This window was at Valentino’s delicatessen on 204th St. in the Bronx. I took it during the 8, when my best friend, Ray, and myself were touring the bars and the surroundings. It was a haven for the Irish, particularly the immigrants, legal and no,t who came for work. At that time there were 18 Irish bars on the street, and by 1995 there was one Irish bar left as The Ireland economy picked up, people retured home, while others went to the Woodlawn section of the Bronx or to Yonkers.
The second last Irish bar, McMahon’s, closed in 2010 and the last bar, McDwyers’s, was forced out in 2017. Eamonn McDwyer did not want to close his bar. He had a stroke, was well into his seventies, but wanted to be behind his bar. It had been there for 52 years and was the last Irish business left in the neighborhood which today is a big mix of Mexicans, Pakis, Indians, Puerto Rican, Domincans and a mix of Europeans.
Valentino’s deli is from a slightly earlier time that wasn’t that long ago, but, then, things got sped up as far as social chnged is concerned.