Casa Latina, East Harlem, NYC

Casa Latina on 116th Street in East Harlem aka El Barrio was founded in 1948 by Puerto Rican musician Bartolo Alvarez. It is the longest running Latin 🎶 Music store in the area and the nation’s first Spanish language music store. 

We visited Casa Latina to say hi to owner, Vicente Barreiro (2nd photo) as walked around East Harlem to help support the many small businesses in this lively neighborhood, many of which are family owned and operated.  

• To watch our East Harlem livestream and subscribe to our JamesandKarla YouTube channel, see direct link below & in bio and IG story. 

• Full livestream video: https://youtu.be/u5KVUlgcP2s

Capri Bakery on 116th Street in East Harlem

Capri Bakery on 116th Street in East Harlem was founded in 1984 and specializes in elaborately decorated cakes 🍰 for every occasion but also serves Cuban breads and sandwiches, pastelitos de guava (guava pastry) and a large variety of cookies. 

Yesterday, we visited Capri Bakery and walked around East Harlem to help support the many small businesses in this lively neighborhood, many of which are family owned and operated. 

• To watch our East Harlem livestream and subscribe to our JamesandKarla YouTube channel, see direct link below & in bio and IG story. 

•Full livestream video:  https://youtu.be/u5KVUlgcP2s

Yesterday was the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Asian holiday also known as the Moon Festival or Mooncake Festival, which celebrates the brightest and fullest moon 🌝 of the year as well as the Fall harvest.

In China, the holiday is celebrated similar to Thanksgiving with families gathering for a meal accompanied by lantern lighting. To celebrate the annual #mooncakefestival yesterdayday, we visited the family-owned Golden Fung Wong Bakery on Mott Street in Chinatown to purchase #mooncakes 🥮 which are round pastries traditionally filled with red bean or lotus seed paste wrapped around a salted egg yolk that symbolizes the moon and gives them a sweet and savory flavor. The #mooncake is then pressed into molds to emboss the top with elaborate designs. Fung Wong is one of the few bakeries in New York City which sells mooncakes year-round as well as other #Chinese pastries and cookies.  

• To watch our livestream visit to Chinatown and see our “Mooncake Battle” where we try mooncakes from three different bakeries, please subscribe to our JamesandKarla YouTube channel, see direct link below & in bio and IG story. 

• Full video livestream: https://youtu.be/gnphZmA7Yjo

With the official end to the summer season approaching on September 22nd, we are highlighting today a #vintage “Tillie” amusement park “fun face” #neonsign.

Tillie is the nickname of George C. Tilyou, the owner of Steeplechase Park in Coney Island, which featured the “Steeplechase Face” a grinning face signage.  

• We were lucky enough to visit in our NYC Neon & Vintage Filled Apartment Tour, the neon and vintage collectible-filled 1,300 square foot loft apartment on the Bowery in New York City of our channel supporter Chris G. and highlight many of the amazing items he and his partner Gerry have on display. (Swipe left for 2nd photo of the Tillie sign on display inside his loft). 

• To watch our NYC Apartment Tour to see the Tillis’s sign glowing brightly, please subscribe to our JamesandKarla YouTube channel, see direct link below & in bio and IG story. • 

Full video: https://youtu.be/zvfxhXUBGQA

View of the 95th Annual Feast of San Gennaro in the Little Italy 🇮🇹 of Manhattan from the Ferris Wheel 🎡 Ride on Grand Street near Mulberry.

The Feast of San Gennaro remains one of the largest and most popular street fairs in New York City, as well as a way to preserve Italian American culture. It was cancelled last year due to the pandemic, so it was wonderful to see it back again! Last evening, we not only walked the length of the @sangennaronyc  Feast but took a fun ride on the #ferriswheel with our Service Dog 🐕‍🦺 Hudson who absolutely loved the views! 

• To watch us ride the Ferris Wheel at the #sangennaro Feast during our livestream tour and see all the #Italianfood , rides and games at the Feast this year, please subscribe to our JamesandKarla YouTube channel, see direct link below & in bio and IG story. 

• Full video livestream: https://youtu.be/YFHSzYvCwOo

Rocky’s Italian Restaurant on Spring Street at the corner of Mulberry in Little Italy 🇮🇹 of Manhattan, was in business for over 30 years before closing in 2011.

We were fortunate enough to not only photograph the restaurant in 2009 for our book “New York Nights” but to also interview the owner, Emma Caserta who told us that she was forced to close her family’s restaurant after the “lease was not renewed” & she sadly could not continue to serve their “homestyle Italian dishes after being born and raised on Mulberry Street.” 

We do have some good news to share in that we recently discovered where the amazing #neonsign for Rocky’s ended up. It was saved by the chef, Chris G. who worked right next door to the restaurant and is proudly displayed inside his loft apartments the Bowery.  

• In our NYC Neon & Vintage Filled Apartment Tour, we visit the neon and vintage collectible-filled 1,300 square foot loft apartment on the Bowery in New York City of our channel supporter Chris G. and highlight many of the amazing items he and his partner Gerry have on display. 

• To watch our NYC Apartment Tour to see the Rocky’s sign glowing brightly, please subscribe to our JamesandKarla YouTube channel, see direct link below & in bio and IG story. • https://youtu.be/zvfxhXUBGQA

Did you know that New York City was literally built from Oyster 🦪 Shells?

When Henry Hudson arrived in what is now New York City in 1609, there were approximately 350 square miles of oyster reefs in the harbor and its surrounding waters, which contained nearly half of the world’s oyster population. As the city expanded, many of the buildings including Trinity Church in Lower Manhattan near the World Trade Center depended on the burning of oyster shells for lime. 

While thinking about the importance of oysters to NYC, we are highlighting “The Famous Oyster Bar” on 7th Avenue at West 54th Street which was founded in 1959 and continued to be operated by the same family until it closed in 2014. It’s bright red #neonsignage was saved and now hangs at the Grey Lady restaurant and oyster bar restaurant on Delancey Street in the Lower East Side.