Pasadena to Brooklyn Via Route 66-How Plans Can Change-During the 50'S and 60'S

By J W Gallo

A "Coming of Age Story/Drama". Vince, who grew up on the streets of Brooklyn, New York during the 1940's and 1950's, moves to California.

After arriving he enters high school, where he encounters harassment from four boys. They were making derogatory statements about his nationality and asked Vince, if he was in the Mafia, since he was Sicilian. His father tells him about the Mafia and how it played a role in their lives.

At one point Vince makes a vow to return to Brooklyn. In 1961 he makes a Road Trip from Pasadena to Brooklyn via Route 66. Once he makes it to Brooklyn, he ends up staying for three months. During which time he rekindles a love interest with an old girlfriend.

He finds out how much the Mafia was a part of the lives of people he knows, mainly the girl he falls in love with.

Vince decides to return to California because of an ongoing conflict he was having with a candidate running for Assemblyman. Just before leaving he is confronted by his future fiances' father. He threatens Vince by telling him that his daughter better not leave Brooklyn. Vince doesn't know that he is a Mafioso.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Dec 14, 2010
• ISBN: 9781450277679

J W Gallo

My background is General Contractor, Quality Control for single family housing from Coast to Coast and a Writer. I've seen a lot over the years and wanted to put it into book form. I live in California and have been working for a number of years on putting this book together.

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Copyright © 2009 by J W GALLO

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This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

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ISBN: 978-1-4502-7756-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4502-7767-9 (ebk)

Printed in the United States of America

iUniverse rev. date: 12/08/2010

Contents

*INTRODUCTION*

* Chapter 1 *

* Chapter 2 *

* Chapter 3 *

* Chapter 4 *

* Chapter 5 *

* Chapter 6 *

* Chapter 7 *

* Chapter 8 *

* Chapter 9 *

* Chapter 10 *

* Chapter 11 *

* Chapter 12 *

* Chapter 13 *

* Chapter 14 *

* Chapter 15 *

 *

INTRODUCTION*

This multi - faceted story is about an American-born youth of Sicilian/Italian heritage. Vince Marsali, was born in Brooklyn, New York. His parents were born in Sicily, Italy. His father’s family came from a town to the west of the city of Palermo named Castellamare Del Gulfo, and his mother came from Villa Grazia, Palermo.

The story starts with his family making a move from Brooklyn to California. Vince’s father and sister were the first to leave by car on their trip westward. It was in the first week of January, 1955 when the adventure starts. Vince and his mother were left behind, until further notice from Vince’s father. As the story progresses, there will be flashbacks to periods in time of Vince’s childhood growing up in Brooklyn, and New Jersey.

It will not only show what a young boy had to deal with at that period in time, which was during the later part of the 1940’s up until 1961, but also the ethnic complications and harassment he encounters. His traditional and cultural values made his life somewhat intriguing, complex and confrontational during this period.

The story depicts how this teenager growing up on the streets of Brooklyn had restrictions on what neighborhoods he could go into. Then in California, he has to adapt to a completely different environment and lifestyle. In Brooklyn it was mainly asphalt and concrete and neighborhoods consisting of row-type housing which were mainly walk-ups. The buildings were anywhere from three to four stories in height, having concrete stoops or steps at their entry with wrought iron handrails. The front yards were mainly of concrete with the building’s trash cans located somewhere within that space. They were usually very small spaces with no landscaping whatsoever. Each block had enough people to be considered a small town. The makeup of the people who lived on his block, were mainly European, a mixture of Italian, Irish, Polish and German. There were so many kids within his age group that there was a never ending opportunity for companionship. Vince would soon find out how different it was in California. He would also find out the great difference in climate between the east coast and the west coast.

As a young teenager he never really was exposed to what was going on behind the scenes with some of the adults he knew. In time when he would make his return road trip to Brooklyn, he would be exposed to the workings behind the scene, but for now this transplanted teenager was going to be experiencing a completely new environment in every way conceivable.

In California, there were one and two story detached houses. They had beautifully landscaped front yards and rear yards. There were tree-lined streets, no visible trash cans, and an abundance of parking spaces, swaying palm trees, beautiful vistas of mountains, quiet streets and neighborhoods. It would take him a long time to get accustomed to the scarcity of children in the neighborhoods.

He was also coming into a whole new type of school system with structures that were one story with a campus that has landscaping, a football field and much more. In Brooklyn the parochial school he went to was a multi story brick building, which was over a Catholic church. The public school buildings were three stories high, with asphalt playgrounds behind the buildings and had 8 foot high chain-link fencing around the playground.

In the beginning he would encounter harassment and ethnic slurs, since he was Sicilian, and because he came from Brooklyn. In time he would acclimate to both the surroundings and the kids in high school and outside of school. Unbeknownst to him, this would take time and some confrontations. At one point he makes a vow to himself that when he finishes school, he would make a trip to Brooklyn and visit his old neighborhood and friends. But sometimes dreams have a way of not turning out as you plan them. He would find this out after returning to Brooklyn in the summer of 1961.

One segment of this book takes you on a road trip back to Brooklyn, by way of Route 66. It was the first continuous highway from Chicago to Los Angeles, California. It was commissioned to start construction in the early part of the 1920’s.

The trip would not only get Vince back to the East Coast, but it also ends up becoming a nightmare, and a learning experience that would stay with him for years to come.

Things that he never expected to come about, places him in a completely different situation than he had planned on, including a doorway into Organized Crime and how the Mafia had affected his mother and father. This would also severely alter his life. This happens when Vince’s plans take a 180 degree turn in direction, where in the process he rekindles a love interest with a girl that he knew before leaving Brooklyn. Little does Vince know that this relationship would contribute to his exposure and confrontation with a well known member of one of the local crime families?

At certain intervals in this story you will find vignettes of historical facts that will give you insight into that part of the country, city or borough that Vince passes thought and/or stays in.

 * Chapter 1 *

It was a bitterly cold January morning in the mid-nineteen fifties in Brooklyn, New York. Ten or twelve inches of snow covered Brooklyn, with that beautiful white stuff. It was 5:00 a.m. as the Marsali family exited their home making their way to their 1951 two door Chevrolet coupe to find it buried in the snow.

When it snows in New York, they send out the snowplows to clear the streets for traffic. This in turn buries all the parked cars and trucks under a mound of snow, leaving it impossible to get into your vehicle. This also creates a big problem in trying to get out of your parking space. You had to shovel your way out. Vince was thirteen years old going on fourteen and was not sure of what was really taking place.

The morning was dark and cold, with snow flurries. The temperature was about 15 to 20 degrees. They all looked at each other. Dad said, Let’s start moving. I would like to pack the car and hit the road by sunrise.

That started the arduous chore of first having to remove all the snow from the car and all four sides of the car. Yes, you’re right, that was Vince’s assignment. This way his father would have enough room to maneuver the car easily out of the space. Especially with a car that was going to be packed full of a lot of items.

After fifteen to twenty minutes of digging, Vince’s feet, hands and nose were ready to fall off. He never did like shoveling snow, but for some reason he never had a problem playing in it!

As he looked up, he saw a row of boxes coming his way, with his father saying, Work faster, I want to leave as soon as possible.

His sister, Gina helped him while both of his parents started loading the boxes into the car, beginning with the trunk and then inside the car, leaving just enough room for his father and sister. By the time the car was totally packed, the front of the car was at least four to five inches higher than it normally was, and the rear of the car was nearly touching the pavement.

The 1951 Chevrolet had a lot more room both inside the car and also in the trunk. They were mainly taking their clothes and some things required to get established in California.

After two hours of running back and forth from the house to the car, the moment was upon them. A different type of excitement and tension came upon the four Marsalis.

As Vince looked over at his mother, he saw a glaze starting to come over her eyes. Tears started forming as her emotions started to take over. His sister and he looked at each other, with the look of total uncertainty. What was going to happen to their family?

Once the tension of the moment had passed, his father went to his mother, held her in his arms and said that if things did not work out because of Gina’s health, they would be back. His sister had a bad case of asthma, and his parents did not know how California’s climate would affect her. He told Vince’s mother that he would want to try it out for at least two months. Within those two months they would find a place to live. He already had some job interviews set up, so he felt that finding a job would not be a problem. It all depended on whether or not Gina could acclimate to the new environment. When the two month trial period was over and Gina was okay, he would send for Vince. At that point, his mother would have the full responsibility to handle not only the packing of everything they owned, but to also get a moving company and to place the house up for sale. This meant that she could not join them until she sold the house and closed escrow.

The house was a three story walk up in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn. They were living on the first floor, which included the entire basement area, which was used as a recreation room with an area for storage. The second and third floors were rented out to tenants. Vince always thought of the movie, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, mainly because they had the only living tree in front of their house within a five block radius.

At that point, his father and sister said goodbye. They got into the car and put the car in motion. His father maneuvered the car back and forth until he was able to get it free from the tight parking space. His mother and Vince were standing beneath the only lonely tree on the block watching his father pull out with the tailpipe steaming, the rear of the car almost touching the ground, and the front pointing at California. When the car was out of sight, Vince and his mother made their way back to the house. As they approached the front door, his mother’s emotions became unraveled. Being a young teenager who had just finished seeing his father and sister leave, and now seeing his mother emotionally breaking down, he was very disturbed and confused, especially because he had always seen his mother as a strong person and the main disciplinarian.

They went into their living/dining room, and he tried to console her by telling her that she still had him. He didn’t know if that was of any great help, for he knew that he could never have replaced his father! At that point, he felt that it would be best to leave his mother alone. He went to his room and lay on his bed trying to put his thoughts together on what had just transpired. His bedroom was the second room in from the living room. Their home was considered a four room flat, meaning there were just two rooms that had windows. The front room was off the street and the rear room (that being the living room) was adjacent to the kitchen and off the back yard.

His room was somewhat dark since he didn’t put his light on and it was early in the morning. He lay there thinking about things that had happened to him over the years as a kid growing up in Brooklyn during the 1940’s and 1950’s, in a comfortable and loving traditional Sicilian/Italian family, having really nothing to complain about. They had moved into the present house approximately three years ago. In that period of time, he made a good number of friends. This was just within his block. Plus, they were not far from their family members, most were within walking distance. Walking was an accepted means of getting from one point to another. You would do it without a second thought.

Back in those days, families were quite different then they are today. The family unit was much closer, not only geographically, but also socially and emotionally. They were more closely tied together even if there were some individual disagreements between family members. Vince and his cousins got along very well. They were totally unaware of any problems that may have existed between any aunts or uncles since they were too busy doing their own thing. Their minds were on having fun or trying to find something to do in order to create their own fun. Whatever may have been going on, the family unit was the most important thing. His parents, aunts and uncles related more to family members then to friends. His father had two very close friends that he knew since elementary school. One of them even became Vince’s godfather for his confirmation. They had many things in common: nationality, religion, tradition and family values. They were all fun loving people. This was the cement that kept them friends for a very long time. Basically they were considered family.

A lot of these things were commonplace in the five boroughs of New York City mainly during the first half of the 1900’s. Then, family members started relocating in order to get out of the city. The children were growing up and going out on their own. Plus, the complexion of the neighborhoods were changing due to the influx of people from different cultures, traditions, and religions. To compound the problems, they came into already crowded areas making living conditions difficult.

As for Vince, a majority of his experiences left him with fond memories. He might be somewhat biased in his opinions, not being familiar with life in other cities across the United States during that period of time.

He lay on his bed with all of these things going through his mind. They were moving! Not like in the past just a couple of miles to the east, but 2,800 miles to the west right to the Pacific Ocean. Away from family, friends and everything he grew up with in Brooklyn. At that moment he could understand what his mother was feeling. The telephone started ringing and one after another each family member called to inquire if his father had left for California, most of them hoping that he had changed his mind, for they knew once he left more than likely they would all leave.

Being a teenager, Vince was engrossed in his own world. That being he was not aware of what was truly going on with a few of his father’s family members. His main concern was his immediate family in which he felt very loved and secure. Also he did not realize that his father had wanted to go to California ever since he was twelve years old (maybe a premature version of the ‘fight or flight syndrome’).

When his father was twelve he lived in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. This area had a heavy concentration of Sicilians that were from a city in Sicily called Castellamare del Gulfo. One night he climbed out onto the fire escape that was on the front of his building and made his way to the street where three of his friends were waiting, each with a sack over his shoulder containing their clothes. They started walking to the Williamsburg Bridge, off to California.

It was approximately 1:00 a.m. and they were halfway across the bridge when a car pulled up along side the four boys. There were two plain- clothed cops in the car. As the car rolled alongside them, the cop in the passenger seat started talking to the boys. He asked them general questions like, Where are you boys headed for at this time of the morning? Where do you come from? How old are you? After awhile, the four boys, being kids and gullible, were asked if they would like a ride part of the way to California. Well of course the answer was, ‘Yes!’ All four of them got into the backseat of the car. Immediately the cops made a u-turn at the first island break on the bridge. Knowing where all the boys lived, they delivered each of them back home. That brought to an end Vince’s father’s venture until he was forty-two years old. (Now his father was on his way to California, leaving them there in Brooklyn, not knowing what the future had in store for them.)

Lying in his bed looking up at the ceiling, an overwhelming sense of uncertainty came over Vince. How was this going to affect his family? At that point he decided to get up and go outside to spend time with his friends. He went into the kitchen, his mother was making lunch. She had a unique way of making Italian bread taste like heaven. She would get a round loaf of bread, then cut it in half from side to side. Lay both pieces of bread with the cut sides face up. She would spread the oil from the anchovy over the bread, than lay strips of anchovy on top of that, with a coating of olive oil. As a finish topping she added mozzarella cheese. Both halves would be put into the oven until the cheese would melt. That was their lunch.

He told his mother he was going outside for awhile. He asked her if that was okay, under the circumstances. She replied, Go play with your friends.

In no time he was out on the street looking for two of his best friends. Johnny was the tallest and biggest of the trio. He was of German heritage, and Vic was the smallest of the group and he was Sicilian/Italian. That was one of the greatest things about growing up in Brooklyn. You always had someone to hang around with at any time of the day. There were so many kids on the block. So if you could not find someone in your area (the middle of the block), all you had to do was either go down or up the block, and you would find someone to play with.

Vince’s friends wanted to know if his father had left for California. He told them that he had left around 6:30 a.m. At that moment, he wondered if his father was out of New York and how far he had traveled. For in Vince’s lifetime, there were only two times that he had traveled outside the confines of the five boroughs of New York City. One trip was to see family in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where his father lived when he was young. The other time was to New Jersey. They had lived there for seven months. So for his father to be traveling 2,800 miles across the United States was difficult for him to visualize. He spent the remainder of the day outside with Johnny and Vic until his mother called him in for dinner. When he did go in for dinner, he felt that it would be best for him to remain inside, for it had been a trying day for both his mother and him.

After dinner he tried watching the television, but there were too many things going through his mind. So he decided to get cleaned up and go to bed. After getting into bed, he found it difficult to fall asleep. It felt strange knowing that there was just his mother and him in the house. What were his father and sister doing? Were they okay? It took some time for him to fall asleep, because he started thinking back as far as he could remember. He never understood the reason why they would move approximately every two years. They would relocate just about two miles to the east of where they had been living. At that moment he realized that his parents were just trying to have them live in a better environment. The move would always take place when the complexion of the neighborhood would start changing for the worse. The crime rate would start to increase, and people that you had many things in common with such as traditional values, religion, nationality, pride of ownership, etc. would start to move away.

There was a time right after World War II when they moved out of Brooklyn. Vince’s father bought a small grocery store in a small town just the other side of Manhattan, Cliffside, New Jersey just a couple of miles from the Hudson River. The store had a living area in the rear. Unfortunately, their stay there was just about seven months. His father was approached by the local crime family. They wanted to use their living quarters for a book- making operation, because the store would act as a good front for their business. Plus, there were three means of egress out of the building, one being to the rear alley.

They approached his father twice and both times his father’s response was, No! They surprisingly did not hurt his father or the family, but within four months after their final meeting, his parents were out of business and out of money. They had to sell the store in order to pay off their debts. This was just the beginning of what was to come in the future and his experiences and exposure to the Mafia.

The one thing Vince never understood about the Sicilian crime families was why they always picked on their own countrymen. The mob would offer them things like protection from other crime families, a promise of more business, etc. but you would have to pay them a percentage of your weekly income. For example, if you were a meat wholesaler, they would guarantee that you would always have trucks to deliver your product, even if there was a trucking strike. Of course they would also give you the hope of more clients. In his parents’ case, he did not know what kind of money or percentage was involved.

What the Mafia did with his parents was to help another Sicilian businessman. They opened up a larger grocery store across the street. Then that grocer under-priced all his goods to the point that his father could not compete. Vince’s father had asked his brother for a loan in order to keep him afloat, but the answer was no. Maybe it was for the best. They found a buyer for the business without a problem, to Vince’s knowledge.

The problem was that they had no money and nowhere to move. At that period in time, most of New York City’s affordable living spaces were taken. All the servicemen had either come home from the war, or were coming home. Some had new wives or were getting married to their waiting sweethearts. His grandfather was a painter and even with his help his parents could not find a flat to move into. Apartment owners had converted six family walkups into twelve family buildings, etc., to accommodate the need for units. The only option left open was to live with his father’s parents until