Michael and Vincent Faiella

DANIELLA ROMANO: So now we are recording.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: All right.

DANIELLA ROMANO: And I'll ask you to please tell me your full name.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Michael Faiella,

DANIELLA ROMANO: And Faiella?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: F-A-I-

DANIELLA ROMANO: Uh-huh.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: -E-L-L-A.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Okay. And may I have your date of birth please?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: [date redacted for privacy]-28.

DANIELLA ROMANO: And you are -- Josh [phonetic] said that you said that you were born on Sands Street.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Right.

DANIELLA ROMANO: What was that address?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: 190 Sands Street

DANIELLA ROMANO: 190 Sands Street. And did you grow up there?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Grew up most of my, uh, adult -- young adult life. And, uh, we later moved to 191 Sands Street, which my father bought the building.

DANIELLA ROMANO: When -- what year was that?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Uh. Hm. I would say about 1929, I would say. Cause he 1:00originally started us in 189 Sands Street, but he was only there for -- he only rented, and he was only there for a few years.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Hm. And when did you move from 191 Sands Street?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Uh. I believe in '46, when they started to build the projects there.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Okay. And that's when you moved here?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: No, we moved to Clermont Avenue.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Okay.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: 14 Clermont Avenue. Moved the business there.

DANIELLA ROMANO: And then when did you move here? Was this the next place?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Yeah. This [inaudible]. The exact years I don't remember.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Okay.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: We're here about twenty-five years, twenty-eight years I think.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Okay.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: My son can give you more information on dates, he's more familiar with dates. I forget dates.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Okay! I'll ask him.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Uh-huh.

DANIELLA ROMANO: And now, do you live in New Jersey?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: No, I live in Brooklyn.

DANIELLA ROMANO: And your son -- sorry -- is moving to New Jersey?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Yeah, he moves, he lives -- no, he lives -- he lives in Jersey.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Yeah.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: But he's moving the business to Red Bank, New Jersey.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Okay. All right. Um, can you tell me about your early childhood?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Most of my childhood was spent at 191 Sands Street. I went to the school in the area, naturally; I went to P.S. number 5, and P.S. number 7. It was predominantly an Italian neighborhood at that time. Originally it was Irish, then it started that more and more Italians moved in and, uh, they lived mostly in the neighborhood then. Uh, my father came from, uh, Italy and my 3:00mother was born here -- uh, was born in Brooklyn.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Okay. Had --

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Oh. What? Well, uh, let's see, we had-- The neighborhood was -- to me it was the greatest neighborhood in the world. Had many friends, and all my relatives -- my mother's relatives especially -- lived blocks apart. One around the corner, one a block away, one across the way, and, uh, one every block and a half away. But every -- all my, my mother's relatives remained in the neighborhood until they tore down the, the buildings to build the projects, the Farragut Housing Projects.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Where did everybody go when the Farragut Housing went up?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: They went different places. They went to Staten Island, they went to --

DANIELLA ROMANO: Uh-huh.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: -- they went to, uh Long Island.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Okay. So, Long Island and Staten Island.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: But -- but, uh, my family remained in Brooklyn because of the business.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Uh-huh.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: We moved to Clermont Avenue --

DANIELLA ROMANO: Uh-huh.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: -- because of the business -- to be near the Navy Yard. And the Navy business. It was mostly Navy -- Naval and Marine uniforms, we sold mostly. Today it's different. Today we sell all kinds of surplus, but at that time we originally -- it was military.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Okay. What--? Sorry.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: When this business started -- when they closed the Navy Yard, the business started to change then.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Mm-hm.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: So, uh, we went mostly into the Sea Cadet business. And the Sea Cadet business is like the Sea Scouts.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Oh, yeah.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: The nautical organizations. And that's what kept us going all these years--all those years, I should say. Quite a while.

DANIELLA ROMANO: What -- ?MICHAEL FAIELLA: Then we started in with yacht club uniforms.

DANIELLA ROMANO: With yacht club uniforms?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Yeah, you know. They had organi -- yacht club [inaudible], they have uniforms.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Oh, okay.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: You know. Yacht club uniforms, Coast Guard auxiliary, uh--

DANIELLA ROMANO: And then would you ship out to the, um, military, or would you have guys come in and buy stuff?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Well, most of our business was done through the store. We did ship if necessary.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Mm-hm.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: But most of our business was done right from the store, you know? We, we had, probably had the best supply of uniforms and accessories in the country, because of the accumulations of all those years.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Mm-hm. And how old is your oldest uniform, or your oldest item, now? Do you know?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Well, I think I have one that goes back to almost the early 1900's. Just one piece left, because the collectors, they, they bought up quite a few. We sold tons and tons to the collectors.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Just recently, or over the years?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Well, throughout the years. Because you can't get this stuff anywhere. It's in big demand today. Ahem, and a lot of uniforms we sold to the movie people. We did the movie -- our biggest sale, ahem, our biggest sale, though, was to A Man Without a Face, which was recently on TV. The other day it was on TV. And, uh, we sold them about $20,000 worth of uniforms at that time.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Wow.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: We also did, uh, ah, A League of Their Own.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Uh-huh. Really?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: The reason we -- the reason we were ready to sell to these people is because many of them wanted the original World War II uniforms, which we're probably the only people who had enough supplies to -- to fit them out with, you know.

DANIELLA ROMANO: That's amazing.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Yeah. And then also we did, uh, some uniforms for Garden of Stone.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Uh-huh.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Again there, they wanted cotton uniforms, which they stopped making for quite a while, though we did have some. Because cotton was what they used at the time this picture was supposed to take place. Let's see now. Ahem.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Do you have anything from the Brooklyn Navy Yard? Any work badges or anything?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: No, no. They, uh -- never got too much of that stuff.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Okay. Okay. What was it like for your family, um, actually when, uh -- when everybody shifted out for the Farragut Houses?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Well, everybody had to go their own way. And, uh -- well, everybody had their own families, so -- my mother had five children, five boys.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Mm-hm.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: And, uh, our relatives had the same, uh, they had big families, large families. So they were always busy doing something: cooking, taking care of the kids. So they were always busy, as far as family goes. And, uh, we had a 8:00lot of friends, and we were -- we remained in the neighborhood because we liked the neighborhood. It was a good neighborhood.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Mm-hm.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: A lot of comradery there, you know, which was, uh--

DANIELLA ROMANO: Lot of families.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Mm-hm.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Um, what was your father's occupation before--?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: He was a tailor.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Ah, okay. In Italy?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: In Italy and here.

DANIELLA ROMANO: What -- how old was he when he moved here?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Um, he must have been, uh, in his early twenties I'd say.

VINCENT FAIELLA: How you doing?

DANIELLA ROMANO: Hey, all right, thank you. In his early twenties.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: [inaudible]

DANIELLA ROMANO: And how was -- uh, how did he meet your mother?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Through the neighborhood. You know, it's, uh -- and, and friends and relatives; that's how they would usually meet in those days.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Mm. So you have four brothers?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: I have four brothers, yes.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Where are they now?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: All in Long -- well, one passed away, but the three of them are in Long Island.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Okay. And they moved there in the fifties, and just stayed?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Yes, that's right.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Okay.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Hey, you'll love this.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Oh, my gosh. I know this photo. I took a photograph of this photo.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Well, that's -- we're the ones that -- we have the -- this is the original.

DANIELLA ROMANO: You know, I have a question I want to ask you. I grew up watching World War II cartoons, the old Warner Brothers cartoons. Like the two sailors who, one turns into a chicken leg and one turns into a hot dog out on a deserted island --

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Oh, that's not my speed [inaudible].

DANIELLA ROMANO: [laughter] And they had, um, in a lot of those old cartoons were, "Eat at Joe's Bar and Grill." "Eat at Joe's." Do you know anything about 10:00this Joe's Bar and Grill?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Well, there was -- there must've been fifteen bar and grills on Sands Street at that time, you know. The, this -- this was -- this is Leo's. This is Joe's. And then there's this one, Nellie's, was over here. So, only on this street alone there were three bars. Then over here there was the Oval Bar --

DANIELLA ROMANO: Mm-hm.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: -- and then there was Tony's Square Bar. These were the two most popular bars: they were big, and people used to come from all over. At that time they called it slumming, you know, they come down to the poor Navy Yard and have a good time.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Uh-huh. Slumming on Sands Street. Did you ever work inside the Navy Yard?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: No, no, never. I've never done nothing but what I'm doing -- what I did all my life is work in the store.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Um, his is kind of a funny question, but I'm wondering just for 11:00researchers today if you can recollect any sort of particular sights or smells or sounds that were unique to this neighborhood.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Well, yeah. There was a -- there was a chocolate factory nearby. And, uh, you always had a desire for chocolate by smelling it, until you got tired of it.

DANIELLA ROMANO: [laughter] Okay.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: And then there was Con Edison. When -- talk about pollution. They were the biggest polluter in the -- in the city. The -- when you hung out your laundry -- my mother used to do our laundry -- she'd hang out the sheets, she'd hang them up white, and they'd come back black.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Mm-hm.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: That's how bad it was, the pollution here. Look at this, here. 12:00Now see this building here? This was my uncle's building. This was my uncle's shoe store. He married my aunt. In this building there were seven families, six of them my relatives. Only over here there was one family that wasn't related --

DANIELLA ROMANO: Uh-huh.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: -- and they were very close to the family there. My grandmother lived here, my cousins, they were both here, my uncle over here, and then the one who owned the building lived downstairs. And over here was another cousin. All those children, plus relatives. Now this was the shoemaker's store here.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Uh-huh.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Their business was so much in demand during the war that somebody came along and told my uncle, he says, "You don't need a window in your store." He says, "Let me rent it from you," he says. He rented it and he made it a lunch stand, just to the front of the building, that's all.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Mm-hm.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: And it was collapsible, got folded up at night, and that's how things were. So many businesses came in here during the war. Everybody came into our business. They made -- originally there were six uniform stores like ours.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Mm-hm.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: During the war there might've been maybe thirty or forty stores.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Wow.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: And everybody came in to make money on the street here. And, uh, they even rented hallways to sell --

DANIELLA ROMANO: Uh-huh.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: -- work clothes and stuff like that, like gloves and things like that, and kerchiefs. Everybody came down here to make money.

DANIELLA ROMANO: To make money. What happ -- ?MICHAEL FAIELLA: And as soon as the war ended --

DANIELLA ROMANO: Yeah.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: -- they ran like thieves. We were the only ones that remained, actually one of the few. Maybe out of thirty stores that were there, maybe five 14:00or six of us came down this end. Because there was -- Sands Street had no more stores then, they only had the projects.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Uh-huh.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: And, uh -- excuse me. So all the other stores ran away.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Oh, [inaudible].

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Ahem, and eventually we bought them all out. We bought out not only their stores, but we bought their buildings too. Like I bought this building from Frank's Naval Uniforms.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Ah, okay.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Down the street there was Battleship Max Cohn.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Uh-huh.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: I bought them out. And next door to us there was Victory's Uniforms, and we bought their building also.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Franks, Max Cohn, and Victory's.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Yeah. And now we're the only remaining store left, and we're going. And now we're on our way out.

VINCENT FAIELLA: We're already gone.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: We're gone.

VINCENT FAIELLA: We're closed here.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Now it's just moving out. That's why you're here on Monday. Yeah. Um, do you remember December 8th, 1941? I heard that there were gunner -- um, lookouts and gunners that were stationed here immediately on December 8th, um, there were ships brought up from Georgia. I'm just wondering if you remember--

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Well, well I remember one thing: that in the, uh -- we used to call it City Park, but it wasn't really City Park, what is it? Ameri --

VINCENT FAIELLA: Commodore Berry.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Commodore Berry.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Commodore Barry Park. They had anti-aircraft, uh, guns there, and the crews that manned them. This -- and then on top of some of the factory buildings they may have put some, like -- Sperry Gyroscope, they must've had them on top of that, too. I'm not sure, but, uh those are the types of things 16:00that would -- buildings that would have had anti-aircraft weapons.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Were there suddenly a lot of sailors and, and marines around?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Well, there was always -- there was always sailors in, uh, in there, from as long as I remember. Since the thirties there was tons of sailors. But the thing is, the sailors used to enjoy coming to Sands Street because it was loaded with bars and young girls. And old girls!

DANIELLA ROMANO: Yeah. [laughter]

MICHAEL FAIELLA: But, uh, they wouldn't leave the street there. That's why business was always good there, because there was always customers available, no?

DANIELLA ROMANO: And that was twenty-four hours?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Uh, well, they couldn't -- the bars couldn't, they weren't allowed to stay open, but, uh, the street was active twenty-four hours, because, uh, when the bars closed the people went to, uh, luncheonettes, hung around there, if anything, you know. Coffee shops.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Are there any particular people you remember, who stand out?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Well, uh, one of the biggest families that came from this neighborhood was the Anzaloan family. And they manufactured naval uniforms, and they turned out to be the biggest manufacturer of Naval uniforms in the country. And they, they -- they originated on Sands Street and, uh, they remained on Sands Street until they brought in the projects. Also -- the projects and the expressway, also, was part of it.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Uh-huh.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Because we're -- first we started -- they, uh, they came in with the projects, and actually we really moved across the street from the projects, to, uh, 164 Sands Street.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Oh, okay.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Or, yeah. Yeah, 164. What was the numbers on there?

VINCENT FAIELLA: 162.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Yeah, 164 Sands Street we moved to. And, uh, we remained there until they built the Brooklyn Queens Expressway, and then we moved down here.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Oh, okay.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Meanwhile, my father -- I took over the store of 164 Sands Street, I ran that, and my father ran the one down here until I was able to come down and take over.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Oh, so you had two stores for a while.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Well, it was -- yeah, it was a very short period of time.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Mm-hm, okay. Um, so the Anzaloan family -- how do you spell Anzaloan?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: A-N-

DANIELLA ROMANO: Mm-hm.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: -Z-A-

DANIELLA ROMANO: Yeah.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: -L-O-A-N.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Okay, okay. And, um, do you remember anybody in particular in that family, or just the-- ?MICHAEL FAIELLA: Well, there was the -- they were all -- they actually, uh, lived, uh, across the street from 191, next door to 190 Sands Street. That's where they had -- they started the store, so we know the whole family. We became very friendly with Lou Anzaloan and Marco Anzaloan.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Okay.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: And when they sold their business, ahem, Margaret went out on her own, and she established a business called Margaret Anzaloan Incorporated.

DANIELLA ROMANO: What was that for?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Uniforms.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Oh, okay.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: She still made uniforms, dungarees and things like that.

DANIELLA ROMANO: She made them? She was a seamstress?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: No, manufacturing.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Manufacturing.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Yeah, she was a shop.

VINCENT FAIELLA: Factory with a hundred and twenty operators.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Is that how many she had at the time, yeah?

VINCENT FAIELLA: She was doing like $6 million a year.

DANIELLA ROMANO: When was this? What year was this?

VINCENT FAIELLA: Early eighties.

DANIELLA ROMANO: A hundred and how many?

VINCENT FAIELLA: A hundred and twenty operators.

DANIELLA ROMANO: A hundred and twenty operators

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Ahem. That was, uh -- that was her place?

VINCENT FAIELLA: Yeah.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: I'm surprised, I thought she must've had five hundred, six hundred people working for them.

VINCENT FAIELLA: At Seagoing.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: At Seagoing.

DANIELLA ROMANO: What's Seagoing?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Seagoing uniforms. See the box there?

VINCENT FAIELLA: They used to make the seafarer dungarees, the bellbottoms?

DANIELLA ROMANO: Uh-huh.

VINCENT FAIELLA: That's what they made.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Oh, okay.

VINCENT FAIELLA: But they made all kinds of navy uniforms, too.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Oh, okay. Um, two very simple questions that could be complicated, and I could start: do you want to share any particularly good memories?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Well, most of my memories were good.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Oh, good.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Like I said, we, we enjoyed living there, and we probably would have remained there, if it wasn't that the City kicked us out twice. Once for the, the projects, and once for the expressway. And this was true of all my family. Nobody wanted to move.

DANIELLA ROMANO: So that was kind of the worst memory too?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Yes.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Being made to move?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Yes, we were forced to move.

DANIELLA ROMANO: It was Eminent Domain?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Yes.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Then what about when the Yard closed?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Ahem. Well, when the yard closed, again, we were able to diversify our business into the other forms of business, like the Sea Cadets, and the yacht clubs and the Coast Guard Auxiliary.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Mm-hm.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: So, uh, we were able to survive; that's how we survived.

DANIELLA ROMANO: And the streets got much quieter?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Yes, it did. Yes. Everything started to change, you know.

DANIELLA ROMANO: It got dangerous here for a while, didn't it?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Hm. Not as far as we're concerned. We were here -- I'll tell you, we were one of the few businesses maybe in Brooklyn that never locked the 22:00door. Our door was always wide open. See right now, the way it is? We never -- we never lived in fear. I always tell people this: they say, "Aren't you afraid to be here?" I says, "If I was afraid, I'd be crazy to stay here." I'm not afraid. We -- we were never afraid.

VINCENT FAIELLA: And I'm working here eleven years by myself.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Yeah.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Nobody ever gave you any trouble?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Never. Never.

VINCENT FAIELLA: Once we got held up.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Once I got held up, but it was a -- a quickie through. Guy came in with a gun and he flashed it, and he didn't even want to take the money from the register, he just took the money I had in my pocket. Yeah.

DANIELLA ROMANO: When was this?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Oh, I don't know, twenty years ago, thirty years ago maybe. And, uh--

DANIELLA ROMANO: Just the money in your pocket? Why?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Yeah. Because he was, uh -- he wasn't a professional thief.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Yeah.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: When I saw the gun I said I gave him the money, that's how I [inaudible], you know.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Mm-hm.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: And, uh -- well, one reason too was my brother was working for 23:00us then, and he was in the back with a friend. When he saw too many people around he, uh, naturally got scared. Was satisfied with he'd got and ran.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Hm. Did you call the cops?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Yeah, we called the cops. That was the only incident -- bad incident we had. Then we had a few times we had some break ins, which is common all over.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Mm-hm. What did they take?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Nothing really. Merchandise.

VINCENT FAIELLA: Merchandise.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Merchandise. Uniforms.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Yeah.

VINCENT FAIELLA: Yeah, I mean, the boxes are marked and they would take boxes of stuff that they wanted.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Uh-huh.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: And, and like I said, it was most of -- most of -- 99% of our memories are, are pleasant ones. And we would never leave this neighborhood if it wasn't that we were forced out.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Do you stay in touch with anybody, any of your old neighbors?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Well, well, a lot of them passed away, you know? Moved away, 24:00passed away.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Mm-hm.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Naturally we're still in touch with our relatives that live there. But you get -- as you get older, you concentrate on your own immediate family, so, and usually see them only on family occasions, you know? Weddings, funerals, etcetera.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Yeah. Mm-hm. That really does it basically for my questions, unless there's anything that you would like to talk about that you think I missed.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Ahem. Well, like I say, a lot of people came here to, uh, well what they consider slumming. Also, we had one of the best Italian restaurants in the area, called La Palina's.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Spell that for me?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Yeah. It was -- many celebrities would go there. In fact, when we were kids, we were standing on the corner and they'd pull up in limousines and ask us for directions, and we'd tell them how to get there, you know.

DANIELLA ROMANO: So everybody liked to come to this area.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Yeah -- oh, it was, like I said, it was [inaudible]. And a few of the bars had music in the evenings, it was like little cabarets, they were. Oh, Vinnie, uh, get the picture of, uh -- please.

VINCENT FAIELLA: Of what?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Of the, uh, Oval Bar. You still got 'em here?

VINCENT FAIELLA: The Oval Bar?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Yeah, the, the -- the group pictures. The ones behind the, the counter there.

VINCENT FAIELLA: Yeah, she saw them.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Show them to her. No, no, the big one.

VINCENT FAIELLA: What big one?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: With all the people, and my father and everybody in it.

VINCENT FAIELLA: Oh, I don't think I have it here.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: You don't have it. Did I take it home?

VINCENT FAIELLA: I don't think I have it here.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: It's not, it's not behind the --

VINCENT FAIELLA: It wasn't behind the counter.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: -- behind the back, there? No? All right, then maybe I took it home.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Okay, that's good. There's a photograph of your father and all of them. Are they regulars?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Well we have picture here. Those are pictures of my father and Vinnie -- and you -- and me. Also, if you go into the dressing room, you'll get a view of Sands Street gate.

VINCENT FAIELLA: [inaudible]

DANIELLA ROMANO: Okay. No, they're down?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Oh no, they took everything down already.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Yeah.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: You're a couple weeks late I think, you know?

DANIELLA ROMANO: Mm-hm.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Well, we had a picture of -- the view that we have of Sands Street --looking up, is one view, then we had the view looking into the, uh, Navy Yard.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Uh-huh.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Yeah. Just, in other words, back-to-back they were. If you turned it around, this is what you'd see, if you looked the other way, you'd say the Sands Street, uh, the businesses.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Do you know Don Condrill?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: I think my son [inaudible]. You doing -- writing, doing some stories, is that--?

DANIELLA ROMANO: I think so, yeah.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Then my son may know him. Because I know -- because he's here most of the time, I only come in on occasion.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Yeah.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: I only came in today to help him out a little bit, you know?

DANIELLA ROMANO: I'm wondering because I know that he grew up on Sands Street too. So I was wondering if you were familiar.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Yeah, I think, uh -- I think somebody at work gave him some stories about it. When he comes in you'll ask him.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Okay. So it wasn't scary down here so much as --

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Never. Never, never scary. In fact --

DANIELLA ROMANO: Never scary.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: -- I was able to come home at night four, five in the morning. And at that time we didn't have any air condition. And I would sleep on the stoop we had when we were on High Street, in that street that was very, uh, residential, or even sleep in the car with the doors wide open. Never had any -- any fear, never lived in fear here. And the same thing with the neighborhood 28:00girls; they never had any fear here. It was always -- because there was always neighborhood fellows to protect the neighborhood.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Yeah.

VINCENT FAIELLA: That's Sands Street Gate.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Oh, that's one of the pictures.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Ah. Wow. Somebody got a crush on Madonna?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: I think that was from --

DANIELLA ROMANO: Oh, she's in a Navy Uniform.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Yeah, that's maybe from, uh, A League of Their Own, that movie.

DANIELLA ROMANO: The Who's Tommy. Oh, okay.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Because she was in that movie, A League of Their Own. And, uh.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Uh oh, that's when they were breaking up.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Oh, is that what that is?

DANIELLA ROMANO: Madonna and Sean Penn, yeah.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Oh. I don't pay too much attention to that garbage, you know?

DANIELLA ROMANO: Oh, let me see this?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Oh, this is --

DANIELLA ROMANO: Oh, sorry.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: -- this is a picture of the front of the store. This is my father, this is me, this is Vinnie, and this is the brother that used to work with us.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Where is he now?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Eh, he's in Long Island. Like I say, they're all in Long Island, all my brothers.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Okay. And there's your father.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Vinnie, she asked me about a fellow named Don -- what's his--?

DANIELLA ROMANO: Don Condrill?

VINCENT FAIELLA: Yes. That's the guy that you don't know that emailed me from, uh, Virginia.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Yeah.

VINCENT FAIELLA: You don't know him.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: That's what I said. I don't know him. [inaudible].

DANIELLA ROMANO: Yeah, but he grew up the same time. But I guess there were a lot of kids in the neighb --

[inaudible conversation]

VINCENT FAIELLA: It depends -- it depends on where --

MICHAEL FAIELLA: How, how old?

VINCENT FAIELLA: If they were, if they were -- I think he was Uncle Robbie's age.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Oh, okay.

VINCENT FAIELLA: If they were two blocks away, it's like a whole 'nother neighborhood. 'Cause you never were off the block.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Yeah, that's right. He's right.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Hey Vinnie, would you mind -- um, I, I -- I need to talk to you too. Do you want to do this now, with your Dad, or --?

VINCENT FAIELLA: Okay.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Okay. Could I ask you -- your father signed one, but this a release form that, um, we can --

VINCENT FAIELLA: Now what exactly are you doing with these?

DANIELLA ROMANO: Well, nothing yet. But, um, we're collecting them while we can. If in the future we do do something, like if we try and make a documentary, or if we do anything to celebrate the history of the Yard and we want to publicly want to share this interview, we'll come back to you for a set for that permission. But this is just permission to keep it in the archives and for you -- to use it for our own purposes.

VINCENT FAIELLA: Okay.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Thanks.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Vinnie, who -- there was that fellow who was writing a book about the Navy Yard.

VINCENT FAIELLA: Oh, uh, Ed DeRosa.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Yeah, you were telling me about Ed DeRosa. Boy.

VINCENT FAIELLA: That was something. He gave me a few chapters to read.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Yeah.

VINCENT FAIELLA: If you were an insomniac, you'd be cured instantly.

DANIELLA ROMANO: [laughter]

VINCENT FAIELLA: Because he went into every detail of every single nuance of every brick that was laid in the building. It was like -- my God.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Oh, I'd love to see it. Do you have his contact information?

VINCENT FAIELLA: No.

DANIELLA ROMANO: No? I gotta find him.

VINCENT FAIELLA: I actually tried to contact him. I hadn't heard from him in at least five years. And I did try to contact him to see if he ever did anything with the book, but the contacts are no good anymore.

DANIELLA ROMANO: All right, I'm going to have to hunt him down.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: What about the latest, ah -- oh, that was in [inaudible]. They just did an interview of, of myself and Vincent in, uh, in Red Bank.

VINCENT FAIELLA: They just did an article --

MICHAEL FAIELLA: An article, yeah

VINCENT FAIELLA: -- to announce that I opened my store.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Oh, nice.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: In the Red Bank paper, yeah.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Okay, I'll have to find that out. And then you guys were in the Times not too long ago, too.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Right, yeah.

DANIELLA ROMANO: So Vincent, where were you born?

VINCENT FAIELLA: In Brooklyn.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Around here too, or--?

VINCENT FAIELLA: No, uh, in Gravesend section.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Oh really? The oldest part of Brooklyn, isn't it?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: That's where I'm living, yeah.

DANIELLA ROMANO: In Gravesend. It's got the, still, the same street layout as it did -- as with Deborah Moody.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Mm-hm.

DANIELLA ROMANO: So that's where you lived.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Yeah, and I --

DANIELLA ROMANO: That's where you grew up, Vincent?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: -- I'm still living there, like I said.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Yeah. How about Vincent? How many siblings does Vincent have?

VINCENT FAIELLA: Excuse me?

DANIELLA ROMANO: How many brothers and sisters do you have, Vincent?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: He has a -- actually there's another son, Michael, and a daughter, Natalie.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Mm-hm. Okay. Did either of you ever think that you were going to do anything different than work in the uniform shop?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Well I know I never did. I did, like I said, I did it since I was born into the business, so that's what I did, and then Vinnie's been in here since he was a kid too, working.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Oh, here. Thanks. Okay. So, there's Vincent, Michael and Natalie. And their -- everybody's in Jersey now?

VINCENT FAIELLA: Yes.

DANIELLA ROMANO: So Vincent, what's your full name?

VINCENT FAIELLA: Vincent, middle initial "J."

DANIELLA ROMANO: Okay. And now you're in Red Bank. Did you always grow up in Gravesend?

VINCENT FAIELLA: Yeah. I was I -- when I first got married I was living in Sheepshead Bay for a couple of years, but for the most part I was at Gravesend.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Did you get the, uh, the mirror?

VINCENT FAIELLA: Hm? Yeah.

DANIELLA ROMANO: What year were you born? When were you born?

VINCENT FAIELLA: [date redacted for privacy]-60

DANIELLA ROMANO: So you have very little memory of the Yard before it closed, or do you?

VINCENT FAIELLA: Yeah. Very.

DANIELLA ROMANO: And then when it closed, it was -- it was much emptier, no? Much quieter around here?

VINCENT FAIELLA: Well, it was still -- in the early seventies, there were still a lot of people working in the Navy Yard, but just not that much military. I mean, they had the, um, what is it? Coastal Dry Dock?

DANIELLA ROMANO: Mm-hm.

VINCENT FAIELLA: Parking on the street, there was alternate side during the day here. You couldn't park on the street, it was very difficult to find parking, I remember that.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Okay.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: And I'm sure you're familiar with Seatrain. Then Seatrain came in. And I'm sure you know about that.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Yeah. Um, I know that there was an interesting period, I think it was either Seatrain or Coastal Dry Dock that were, um, insured or reinsured by Meade Esposito's insurance company. Do you remember anything about that?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: No, that's a thing that -- that I'm not familiar with.

DANIELLA ROMANO: The Koch days of the Yard, or anything.

VINCENT FAIELLA: We -- we never got into any of the Navy Yard politics.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Yeah, okay.

VINCENT FAIELLA: We pretty much always minded our own business. What time are you leaving today?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Three o'clock. I mean, I gotta be there by three, so. I gotta call your mother about [inaudible] too.

DANIELLA ROMANO: What are your memories of the Yard? Any particular ones that stand out.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: No. I remember, I mean, when we were living on -- when my grandmother was living on Clermont Avenue when we still had the store there, I mean, we had 00 my grandfather owned two buildings, and there were always kids. Clermont Avenue was a big street. We used to play football, you know -- football and stickball and baseball, and no one ever bothered anyone, there was never any trouble because that was a very quiet street. There were probably only, uh, ten, you know, residential buildings on the whole street.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Mm-hm. Did you drive? I mean, there -- I mean the train's so 37:00far away, and -- or would you take the bus?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: My father used to drive.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Okay And then I'll ask the ambient memories question again: any sights, smells, or sounds that stick out? Your dad was talking about --

VINCENT FAIELLA: Nope.

DANIELLA ROMANO: -- the chocolate factory. Okay.

VINCENT FAIELLA: Not really.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Okay. And then, um -- I guess that's -- between the two of you I've answered all my questions, but is there anything that you want to mention?

VINCENT FAIELLA: Not really.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Okay.

VINCENT FAIELLA: I was really -- I mean, when I came in here, you know, and especially when I started working here, the Navy Yard was essentially closed. I mean, there was some Navy, but there was certainly nothing to speak of.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: What really upsets me about people, ahem, everybody spoke in a negative tone about Sands Street, places like that. Meanwhile, my family all lived there. So why, ahem, why would we be there if it was as bad as they made 38:00it, you know?

DANIELLA ROMANO: Yeah.

MICHAELFAIELLA: Nobody ever wanted to move.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Why do you think they did?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Well, there was the, the -- the media. And the newspapers -- more and more newspapers and things like that. I mean, you had bars, and you had fights, naturally you're gonna have that. You've got -- you've got twenty bars on the street, you're going to have problems. You've got sailors, sailors are always chasing after the girls, so you know. But, uh, we never had any problem. Like I said, it was a place where you come home at any hour of the night, both male and female, and never have any problem, because there was always somebody from the neighborhood hanging around somewhere, especially on Sands Street. There were different corners with different types of people: one, one corner was 39:00working people; another corner was longshoreman; another corner were bookmakers. That was a big thing. Bookmaking was a big thing in the neighborhood.

DANIELLA ROMANO: And the longshoremen? Were they -- were they all from around here?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Yeah, anybody who hung around here lived in -- I mean, I should say, 99% of the people who hung around here lived here. People [inaudible] but nobody wanted to move. We were very happy and contented with what we were doing, and our -- and our lives.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Did you ever see anybody make a fortune at the bookmakers?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Nah, nah, nah They may talk about it; of course they don't talk about the lose -- the losers.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Mm-hm. Any particular bookmakers or guys like that you remember?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Oh, you don't -- you don't mention names in here.

DANIELLA ROMANO: You don't. Don't mention names.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Nah. But they were like the protectors of the neighborhood, too. They kept the neighborhood honest, in their own way.

DANIELLA ROMANO: How was that?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Well they kept, you know --

VINCENT FAIELLA: The mobsters were the guys who were writing the books, books, so --

MICHAEL FAIELLA; They didn't want to have no trouble in the neighborhood, they kept -- you know.

VINCENT FAIELLA: I mean, even until recently, there was -- the guy who was like the local guy -- and I knew him, but I'd never met him, and one day I saw him and I introduced myself, and he said, "Oh yeah, yeah, I know your family a long time." He said, "You ever have any trouble?" I says, "No." He says, "You ever have any kind of problem, you know where to find me. I'll take care of things for you."

MICHAEL FAIELLA: See? They were like the -- the strong arm in the neighborhood.

VINCENT FAIELLA: And this was like--five years ago?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Well you saw the movie, uh, The Bronx Tale?

DANIELLA ROMANO: Uh-huh.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: It was very much like that. They wanted to keep everything low key, so they don't -- they don't want cops coming around for trivial things. Bookmaking was the biggest crime that was committed in the neighborhood.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Uh-huh.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: And nobody considers it a crime, not even the cops.

DANIELLA ROMANO: They had bigger fish to fry?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Yeah, yeah. No, they made money with the bookmakers. The bookmakers couldn't operate without them, because they could have closed the bookmaker at any time. They got their share, and everybody was happy. At that time. May be different today, but that's the way it was years ago.

DANIELLA ROMANO: And everybody grew up with each other.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Yeah.

DANIELLA ROMANO: The cops and the bookmakers.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Well the cops weren't from the neighborhood.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Okay. Why did all the Italians move in?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: It's, uh --

DANIELLA ROMANO: Why here?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: -- it's a traditional thing. From when -- for instance, my mother's family, they all came from a town called, uh -- if I could remember the town. Pad --Padula. P-A-D-U-L-A.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Mm-hm.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: And when somebody came from Italy, they had to come and stay with somebody they knew, relative or friends, or at that time we called them paisanos. And that's how everybody wound up living in the same neighborhood, you know.

DANIELLA ROMANO: So it's just from -- first guy, first guy came to live here, and then eventually it started --

MICHAEL FAIELLA: That's the -- that's like my -- that's how my father came over. My uncle came here first, and he lived on High Street, and, and then when someone would come over they'd go to live with him. Like, he married my father's sister. And they were -- my father would go live with them, until he got on his feet, get a job and was able to support himself. Then he'd move out and someone else would come over, and the, the chain continued. That's, uh, that's why 43:00everybody wound up in the same neighborhood. Everybody knew each other. Everybody's from the same town. And the same thing, uh, with mother's family. My mother was the one -- her family came from Padula, and my father's family came from Naples, uh, an area named Bosca Real, they called it

DANIELLA ROMANO: What was it?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Bosca: B-O-S-C-A, R-E-A-L. That was a small town, that was a very small town, at the foot of Vesuvius.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Oh, wow. And did everybody -- did all the Italians go into different trades?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Most of the trades, yes, yes. Uh, my uncle was a shoemaker, my other uncle was a carpenter, and my father, naturally, was a tailor.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Did any of the women work?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Yeah, my aunt, uh, she first opened -- her and her husband opened a small restaurant. Then they wanted to -- when the war broke out they took part of my father's store and they opened up a candy store, news -- newspapers and candy.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Okay. Is your wife still with us?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Yeah, my wife's here, yeah.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Oh, okay. And where, how -- did you guys meet here? Did the two of you meet in this neighborhood?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: No, not in this neighborhood.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Oh, okay.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: We met through a relative, ahem, a cousin who lives across the street from my wife --

DANIELLA ROMANO: Uh-huh.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: -- introduced us, and that's how we met.

DANIELLA ROMANO: And so she's in Gravesend -- Gravesend right now?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Right.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Did she ever work in the store?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: No.

DANIELLA ROMANO: No.

[interruption in interview]

DANIELLA ROMANO: Anything else?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: I can't think of anything else of interest to you.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Well --

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Can you think of anything else?

VINCENT FAIELLA: No. I wasn't here when anything really mattered.

DANIELLA ROMANO: [laughter] Well, that's not true. I mean, this area was of great interest.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Yeah. The fact is that we were the last store to leave Sands Street, and the last Naval uniforms to leave this area, to leave Flushing Avenue.

[interruption in interview]

DANIELLA ROMANO: What was it like when they were doing the construction, or the demolition, for Farragut and for the expressway? Did a lot of people come watch?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: No, the neighborhood was, was changing then. We really had no concern about the projects. There wasn't -- nobody really wanted to go live in them.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Right.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: And, uh -- everybody, when they -- when they moved, they didn't come back. We hung around the outskirts of the project when I was younger, before I got married, and -- because a few of my friends still lived there, and we would get together. And again, we were the last ones to leave that area, around Front Street, you know, I don't know if you know where Front Street is, but a friend of mine had a little, a little club-like and we used to hang there. 47:00But eventually everybody started spreading out and getting, getting more involved in our families, and, uh, everybody went their separate ways. And a lot of friends now, they've passed away. That's what happens.

DANIELLA ROMANO: I, I thought that -- were the Farragut houses built for Navy personnel?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: No. No. They were built for the low-income.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Oh, so they were just --

VINCENT FAIELLA: Of course, it was -- I think that at the time it was supposed to be middle income.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Maybe.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Okay.

VINCENT FAIELLA: But with some of the other apartment complexes, like the ones up on Clinton, those were built for, uh, Navy personnel.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Navy personnel, yeah.

VINCENT FAIELLA: I think if you go up, on some of the buildings they still have the, uh --

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Yeah, the Naval emblem, yeah.

VINCENT FAIELLA: -- it's got which, uh, which branch of the Navy, you know --

DANIELLA ROMANO: Yeah I've seen that.

VINCENT FAIELLA: -- would be, uh living there, you know, [inaudible] mostly be 48:00submariners, kind of thing. You can see it right on the front of the building.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Yeah, I've got to find out -- I want to find out some more about those projects. What are they called? What are they --?

VINCENT FAIELLA: Well, they're not even projects. They're just, uh, apartment buildings.

DANIELLA ROMANO: I can't tell the difference sometimes, with all the big brick.

MICHAEL FAIELLA: No, no, yeah, they all look the same now.

VINCENT FAIELLA: But these are, these are -- these are not big complexes, these are just small apartment buildings like scattered around Clinton.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Oh, okay.

VINCENT FAIELLA: It's not like the, uh, Fort Greene Projects.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Right. Okay. Can I get a photograph of you guys?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: [laughter]

VINCENT FAIELLA: Not today.

DANIELLA ROMANO: No? May I -- may I take a photograph of you?

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Oh, you can take it.

DANIELLA ROMANO: I'll come back for you.

VINCENT FAIELLA: Okay.

DANIELLA ROMANO: And, uh, if you if anything comes back, if anything comes to mind or there's a memory that you do want to share, Vincent, I've given you my card before but I'll give it to you again.

VINCENT FAIELLA: Yeah, give me one of those.

DANIELLA ROMANO: Yeah, yeah. And if anything comes to mind, don't hesitate to 49:00contact me. Um, that's it!

MICHAEL FAIELLA: Vincent?

DANIELLA ROMANO: When are you going to be gone, guys?