GROWING UP BANK STREET

Florio, a former TV producer, Wall Street executive, and opera singer, has spent the majority of her life as a resident of one of the nation’s most eccentric and colorful communities. “My childhood neighbors,” she writes, “were painters, social activists, writers, longshoremen, actors, postmen, musicians, trust-fund bohemians, and office workers. Some were born here; others came because our street let them live and think as they liked. I listened to debates on socialism, reincarnation, vegetarianism, and politics on stoops and in grocery stores.” As “the offspring of free-spirited artists,” the author has always been in tune with the vibrancy of her neighborhood. With rich detail and compassion, Florio takes us into her world, sharing many of the poignant memories of her life among “the neighbors who became my allies and surrogate family.” Some of the more memorable anecdotes include the author’s early visit to the Amato Opera on Bleeker Street, where she “toddled around a warm backstage world of Egyptian slaves, French courtesans, and Spanish gypsies”; and reminiscences of an eccentric babysitter, the “real-life aunt of the author Patrick Dennis, who wrote the best-selling novel Auntie Mame, which would spawn a Broadway play, a Hollywood movie, and a Broadway musical.” Florio also shares stories of resident spies and “high-ranking Communists,” the disco era, the frenzied media response to the death of Sid Vicious in 1979, and the humiliating moment when, watering her plants, she accidentally poured water on a passing couple, John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Most touching of all are the many warm (and sometimes heartbreaking) memories of her neighbors opening their homes and hearts to each other. Thanks to Florio, as the Village continues to face gentrification, like many neighborhoods across America, we will never forget Bank Street.

A charming stroll down Memory Lane and a tribute to a vanishing culture.