Have you ever been to Ellis Island?

Can't you catch TB there?

Yes! It is great fun, and the Immigration Museum is excellent. I've been three times over the years (It was closed after 9-11 and for a long while after Hurricane Sandy). I can't imagine not enjoying it.

I love the Immigration Museum. In lieu of a REAL Italian-American museum in NYC, it is quite fascinating.

Worth it? We gloated the entire time knowing we're from old, wealthy, pioneering families. Smirkin'. Used the Statue of Liberty as a stair master. Ass looked gorgeous and juicy on the ferry ride back.

R3, be cuz Gina and Nunzia could neva sha powuh even at da feast in Septembuh!

R5, that probably essentially sums it up. The LA Italian Museum finally opened about 15 years later than it was supposed to because of "disagreements..." Still, you would think my paisans in NYC would have come up with something better than that tiny hole in the wall on Mulberry Street by now.

Is there an Irish American Museum?

A Norwegian American Museum?

Chicago has a lovely Polish-American museum. I'm sure Boston has some Irish heritage museum. You would think NYC, with the largest Italian population, would have something nicer than a place that tried to evict an elderly Italian lady...

I loved it, too, OP!

Fascinating. I've been twice. My grandparents (mom's side) and great-grandparents (dad's) entered the U.S. through there, so it's a bit of family history.

Composer Meredith Monk made this haunting (and occasionally wry) film when it was still in ruins.

I went in the early 1980s before it underwent its renovation. But it was very interesting. Not sure what remains from the time I visited but there were big paint chips with many layers on the floor and I took some as a souvenir. Now they probably have TB. That was probably a felony so shhhh. I still have them somewhere.

My Italian grandmother came through NY but entered the US in Philadelphia so unsure what admissions she went through in NYC. My grandfather came over on a passport to continue university here. He was a communist and his family was worried he'd get arrested so they sent him here, I guess to lie low. Which he did not do. For whatever reasons he didn't physically go through Ellis Island, a doctor came to his stateroom aboard ship and they had port or sherry, a brief conversation and that was it. I imagine he was able to determine whether my grandfather was mentally or physically decificient during his visit.

My grandfather went on to join the Amercian communist party and organize unions. Naughty boy.

Uh, that was "deficient". ^^^

[quote] how does NYC of all places not have a decent Italian-American museum?

Too many opinions and too many hands trying to make one tray of lasagne!

Ellis Island? Oh, dear god. No, not our kind at all.

No it's not really worth it. I guess if you're time has no value it's OK. The problem is they modernized it so it doesn't look like anything your ancestors would've been through. Alcatraz on the other hand is all run down and you can still see what the prisoners lived in.

I will say the Island isn't much but the boat trip to the island is nice. Great views.

"I guess if you're time has no value"

You're Englis'h has no valu'e, so you're opin'ion is use'less, dum'b shi't.

did they do mandatory ballsack checks on all of the single Italian, Jewish and Eastern European young male immigrants, and if so, is there a special exhibit dedicated to this?

No, but my grandparents were there. Evidently, their names are on The American Immigrant Wall of Honor. One day, when I go to New York, I'll look for their names.

R11, was your grandfather Italian, as well?

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Interesting:-

[quote]The Foundation then turned its attention to the restoration of Ellis Island — [bold]the largest historical restoration in the history of the United States.[/bold]

Definitely worth a visit.

I went last year and the ferry trips were a pain in the ass. It is easy to get there from NY. However, from JC, you have to take two ferries with a long-ass walk between ferry 1 and 2. Also, don't get me started on the rude tourists.

Once there, Ellis is fine. Very expensive, but worth 1 trip. I would never climb to the top of the statue though -it sounds claustrophobic and exhausting. The museum and gift shops are interesting.

Ellis Island is wonderful! They did a great job making it into a museum.

You can go online and check the roster of people who came through Ellis Island to see if any relatives did

[quote]However, from JC, you have to take two ferries with a long-ass walk between ferry 1 and 2.

You have a long ass? & what's JC?

[quote]Chicago has a lovely Polish-American museum.

Really? I though Johnson's Wax was from Racine.

[quote]Once there, Ellis is fine. Very expensive, but worth 1 trip. I would never climb to the top of the statue though

What statute are you talking about?

r17

what kind of a psychopath goes all apeshit over your vs you're in this day and age with autocorrect.

The guy's post was 100% correct. What did he blow your stupid ass comment out of the water?

I can't believe there's no Italian-American museum in New York City, of all places.

[quote]What statute are you talking about?

The statute of limitations, Rose!

There's no Italian-American museum because of the huge dispute that arose regarding how to display pasta draining techniques.

There is an Italian-American museum in Manhattan. It is just not very good.

Can you Eyetalians please start a second thead, "I can't believe there is no Italian Museum in NYC?!!". Must you hijack a thread and make it all about you?

LOL! R34 is quite triggered by a simple comment!

Just for that, I will add that the Italian-American Museum on Mulberry Street, just like the "Little Italy" there, is geared entirely towards tourists these days. The real Little Italy is Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, and they should put a museum there.

And speaking of Mulberry Street, I've always loved this photo, enhanced in color.

Interesting.

Did they make good lasagna on Ellis Island?

R29, aka R15, you're a shit-pile of "Oh, dear."

" what kind of a psychopath goes all apeshit over your vs you're in this day and age with autocorrect."

It's auto-CORRECT, not Auto-Fuck Up.

Any phone or word processing app would get it right. You, aka the idiot in question, typed the previous sentence with four errors. can you find them? Probably not.

"The guy's post was 100% correct."

No, 'you're' should have been 'your,' you idiot.

Example: You're a stupid idiot, R15. Your comment is stupid, R29.

Do you comprehend the difference? No, because YOUR reading and typing skills are deficient. YOU'RE dumb.

"What did he blow your stupid ass comment out of the water? "

Perhaps you'd like to give that unintelligible sentence another try, you cement-headed cretin? Do you even type, or just blather whatever comes into your fat head directly to Voice-to-Text? Are your fat little fingers even able to type?

Is THIS what they toiled for? >>

[quote]Perhaps you'd like to give that unintelligible sentence another try, you cement-headed cretin? Do you even type, or just blather whatever comes into your fat head directly to Voice-to-Text? Are your fat little fingers even able to type?

If you haven't seen Hester Street, you must give it a chance.

The whole thing's on YT now.

This thread = why there is no Italian-American museum in NYC!!

Keep the museum in Manhattan, R35, and improve it. Ain't nobody going to the f'ing Bronx to visit a museum!

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Can't you be good fucking Catholics for 15 minutes?????

Yes and yes. I really enjoyed the experience.

Another place I really enjoyed visiting was the Tenement Museum.

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[quote]bump

Some people just love trouble, don't they?

I thought the Italian-American museum on Mulberry was charming..

Were Irish-Americans a big proportion of the immigrants here?

R50, no.

Ellis Island primarily means Italians and Jews.

Not gonna post.

Jewish NYers, meanwhile, have an excellent museum...

English NYers, in the meantime? Nothing.

I think they still hate us, underneath all that "I LURVE your accent!" bullshit.

Italian-Americans don't needa museum. NYC history and culture is Italian-American culture..

That pizza does look fucking good!

R3, thank you. Joseph Scelsa who runs the Italian -American Museum in Little Italy tried to evict an 85-year-old Italian-American woman who's lived in the building since long before it was a museum.

R20, yes my paternal grandfather was also Italian.

My maternal Irish ancestors came to NYC around 1860. I have no idea how immigration worked then. My maternal German ancestors came here around 1700 and, again, no idea how that worked. They settled up in Dutchess County, NY.

My Irish grandparents came through Ellis Island. I guess their grandparents survived the famine. They were such a source of negativity, I didn't like being around them.

I can't find my Austrian grandfather in the Ellis Island search tool. He came over around the same time, I think (very early 20th c.)

[quote]I can't find my Austrian grandfather in the Ellis Island search tool. He came over around the same time, I think (very early 20th c.)

If you are sure he came in through NYC, try name variations and spellings. The facility at Ellis Island opened in 1892. Prior to that, the entry point was "Castle Garden" and there are records for those entries as well.

Perhaps he came in through another port. Some other large ports were Philadelphia, Boston and Baltimore. Some people took ships to Canada and crossed the border into the US.

The 1900 US Census had a question asking when each person entered the USA. Check out your grandfather's census record and check the date. (Warning: People didn't always tell the truth or remember the date. People were not as fixated on exact dates as we are now.)

You should be able to access Ancestry.com at your local Public Library for free. Ancestry has immigration records for several ports as well as the census records.

Castle Garden handled immigration through the port of New York starting in 1820 and ending when Ellis Island opened in 1892.

Here is a link to their database:

R50

[quote] Were Irish-Americans a big proportion of the immigrants here?

Here is a year by year list of statistics of immigrants through Ellis Island:

Because r3, there isn't anything DECENT about Italian Americans!!

What's the difference between a tenement and a normal apartment building? Number of floors? No running water? 1 bathroom per hall? What was the difference?

They should turn the museum into a hotel and add a bunch of sand to make a beach. And a golf course. And a bar and restaurant and charge a 200K membership fee.

R6, I've been to the Italian-American Museum in LA. It definitely took them some time to open up, but it's open now, and it is nice!

I think Ellis Island is interesting. It's not Disneyland-like fun, since much of the story of of immigrants involves tough ocean voyages, illness, and escape of persecution, famine, etc. However, your time there will be enlightening and may deepen your respect for your ancestors.

I'd recommend skipping the Statue of Liberty. You can see the Statue well from Ellis Island, and there's not much to do at the Statue except walk around it, possibly wait in a long line to go into it, and browse the gift shop. It's touristy/commercial, which Ellis Island is not.

I was there a number of years ago (before Hurricane Sandy) and found it very moving.

Two of my grandparents came through in 1906 and other relatives throughout the years.

I liked the display of photographs of the immigrants - one was a long line of little girls, obviously all from different places, all standing together. They all looked very serious, except one, who had a big smile on her face. As if to say, "Hey, we made it!"

There was also a display of loaned items that had been brought through by immigrants. The choices people made and their reasons. One very large samovar, for example (imagine carrying that along on such a journey). I also remember a lovely set of hand embroidered sheets and bed linens brought through by a woman from Scandanavia who was headed for a farm in Minnesota or the Dakotas. The note from her daughter, who loaned the items, said that her mother only used the sheets when she was having her baby. She wanted the doctor to know that she had nice things.

You shut your pie-hole R63. Italian-Americans have contributed quite a bit to the food culture, pop culture, and yes, the character of NYC and the tri-state area.

You tell her, gurl!!

And what would America be without the mafia or the Godfather trilogy?

None of my antecedents came through there so I have no interest from a personal viewpoint, but from an historical aspect, it'd probably be interesting.

LUV the pictures of the immigration personnel button-hooking the poor immigrants' eyelids!

I bet they found a shit ton of parmiagano-reggiano under the foreskin of those Italian men's hoods.

.

Many of our maids came from Ellis Island.

One of those maids should have poisoned Barbara.

I eat poison for breakfast, dear.

Barbara Bush spews poison from her pussy...

So is there an Italian-American Museum in NYC yet? :-P

You know there is R80.

I know, R81. I was just making fun of the 20 times this question has been repeated on the thread!

i got the hell outta there, had better things to do

.

Yes I have. I walked all the way to the top. I also found my grandmother's paternal uncle in the list of immigrants you could look up there, by first and last name.

r19, the Wall of Honor is a bit of a joke. It simply means someone in your family made a donation to the foundation restoring Ellis Island in the name of your ancestors. They did not check to see if the people actually came through Ellis Island, nor did they verify whether names were spelled correctly. My great-grandfather is listed by his Americanized name of James instead of his true Italian birth name. His correct given name was listed on his legal documents, passenger lists (he came through Ellis Island three times over the years before he finally stayed for good) and his naturalization papers.