My father was born on the Lower East Side.
He came from an immigrant Jewish family.
They lived in a very tight community, where he didn't learn to speak English till he went to school.
But a block over was the Italian neighborhood and a few blocks the other way was Chinatown.
He was born in 1911.
He used to tell us stories of his mom giving him and his brother a nickle, which was enough for both of them to get into the movies and have a penny left over to buy a big piece of bread with mustard that they'd split.
It seemed impossible to me that you could buy that much for a nickle.
By my grandchildren look at me in awe when I tell them that when I was a kid, the subway used to cost a dime.
And gas was 35 cents a gallon.
