Episode 8 / Lombardi's - The First Pizzeria in America. (Little Italy New York City)

The Last Days of Little Italy: An Original Documentary Series.

Since 1905 Gennaro Lombardi crafted pizza in the United States using his bakers trade he learned from Naples. Lombardi is credited with developing New York Style pizza and making Lombardi's the first pizzeria in the United States. Still located in the Little Italy section of Manhattan offering its beautiful, smoky-crusted coal oven baked pizza, topped with purist tomato sauce, fresh whole milk mozzarella, and basil, keeping locals and visitors alike coming back.

Little Italy, a historic haven for immigrant families from the old country, was once threatened by an ever-expanding Chinatown. But now the fatal blow is being delivered by the gentrifiers. Corporations, yuppies, and chain stores all moved in. How did Little Italy transform itself from a working class neighborhood of tenement buildings to the third most expensive zip code in the United States?

Part funny, part sad, the series explores the impact gentrification is having on Little Italy's long-term residents. The striking imagery captures the neighborhood before it is completely erased by sterile trendy stores and upper middle class sameness.

Will New York City lose another cultural touchstone to the forces of greed?

A Nolita Films Production
Written and Directed by Paul Stone
Produced by Claudia Montano
Cinematography & Editing by Paul Stone
Shot in New York City, Rome, Amalfi Coast & Puglia, Italy.