The border separating the two ethnic enclaves China Town and Little Italy in Manhattan is Canal Street. The east end of Canal leads onto the Manhattan Bridge that spans the East River and connects lower Manhattan to Brooklyn: the west end of Canal leads into the Holland Tunnel that runs under the Hudson River into New Jersey. On the South side of Canal are the Chinese- American food stands, markets, and shops. On the North side are their Italian-American counterparts. From 1948 through 1960 there were also Army-Navy surplus stores scattered on both sides of Canal Street. Military surplus after World War Two was abundant. The surplus stores displayed cockpit assemblies, motors, propellers, bomb sights from war planes, helmets, uniforms, you name it, it was for sale. Josh was interested in things made for the military and sometimes spent hours and his allowance in those Army-Navy stores. Over the years the supply of military surplus dried up and some of the stores closed. The ones that stayed open survived by selling cheap look-a-like military surplus and civilian clothing made off shore. Josh a stickler for authenticity when it came to Things Military stopped shopping in them when they started selling look-a-likes.
When there’s a festival in China Town firecrackers are lit and exploded as part of the celebration. Dragon dancers moving through the streets face barrages of exploding firecrackers thrown near or at then them by people of all ages. To possess and set off fireworks in New York City requires a permit so, for most New Yorkers fireworks are illegal. I wanted to buy firecrackers to set off on the 4th of July. Knowing they were illegal I wondered, “How could so many people in China Town have firecrackers, set them off and not get arrested?” On a Saturday morning in June while walking around China Town I watched a delivery man take cartons of fireworks out from his truck and carry them into a shop. Throughout the morning I saw the same man deliver fireworks in to other shops. I went into a shop that he just made a delivery to and tried to buy firecrackers. The shopkeeper refused to sell them to me and said, “I can’t sell to American people, police come and then big trouble or me.” I thought, “Maybe if I go into another shop and buy something else first and then ask to buy firecrackers, they’ll sell them to me.” My plan didn’t work, I left the shop with a leather wallet made in Italy. I tried to buy firecrackers in another shop where fireworks were on display, they too refused to sell me any. My friend Patsy told me plenty of fireworks could be bought in Little Italy. He warned me the possibility of getting-ripped off or held up were high.
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I crossed over Canal Street onto Little Italy’s Mott Street in moments older kids hustling fireworks approached offering to sell me firecrackers. They wanted money first and said they’d bring the fireworks to him afterwards. They said, “Cops are all over got to be careful.” I refused to do business with them. A tough looking older man suddenly appeared he grabbed one of the kid hustlers and smacked him real hard in the face the others scattered and ran.
As held onto the kid he said, “This is my fucking corner I’ll break your legs if I see you here again you cCa-pise? ” The kid nodded a yes, he let him go.
Then he asked me, “What do you want to buy kid?”
In a low voice I said, “Firecrackers, how much is a pack?”
“I only sell bundles, there are twenty packs to a bundle it’ll cost you five bucks if you want a bundle. I got other stuff too, cherry bombs, Roman candles. You name it I got it”
Riding the bus home, I peeked into the bag holding my bundle of firecrackers. I read the colorful label that told me there were twenty packs of firecrackers and that each pack had twenty firecrackers made in China. I was thrilled at my success of finally being able to buy them. The fact that there were four hundred individual firecrackers to explode if the fuses were unbraided made me giddy. There was irony here as well, in my failed quest to buy firecrackers in Chinatown I ended up with a wallet made in Italy. And, In Little Italy I was able to buy firecrackers made in China. I thought all that was funny and it brought on a laughing jag that stopped when I noticed the passengers on the bus were staring at me.