2-2 and no outs, base runners on first and second, power hitting Wertz, a four-time all-star slammed Don Liddle’s fourth pitch to centerfield. When Wertz connected with the ball, Mays known for playing a shallow centerfield, turned and ran over 130 feet with his back to home plate. If the ball remained in play everyone knew Willie would catch it. And he did! His throw to the infield prevented runners from scoring. The Giants won the game and swept the series; their last in New York. They moved to San Francisco in 1957.

While reading “Baseball’s 25 Greatest Moments” published by The Sporting News (the catch ranked ninth) the following quote spurred Dr. Scillia’s interest.

“It was an impossible catch, but what amazed me was how quickly Mays turned and fired the ball all the way to second base," said Garagiola. “He had to leave skid marks there-that’s how quickly he stopped and braced himself to throw.” Garagiola saw the play from a clubhouse window 483 feet from home plate, less than 30 feet from Mays.

After making his over-the-head catch of Wertz's blast Mays stops quickly
ready to throw the ball to the infield. Garagiola watches from the window.

He called his friend, Carl Kahn, a Brooklyn Dodger fan and a sports memorabilia collector. Kahn who knows Garagiola personally told Scillia “If Joe said it, then it is true.” Dr. Scillia thumbed through his baseball video library. He played his film and saw someone in the seventh window, on the far left side of the clubhouse. He noticed another face by the second window but that person had an obstructed view.

Scillia  had a quote and a photo but he needed more.  This had personal ties.

“My parents who are deceased were enthusiastic Giant fans. My best friend is a Yankee fan. He always urged me to become one,” he said. “If I had I would abandon my father.

 “Rooting for the Giants keeps me connected with my parents. As a fan I was curious but I had to do it for my father.”

Dr. Scillia visited baseball’s Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. He found his evidence in their archives, a photo showing the entire clubhouse with Garagiola hunched by the window. He sent the picture to Garagiola who signed it.

So how did Garagiola wind up in the Giants clubhouse?  He played five games with the Giants - batted 11 times, with three hits, two doubles. The Giants did not add him to their World Series roster and he watched the game from the clubhouse. “I had nothing to do with the outcome of the game,” he said.

Borrowing a phrase made popular by the late Red Barber, a sportscaster for the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Yankees, Garagiola had the enviable position of sitting “in the catbird seat.”

Pier 57: Innovative WWII Concept 
Heralded New Age in Pier Design

On Sunday September 29, 1947 a fire swept through Pier 57. Flames soared six stories high. Huge clouds of smoke darkened the skies over the Chelsea and West Village waterfront.

 

Six fire boats plus eighty fire and emergency vehicles responded to this eight-alarm blaze at Pier 57 between 15 and 16th streets. Hundreds of firemen worked double shifts to contain the fire, which at one point threatened two adjacent piers.

In the end the blaze injured over 153 people. It took 15 hours to extinguish the last smoldering ashes. Over 300 feet of the 800-foot pier crumbled into the river and with it a bit of waterfront’s mystique. Pier 57 served the great trans Atlantic ships of the French Line, including the luxurious Art Deco masterpieces Lafayette and Ile de France.

Fire Commissioner Frank J. Quayle ruled the blaze “suspicious but undoubtedly due to carelessness.” The fire started in creosote piles in oil-covered water underneath the pier about sixty feet from its western or river end, where two tugs worked.

Built by the city in 1907 at a cost of $1,200,000 the Grace Line leased it in 1939 for twenty years. The worst fire in the river’s history completely destroyed it, a loss of $5 million.

Within months the Department of Marine and Aviation planned to replace it with a fire and marine borer proof concrete and steel structure with a basement. No pier had ever had underwater storage before. This innovative concept, designed by noted architect and civil engineer Emil Praeger, consisted of three watertight concrete boxes which would support it instead of wood piles, the standard material used. The pier would rest on two boxes or pontoons, set end-to-end, measuring roughly 360 feet long, 82 feet wide and weighing 27,000 tons. The two boxes would connect to the third caisson, which at 19,000 tons and almost equal size supported the bulkhead and created a T-shape.

Praeger designed the rectangular floating breakwaters used by the Allies for the D-Day invasion in World War II. Years later Praeger also designed the Tappan Zee Bridge, the Nebraska State Capitol, Shea and LA Dodger Stadiums. He also renovated the Capitol in Washington.

Due to its size construction took place in an abandoned clay quarry turned lake near Haverstraw, New York about 38 miles north of the city along the Hudson.

Construction began August 1950. Two years later six tugboats, under the supervision of the Moran Towing Corporation, whose boats had worked the Hudson waters for generations, floated the first box down river. At 57 engineers filled it with water and sunk it, the first commercial effort employing the “float and sink” principle used by the Allies at Normandy. The two other boxes arrived a month later.

In December 1954 the new pier opened. At $12 million it far exceeded original estimates. It doubled the size of the old one and provided additional open space on the roof and basement storage for perishable goods. It also directed passenger traffic to unload in a third basement by the bulkhead where Passengers then proceeded to a huge receiving hall on the second level by elevators. Cargo trucks used a separate ramp to the second level.

Although its innovative design drew praise from the maritime and engineering world success proved short-lived. In less than ten years passenger travel and cargo shipping underwent massive change. Jet planes cut travel to Europe from days to hours and siphoned away business. Container shipping and the need for large tracts of land made the west side piers obsolete. In 1960 W.R. Grace Company sold its operations.

For the past four decades the MTA has used it for bus parking and a maintenance garage. During the Republican National convention in 2004 it became a detention center for protesters.

Pier 57, which is listed on the State and National Registers of Historical Places, sits in the middle of the Hudson River Park. It once symbolized elegance. It is now an eyesore and obstacle for thousands of walkers, bikers and joggers who use the park daily. On a negative note it became a detention center for protesters during the Republican National convention in 2004.

A makeover is in the works. Plans call for developing several acres and levels of public space for cultural and recreational uses, plus a public market and rooftop park. This summer the Hudson River Park Trust, the keeper of the Hudson River Park, accepted public comments for its redevelopment project. Old shipping containers are the special feature this time around.

For more information check the Hudson River Park Trust’s website .

     Runyonesque Character Left 
       Imprint on Times Square 

In a neighborhood full of colorful and zany characters William Kanafsky easily ranked at or near the top of any list. He possessed all the traits of a typical Damon Runyon character - a slick, racy, fast-talking, wisecracking wit. He packaged this with an attitude that said  "I'm going to verbally strip you down and embarrass you and have fun while you squirm."   
And he often did just that, in a tough-love way, to anyone who walked through the doors of his shop.

The final chapter of this Clinton story ended on March 11, 2001 when William Kanafsky died at St. Clare's Hospital. He was 58. He had lived and worked in Clinton and Times Square for over 25 years.

Few people knew his real name. He had more monikers than a character in a Runyon short story. Mention Wild Bill, Billy Kane, Colonel Finkelstein, White Willie, Billy Dancing Shoes, Billy Kanocker, The Bearded One, and then most everyone knew you were referring to Billy from the Manhattan Plaza Winery.

He managed the wine shop since 1985. When he first started there Clinton still had a hard edge, neighborhood in transition. Vacant stores, shoddy storefronts, dilapidated tenements, drugs, street prostitution and high crime created an unsafe feeling, especially late at night. Ninth Avenue did not enjoy the bustling restaurant and cafe buzz it has today.

Yet he took a struggling business and made it into one midtown’s best wine and spirits shop.

He saw change coming to Hell’s Kitchen. He hung out with everyone from hookers and hustlers at the Full Moon bar on Eight Avenue to the struggling actor’s, celebrities, and bankers who frequented the Film Center Café or the West Bank Cafe among a score of  local restaurants, bars and dives. He lived it up mightily and became friends with many, who in turn became his customers.

He had a knack for building a business. Prior to joining the Winery he managed Bernard's, a popular theater and late-night bistro on West 48th, a site now occupied by the Morgan Stanley building. There the clientele ranged from Broadway celebrities to professional athletes to the biggest names in porn. Of course many of the latter became “close” friends.

He chatted up actors Tony Roberts, Frank Langella, Nell Carter among others and wrestling's Andre the Giant and Greg Valentine. He honed his blatant descriptive sexual humor with the likes of Ron Jeremy, Candida Royale, Ginger Lynn and Danielle stars whose names draped the marquees of Time Square biggest porn venues.

"He was the funniest man outside of showbiz and definitely the most irreverent man I have ever known," said Jimmy Kissane, an actor who worked with him for thirteen years. "You couldn't even print his best stuff. He was a born comic. He had to get a laugh at any expense even if it made you boiling mad. You got mad but ten other people were on the floor laughing."

Born in Brooklyn, raised in Miami Beach, Mr. Kanafsky not only sold spirits but entertained customers with stories and one-liners usually laced with a sexual, racial and ethnic zings.

He loved talking about his "big" missed opportunity after his family returned to Brooklyn. "My mother's friend begged her to get me to take her daughter out. We went

to Erasmus Hall High School together. I couldn't be bothered. She was dumpy, fat and had a big Jewish nose, " he used to say (minus the expletives and sexually derogatory descriptions). But admitted "What an idiot I was." The girl was Barbra Streisand.

Everyday he had a new story. Once he complained of severe back pain but still described in X-rated detail his all-night romp with two dancers from the Melody, a Times Square strip club.

His spicy talk and raunchy humor shielded his "heart of gold" added Kissane." He was the first to dig into his pocket to help someone whether it was some dreg on hard times, a whore from one of his old haunts or a highbrow who ran short of money drinking or snorting coke the night before.”

His generosity touched houses of worship, block associations and theater groups. Several years ago, he coproduced, with Denzel Washington, a series of vignettes written and directed by the late O.L. Duke, an actor friend who had trouble financing his work.

In the early sixties he served in the Navy and did two patrols in the Mediterranean. His mother, Freda and sister Sandy, of Georgia; two sons, Burton, of California, and Marlon, of Oregon; and two grandchildren, survive him.

"If you rub up against money long enough, some of it may rub off on you," is a quote from Damon Runyon's "A Very Honourable Guy."  Runyon definitely had Billy Kanafsky in mind.


Photo: Billy Kanafsky, Kacy Duke (celebrity personal trainer) and two legitimate friends. 
Photo by Rudi Papiri

(END)

JOE ZITO: Walking The Beat With The Clinton/Hell's Kitchen Historian

Walk Ninth Avenue with Joe Zito and let him transport you back in time. How far back he takes you depends on the blocks and the buildings you pass. He can whisk you seventy, ninety, one hundred fifty years back in time. Mr. Zito is not a time traveler nor is he a magician but he is a master at unraveling the history of old buildings. When you see a dilapidated tenement built in the mid-eighteen hundreds, he sees craftsmanship and beauty underneath years of neglect.

Zito, a "lover of cities has studied architectural history almost forty years. Known as  "Clinton's Historian" after the New York City neighborhood where he resides, Zito has written a column for the local community newspaper The Clinton Chronicle since 1999. Clinton or Hell's Kitchen is a one-time rough neighborhood stretching from 34th to 59th Streets. When Zito first started researching the area's buildings and history few visitors ventured west of Eight Avenue.

He has conducted walking tours, lectures and slide shows at the Brooklyn Museum, The Municipal Arts Society, NYU, community centers, and The New York Public Library branches at the Science, Industry and Business on West 34th at Madison Avenue, and at Columbus near 51st street on Tenth Avenue. He often lectured at the old Donnell branch and once gave an excellent lecture comparing London and New York architecture.

He has led tours in downtown Brooklyn and in Manhattan from the Financial District to Harlem. "I have taken groups to Kleindeutschland. Few people know where that is," Zito, laughed referring to what was once the third largest German speaking community in the world, located from 14th to Houston, to the East River.

Three years ago I stood along traffic clogged Ninth Avenue with Zito, then 95 years old. Unfazed by the sweltering heat of this late August afternoon, layered with exhaust fumes from vans and buses blocking the intersection in front of us Zito, who packs more energy and enthusiasm than people half his age walked over two miles that day, and unveiled his secret world of sculptured faces, angels, winged-lions, nymphs, arched serpents, renaissance arches, Victorian turrets all of which decorate buildings in Clinton. He also offered answers to buildings I often stopped to admire but knew nothing about. He praised the beauty of two buildings he saw for the first time while taking a mental snapshot of their location and architectural details. Within a week Zito would know everything about these buildings.

He rhapsodizes poetically on these forgotten gems. The wail of emergency vehicle sirens and the deafening sounds generated by the construction sites we passed did not distract him from talking about Florentine palazzos, and Greek mythology, images he uses to describe his buildings.

Zito became interested in architecture near the end of his thirty-year NYPD career. Vacations to Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago and Washington with Joan, his late wife of 55 years, spurred his interest. "We planned trips as vacation/learning experiences. We studied architecture and cultural history," he said. "I learned how style connects with history."

Walking and his keen attention to detail harken back to his days as a beat patrolman in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. He also worked in the police commissioner's office and the detective's division. Rising to the rank of Captain, he served briefly at the 16th Precinct on West 47th, now Ramon Aponte Playground. A modest man he downplayed his last post as commander of 200 personnel at a Staten Island precinct. "We rescued a lot of cats from trees," he said. "I felt like a sheriff in a small town."

He grew up in Brooklyn and attended New Utrecht High, then graduated from Fordham University during the depression. "There were no jobs. Times were tough," he said. He got a job as a rewrite man and copyreader for a racing newspaper. "I read for mistakes,” he said. "And The Encyclopedia of New York has plenty."

When the paper he worked for in Boston folded Zito joined the NYPD. After retiring in 1972 he took art and literature classes at NYU and assisted his professors with class tours. He has lectured ever since. When he moved to Clinton 23 years ago Napoleon LeBrun's Sacred Heart of Jesus Roman Catholic Church on 51^st street just off Tenth Avenue street first captured his attention. "The deep red brick blends beautifully with the terra cotta and light-colored stone arches," he said.

His late daughter, Donna, a nurse at Roosevelt Hospital, told him about St. Mary the Virgin Episcopal Church on West 46^th east of Seventh Avenue. Designed by Pierre LeBrun, Napoleon’s son, Zito applauds the use of ornamental brick and terra cotta figures on the facade.

Zito specialty is pre-law tenements. Two of his favorites are the 1886 Werner building, #787 Ninth Avenue, home of the  "Green Men" - the four stone masks of Greek mythology that adorn the building’s second floor. Years of neglect have tarnished its grandeur. "It is as beautiful a building as you will find on Fifth or Park Avenues." Zito said. The second is Stanford White's elegant 1887 Wanaque (photo r), a French Flat, and forerunner to the apartment house,  a residence used 
by Fountain House.

When asked how he prepares, Zito replied, "I visit the sight, I read extensively and I research.  He added, "I remember what a brilliant policewoman once said  'review, review, review.'" 
I never skim the surface. I enjoy digging deep. It helps to have a

passion for what you do."

Please visit Joe Zito’s blog: http://joezitonyc.blogspot.com/

Photo top: Joe Zito standing in front of the site of  Stillman's  gym - 300 West 55th St. - where Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano and others trained.

Photo bottom: Wanaque - 359 West 47th St.  Photos by Rudi Papiri

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