Growing Up Bank Street

The warmth and eccentricities of Greenwich Village leap off the page in Donna Florio’s inviting read. Having walked the streets of the Village, visiting the shops, photographing John and Yoko’s 105 Bank Street entryway and enjoying the ambiance of this unique neighborhood, Florio paints a portrait that made me feel as if I was there. Growing up as the child of opera performing parents, she lived among a vast cultural audience of artists, blue collars, actors, musicians and visionaries. The sparkle and flair mingled with the downtrodden peppered her life. This was her neighborhood, the dangerous and the safe, the struggling and the affluent, the dreams and disappointments. We travel through the early days of the AIDS epidemic and the personal and devastating effects of 9/11. This is a coming of age story, a journey of self discovery, of shadows and light and a historic neighborhood that has a colorful and vibrant soul.
Highly recommended.
Thanks to NetGalley, New York University Press and especially Donna Florio for this most enjoyable ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Donna Florio has lived in various apartments in 63 Bank Street, Greenwich Village, since her birth in 1955. This book is a labor of love and the result of many years of work. Her goal appears to have been giving readers a true feeling for what her neighborhood has been like since the late 1800's and the changes it has gone through. She has a love for the architecture and the bohemians who have come and gone and made their homes on Bank Street and its environs for over a century. In addition to people Florio knew of or knew personally, she has collected anecdotes and life stories of the more interesting people who have lived within the six blocks of Bank Street (and Bleeker Street). Among them are the original Auntie Name, Rex Harrison, Jack Gilford and his wife, Charles Kuralt, Bella Abzug, and many others. The stories can be a little chopped-up in places, introducing certain people in one place in the book and then going back to their stories later. For example, Frank McCourt was Florio's English and writing teach but is mentioned briefly in two different places. I wanted to know much, much more about someone she knew throughout high school who is one of my all-time favorite writers. I found myself wishing that each person had a section to him/herself. But then, sometimes the author organizes her narrative by addresses. For some people, this form of organization (or disorganization) may interfere with their enjoyment of the book, but I just read it as written...full of interesting people and times. If you don't mind vignettes, you should like this book.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Growing Up Bank Street.

This was a fascinating, lively portrait of a woman who grew up in the heyday of the Village; when artists and rock stars hung out, where you mingled with actors and drag queens, the educated, the artsy, the downtrodden, the mentally ill.

Ms. Florio describes an unconventional upbringing with actor parents who never fulfilled their creative and artistic potential (and sadly blamed Ms. Florio for her arrival and thwarting their big Broadway dreams), her neighbors, some damaged, some harboring deep secrets, but all she learned from and grew up with.

Ms. Florio honed useful and necessary street smarts as she navigated both safe and dangerous blocks in her neighborhood; she doesn't mince words. She may have grown up in a different time, but it didn't mean it was safe.

The author paints a neighborhood and backdrop long gone; a Village that was a true reflection of New York City, filled with artists and vagrants, the elite and ill repute mingling together, the rough and tumble with the educated and downtrodden.

I spent my angst filled teen years in the Village in the 90s, when it was still cool to hang out, before it became gentrified and Starbucks and trendy boutiques moved in.

I remember my BFF at the time and I would watch hustlers con victims out of their hard earned cash at three-card monte, vendors hawking their wares, and once I saw a man walk down the street in nothing but chaps and cowboy boots. Only in the Village, I thought.

Those days are long gone.

Ms. Florio's memoir captures a past that has moved on, her stories of her eccentric and no less fascinating neighbors captivated me just as much as her run-ins with celebs like Sid Vicious and John Lennon. I can't imagine her childhood; heartbreaking and heartwarming, shocking and endearing, sad but hopeful.

The author paints a time we may never have been a part of or is long gone; a neighborhood where the tenants and neighbors watched out for each other; knew your name and waved from across the street, reminding us that location is not just about prime real estate, its where you grew up, and how it shapes you into the person you will later become.

I highly recommend this to anyone interested in reading about New York City and its artsy, bygone past.

This is a history of old New York City, especially Greenwich Village, told from a lifelong resident of Bank Street. Bank Street is a 6 block section of the far West Village and is community unto itself. Many celebrities of stage, screen, music, and the literary worlds lived, worked, and entertained in their Bank Street residences. The author tells intimate stories of many, including John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Sid Vicious, the REAL Auntie Mame, Charles Kuralt, Alan and Adam Arkin and many others.

She researched the history of her neighborhood and spent years interviewing residents past and present, including their family members. For those interested in NYC history, this is an informative and entertaining read.

This was a no-brainer for me when I spied it on NetGalley not too long ago. Even though I have never been to New York City, I feel like it is my home. I devour books about the city, its individual boroughs, the whole history from New Amsterdam to now, because I want to know every last detail and try to imagine what life would be like to be a child of NYC. Now, don't get me wrong, I had an amazing childhood and am incredibly lucky and blessed and loved. But if that amazing childhood could have been transplanted to the Village, that would have been most excellent.

The author delves into the history of the street, one street - maybe one of the most famous streets in the entire country, in easily the most famous neighborhood in the country. She weaves together the stories of her life and the lives of those around her with such clarity, and they all flow together well as we see the street change and grow, as the author does along with it.

Florio leaves no stone unturned as she described her unconventional upbringing. Raised on opera and theatre life by her patents, she spent her days and nights among an eclectic and eccentric mix of people who would each leave their definitive mark on her, shaping Florio into the adult she would become.

The author lovingly recounts all the good and bad related to roaming the Village as a child, youth, and adult. We see firsthand the neighbors who came and went, the cast of characters who simply could not be made up - this is the Village. I found her story about accidentally dumping water on John Lennon's head quite amusing, which apparently he did too. Yoko, on the other hand, did not seem as pleased. Reading her account of the brief time in which Sid Vicious was her next-door neighbor was especially touching.

There were also plenty of encounters with regular every-day people as well and Florio specifically recounts the AIDS crisis hitting the Village hard. To read of her pain and fear in the wake of the attacks on September 11th was especially powerful - this place she loved so much, this place that had seeped into her bones and became part of her, was suddenly unrecognizable. Still, she slowly but surely found her way back from those awful days, weeks, months.

Greenwich Village and Bank Street in particular owe a huge debt of gratitude to Florio. She so beautifully captured the beating heart of the neighborhood, describing with such perfection the changing village over the passing decades. The Village of her youth is long gone, and typing those words truly brings more than a touch of sadness; never again will such a mix of colorful characters exist in this way together. The culture that thrived despite the truly glaring differences of those who inhabited the buildings along Bank Street can never be recaptured in reality, so I am thankful that Florio has done that so splendidly here.

This is a must-read for anyone with a love for all things NYC. Highly highly recommended.

Donna Florio pens a tender love letter to her forever-home, Bank Street, in this rose-tinted memoir.

Memoirs aren't typically my cup of tea, but the synopsis of this one intrigued me! As someone who grew up in the rural American south, and had only ever seen New York City once (two years ago), I really wanted to dive deeper into this particular perspective of NYC. Donna takes a rather common storyteller's approach in this one. It's actually not hard to imagine sitting down with her like you might with an older relative - the beverage of choice in your hands - as they prattle on about days that now exist only in their memories.

Donna doesn't pretend to be some gilded authoress. She tells it like it is. Overall, this was an enjoyable look into the history of Bank Street and the culture of New York.

Big thank you to NYU Press + Netgalley for sending me a copy of this book!

Where we grew up plays an integral role in our lives, no matter how far we may roam from our roots. Florio roamed the world, but always found her way home on 63 Bank Street in Greenwich Village. Her book is a study of a close community with a cascade of colorful people. I enjoyed reading her neighbors stories. She name dropped many famous people she rubbed elbows with as a resident, many names I recognized. One of the most interesting tidbits was Charles Kuralts dual,life, something I was oblivious about so I had to look it up. It's a charming read of a microcosm amidst a city of millions. Florio gives a wonderful tribute to the Bank Street inhabitants.

A heartfelt biography of Bank Street, but also 63 Bank, the building the author has called home for her entire life. While she knows a number of famous residents, including Bella Abzug and Sid Vicious, this isn't the story of the names we know but rather the collective story of those who called Bank Street home in the second half of the twentieth century. My favorite was probably her neighbors Al and Lena for two very different reasons.

In parallel, this is the story of the Village and NYC during those years. The extension of Stonewall to the piers, the drag community, the AIDS crisis. And in later years, the closure of Amato Opera.

A really good read. My only quibble is that there are a lot of people and it's sometimes hard to keep track of all the names. A glossary of sorts would have been helpful.

This was a fun and almost too-good-to-be-true memoir, and I ate up every wild story. Donna Florio is a masterful and engaging storyteller, outlining all the stories of her many neighbors on Bank Street. If you've ever lived in NYC before, I think you'd especially appreciate this memoir about the Village. Thank you for the copy and for allowing me to review it!

Very entertaining, informative book about a block in NYC Greenwich Village. The stories of famous and everyday people who were part of the author’s childhood and adulthood are interesting, well told. A truly delightful read.

I love a good NYC story and this didn't disappoint! Cameos by famous people, dancers and just the regular denizens of NYC were in abundance. My major issue was that I wish it was chronological, it would have been easier to follow and piece together her life story if it was. I don't know her and it wasn't a conversation with her so I felt like a lot of the labor to follow the thread was on me. .

This memoir is such a beautiful, tender and heart breaking love letter to an incredible part of New York City. Donna Florio’s writing is so fluid, and her sense of humor and warmth resonate in these pages. Greenwich Village has undergone so many transformations over the years, and has seen so much change and uncertainty. The fabric of the community remains strong, undaunted, and resilient, despite the fact that the neighborhood has now priced out nearly everyone in the city. Florio writes of this city street with clarity, love and humor. This memoir resonated so strongly with me, especially right now in the midst of a pandemic that has been yet another battle for the people of Manhattan (and around the world). This was a wonderful breath of fresh air, and a reminder to never, ever count out NYC. There is no place like it.

What a terrific book....an insight into the many lives who lived in Greenwich Village on Bank Street
Donna Florio did an excellent job unfolding this story. I felt I was right in the neighbourhood experiencing all the colourful escapades.
I so enjoyed reading about all the people, their lives, and antics.

3.5 Wow! What a story! I was blown away with this one, Donna Florio's story was insane and really about her life growing up and living in New York during one of the most iconic time's in the 1970's history. I'm not a major nonfiction fan but this one was very unique.

If you love NY and its history this one is for you!
Thank you to Netgalley and NYU books for the advanced copy.

Read this if you:
· have ever wondered what secret lives your neighbours lead
· want to know what it’s like to be born and raised in New York City
· are curious about how a neighbourhood (and the people living in it) change and evolve over many decades

Synopsis:
This book is a memoir of life in a dynamic New York City neighbourhood, Greenwich Village. The author chronicles life on Bank Street where she was born, raised, and still lives decades later. Bank Street was also home to many other interesting characters whose stories the author also details. Raised by free-spirited parents and neighbours, Donna Florio experienced life among many different people, from activists to rockstars. She uses this book to detail their many lives and the culture that once filled Bank Street.

My thoughts on the book:
In a time where travel has been non-existent for over a year, I felt like this book really gave me what I’ve been missing. I felt pulled in by Donna’s descriptions of both her life and of Bank Street itself. I did find that it was more enjoyable to read about some of her neighbours than others but all of their stories really painted a thorough picture of the neighbourhood. I also appreciated Donna’s extensive knowledge about the neighbourhood and her neighbours. She was able to describe who they were and how they changed over time, which I found to be a very interesting piece to Bank Street’s puzzle.

I was quite intrigued by this book as I have an interest in all things New York. A memoir is not my usual genre, however I enjoyed the insights into growing up in New York and the changes in the Neighbourhood. I did find it a bit hard to follow as the time line was a bit all over the place. Overall and enjoyable read and one that I would not have considered before. #GrowingUpBankStreet #NetGalley

Very entertaining, informative book about a block in NYC Greenwich Village. The stories of famous and everyday people who were part of the author’s childhood and adulthood are interesting, well told. A truly delightful read.

I just loved this book, a real gem. It’s a vibrant compelling memoir about growing up and living on Bank Street, Greenwich Village, a place peopled by an often eccentric, always interesting, occasionally even tragic collection of vividly drawn characters, from the unknown to the well-known, from Broadway stars to AIDS victims, John Lennon to Sid Vicious, Jane Jacobs to Frank McCourt. All human life is here in all its multiplicity and variety. Honest, warm-hearted, non-judgemental, it’s a delightful and engrossing read.

I loved this book. The author manages to convey an authentic sense of time and place, with well written prose that will make you wish you lived in Greenwich Village in the fifties, sixties, and seventies. What fun it would have been to know the eccentric characters of Donna Florio's neighborhood.

This is an enjoyable book...fun times and some not so much. This book was sent to me by Netgalley on Kindle for review...it is nice to read about the lives of others and understand what growing up is about...enjoy this one.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of this beautifully written memoir. I've never been to Bank St or NYC, but the author made me feel as if I were immersed in the Village. She brought so many characters to life within the pages. You feel like you knew all of them after hearing their stories.

NetGalley ARC - Donna Florio’s debut novel is a stunning memoir full of tales from her childhood, growing up on Bank Street in the Greenwich Village neighborhood in New York City, as well as stories about her friends and neighbors collected over the years. Florio details the neighborhood and how it has evolved since her childhood; there are also several stories that take place before she was there to experience them, leading to a stunning history of the neighborhood over the entire 20th century. These vibrant narratives show the connection and community of this neighborhood, where the author grew up and has continued to live into her adulthood.

Arguably some of my favorite chapters include her childhood, where she shares in length about her time performing for the Metropolitan, which reminded me of Elizabeth Gilbert’s City of Girls, one of my favorite books.

I was skeptical about whether or not I would enjoy this book because my initial understanding of Greenwich Village in the modern era is that it tends to be very wealthy and I wasn’t sure if I would enjoy or identify with any of Florio’s stories. I’m very pleased to tell you that I was wrong. I’ve read over 60 books since the last time I’ve cried for a story or a character and Al’s did it for me. I was touched by their relationship and heartbroken by the end of the chapter.

If you’re interested in the history of New York City, or enjoy reading novels about the City in general, I would highly recommend this. I enjoyed the reflective narrative and was more enveloped and invested with each chapter. I hope to see more from Florio in the future, maybe some more tales from her neighbors on Bank Street.

Thank you to New York University Press for the Advanced Readers Copy.

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Growing Up Bank Street - Donna Florio
MARCH 09, 2021 IN BOOK REVIEWS, NONFICTION, MEMOIRS
I have my own personal NYC living stories, over a decade of people, lives, blocks, and streets: my home. NYC is and always will be the one place in the world where I really felt at home and always will. This is why I always jump on other people’s NYC stories and memoirs, because everyone has their own NYC, this city that changes constantly, and houses the most interesting people and lives (as well as the most everyday people and lives and everything in between). Donna Florio grew up on Bank Street through the middle of the 20th century, and has lived there on and off all of her life. Over the years she has collected the stories of many of her neighbors, some of them huge celebrities, others not, and Growing Up Bank Street is a collection of vignettes detailing the lives of these Bank St occupants.

I personally loved the stories of those who were not hugely famous, I often felt like I was coming back home again when I read about people arriving from here and there and making the street into their home, building friendships that would last beyond life itself. I lived on Sixth Ave between Houston and Bleecker for a while, right next door to the Little Red School House, and it was lovely to revisit that area in earlier times, because that corner, that block, has seen so many changes over the years, even between the 10 plus years when I lived there and now. I was less interested in some of the stories, and more interested in others, and I wish that the author had been able to speak more on how AIDS really devastated the community in the 80’s, and also how 9/11 changed so much, but I am also acutely aware of how traumatic both times were for her, and I’m sure not easy to talk about in detail. I also would have loved to see more pictures of the street itself over time.

In any case this is a great read for anyone interested in the West Village, NYC in general, individual NYC stories, and a good dose of old times nostalgia. Thanks to Donna Florio for giving us a peek into what Bank St in New York used to be!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

A memoir about Donna's life growing up on Bank Street in Greenwich Village NYC.

If you have ever walked or driven down a street and been curious about the people who live inside the houses and their history, this book is for you! Donna gives amazing detail of her neighbors and friends that lived on Bank Street. Enchanting tales of celebrities and the captivating lives of elderly neighbors, that all resided at some time or another from the 1960's - now, make this memoir unforgettable! She's a great story teller, I could listen to her tell them all day long. Prepare yourself to take a trip down Bank Street as if you lived there your whole life. I hope that she has another book in the making about all her travels.

I will definitely be adding a print copy of this book to my shelves!

I’m not totally sure that memoir is the right category for this book, but I can’t think of a word that would be a better fit. While the author did speak a little about her own experiences it was more the collection of the stories of her friends, neighbors, and chosen family on Bank Street in Greenwich Village. While I enjoyed the vignettes most of them were mere tastes of each person’s life. I liked the glimpses of the lesser known people much better than the more famous vignettes which felt a bit like name dropping as they tended to be less interesting. I also felt like in a few places the author went more biographical than I prefer, but in general this was an enjoyable book. I wavered between 3 and 4 stars and ended up rounding up because the concept was so creative and it was well written. I also really enjoyed the photos in the middle, but it was a little confusing to see pictures of people who had not been introduced yet.

TW/CW: child abuse/sexual assault, loss of a loved one, domestic violence

Growing Up Bank Street is a memoir written by Donna Florio exploring her time and her neighbors on Bank Street, a neighborhood in New York City’s Greenwich Village. She writes about her unique experience as the child of artists and growing in the New York opera scene along with the wacky and equally artistic neighbors of both her apartment building and on Bank Street, in general. I really enjoyed that Florio did deep dives into the stories of her neighbors and provided the reader with extra insight around the lives and unique stories told by these neighbors. This aspect of the book felt voyeuristic in the best way and felt similar to listening to gossip about people you’ve never met before. Along with the stories of these neighbors, Florio talks about different life-altering moments she had with each of her neighbors from discovering that a quiet neighbor isn’t a serial killer, but instead a prolific self-published writer to finding out the old woman down the street who turned her home into a halfway house was the inspiration for Auntie Mame, of literature, Broadway, and movie fame. After the first couple of chapters this book really picks up and Florio finds her stride in how she wanted to tell her story. Florio’s writing style is very descriptive and helps hold interest in her story. You can tell by the way Florio writes that she is a fantastic storyteller and that she holds her history in Bank Street dearly. I recommend this book to people who love to listen to gossip no matter who it is about and those who romanticize New York City, especially the New York of the past. Rating- ⅘

*Note: This book was provided to me as an E-ARC to review from @netgalley and @nyupress.

This is a wonderful story about New York history — specifically, one of my favorite streets in New York City, Bank Street. When I was a young aspiring actress in New York City, taking classes at HB Studio (#120), I would look at the perfect tree-lined block and wonder who lived in the beautiful brownstones in the best part of the West Village. Now, I wonder no more! The author has recounted a beautiful history of the street abd its residents dating back all the way to the 40s and 50s. I never knew, for example, that John Lennon and Yoko Ono lived in a nondescript apartment at #105. And that’s the the beginning. The author tells many wonderful stories about all the neighbors she grew up with on the famous street. Things get really interesting at the height of the Greenwich Village counterculture movement in the 1960s and 1970s.

I loved this book and wish every interesting street in New York had a book like this. Bank Street was the perfect setting for all of these interesting people and their stories. All the romance, intrigue and scandal you imagined about the Village in earlier days can be found here in bright prose with a lot of color.

Many thanks to NYU Press, NetGalley and the author for the ARC of this special book.

Growing Up Bank Street is an amazing book and memoir about life on Bank Street and all the amazing people who lived there.. Donna Florio grew up there knowing and singing opera, dumping water on John Lennon’s head, living by Sid Vicious and his drug overdose, living and knowing Auntie Mame, AIDS and it’s victims, and watching the World Trade centers crash and fall. This book makes you know you missed something extraordinary not being there. I look forward to reading more from Donna Florio.
Thank you NetGalley and New York University Press for a preview copy of this book.
@Netgalley @NewYorkUniversityPress @GrowingUpOnBankStreet

I was drawn to read this book for several reasons. The main one was the fact that when John Lennon and Yoko Ono first moved to New York City, they lived in an apartment at 105 Bank Street. Not only that, the author of this book, Donna Florio, saw them one day and had a humorous story to tell about it. Another thing is that when I was in the later years of high school, some friends of mine encouraged me to play hooky and take a bus and then a PATH Train to the village in NYC. This was scandalous behavior for me, a goody two shoes. But, these were the days when parents didn't get computerized phone calls about their children's absence from school. So, we met at the agreed meeting place, the main public library in town, and went off on our adventure. We purchased white capezio shoes in the village that were the rage at the time. Several decades later I now find NYC loud and chaotic and would endure it for a major concert, but can't wait for the car service to get me back home. One evening driving home from a concert my brother looked out the cab window at some NYC apartment and said, "the rooms are probably so small you have to go outside just to change your mind!" Although I feel very unsettled about being in NYC now, I am fascinated about people who live there and love reading about them.

Donna Florio has lived at 63 Bank Street in the village of NYC for decades. The book chronicles her life in that community which was chock full of various colorful artists and social activists. She delves deeply into some of their stories, which I connected to mostly when she became a part of them. As a child and as an adult, she interacted with this hodge podge of unique people, many of whom became like family. A big mention was the woman who was "Auntie Mame" who lived in an opulent but seriously neglected home on Bank Street. This woman had a big heart and a lot of offbeat hangers on she welcomed into her dilapidated brownstone. Her nephew Patrick Dennis based his wildly successful book on her which became a movie and Broadway musical.

Another brush with fame was washed up punk rock musician Sid Vicious. He lived right across the hall from Donna, shortly after the mess of his girlfriend Nancy Spungen's murder by stabbing. Sid had been let out on bail after being arrested for Nancy's murder. Having struggled with heroin addiction, this is what finally finished Sid off when he died at 63 Bank Street on February 2, 1979. When Donna stepped outside into the cold that morning as a favor to get her friend some cold medicine, she had no idea of the media storm she would face. For news reporters flanked the stairway as she exited the apartment, asking her about the Sid Vicious death. This was the first time she was hearing about it, and she was in total shock. She encourages people to look up the video on YouTube where she exclaims, "Oh my gawd!!!" in her NY accent...and I did!

Another famous neighbor was Charles Kuralt, journalist for "On the Road" segments on CBS. Ironically enough, the personal interaction with John and Yoko- although super cute and special-was probably the most brief biographical one in the book, but my main reason for picking it up!

As for Donna Florio the author, her parents were involved with a local neighborhood theater, and Donna herself was a childhood opera singer, although did not opt for this as a lifelong career. She became a teacher and was working in a school quite close to the World Trade Center at the moment of its attack. This caused her to suffer from extreme post traumatic stress disorder for a time and she did not want to leave the house.

I was particularly intrigued at the beginning of the book when she described the layout of the apartment she was born into, and how it had evolved through renovations over the years. She had lived in various apartments in the building as had other family members. I wasn't prepared to take a deep dive into some of the extended stories about notable people on Bank Street, but skimmed a bit through those pages. Overall this was a delightful read, because she is a wonderful and gifted writer, and also seems like a very nice person.

Thank you to NYU Press for providing an advance reader copy via NetGalley.

Growing Up Bank Street by Donna Florio is a brilliant and sparkling coming of age story about growing up in the historic, close knit but extremely diverse neighborhood of Greenwich Village in the middle of the last century. The author has tender and loving memories of the eccentric but caring, encouraging and supportive characters she encountered everyday. The neighborhood was made up of wealthy and affluent people who lived in elegant brownstones but right down the street were hard living, hard working blue collar families who were just as important in shaping Donna's childhood. This street was home to musicians, rock stars, beatniks, movie stars, artists and visionaries as well as the somewhat downtrodden neighbors futher down the same street. All of these people brought inspiration and color to Donna's everyday life as she learned about these people's eccentric lifestyles and rules for living life.
This eclectic environment gave Donna a most interesting and enjoyable life as she was told by Auntie Mame you are a "divine flame from the universe" and John Lennon laughed with her when she accidentally dropped water on his head as he walked by! And when Sid Vicious, who lived in the apartment next door overdoses and dies Donna must wake up and faces some of the dangerous choices she is making.
This enjoyable memoir has a colorful cast of characters who shaped this young, impressive,creative, ambitious and bright girl's daily life.

I have been in love with New York City since I was a child, so whenever I see stories that take place in this magical city I have to take the chance and read them.

This was a fascinating way to experience what New York City feels like or had felt like, from someone who actually walked the cobbled streets and spent her life there.

The entire story has a nostalgic feel to it, and I love that you get to experience New York City from back then. I know that the situation today is very different. This kind of picked me up and transported me into the past a bit, which I really like.

Who would like it? Everyone who loves New York, and once to hear about it from someone first hand.

One of my favourite memories of my trip to the US is a visit to the fabled Washington Square Park, with its reputation as hallowed ground for the counter culture and folk rock. It was as lovely as I imagined, as was Greenwich Village. I've always tended to romanticise Greenwich Village a bit because of its 60s reputation, and the wonderfully well written Mayor of Macdougal Street, so reading this was an absolute no brainier for me. This beautiful memoir written by Donna Florio, of her life in Greenwich Village, is her account from the perspective of a resident of The eponymous ( and famous) Bank Street, and attempts to, in a way, let daylight in on the magic! It's so well written she succeeds in further burnishing its reputation! What sets this apart is her lyrical account of a life that's sort of ancillary to the artistic world- her mother was an opera singer, her father a stage manager. The writer herself trained as a child to be an opera singer, and she writes very insightfully about how hard it is to succeed, and actually make a sustainable living from the arts. It's a completely de-romanticised view of the starving Bohemian, and actually makes quite a case for more public funding for the arts- someone who wants to make a career in the field should have access to affordable childcare, for instance. She gives you a historical overview of the neighbourhood, its founding, the environs, the immigrants who peopled it, the architectural styles favoured. She then takes you through her life, through a series of vignettes about her neighbours:some of them artists, some teachers, writers, some famous, all of them absolutely compelling to read about, and reveal a new facet to the neighbourhood. This could have been just another memoir of someone who lived among famous people and their idiosyncrasies, but Donna Florio is far too intelligent for that. Even her account of her hedonistic party days with Sid Vicious are tinged with melancholia rather than nostalgia. Hugely recommend this even if you're not interested at all in Greenwich Village- it's a fascinating read on the evolution of a neighbourhood and how the process of gentrification works.

Very grateful I got the chance to review this ARC, #NetGalley #GrowingupBankStreet

Donna Florio mixes up a smooth cocktail of historical background, nostalgic simplicity, gritty accuracy, and a splash of sentiment in her recollections and stories in Growing Up Bank Street. For readers who love nonfiction, history, and biographies; GUBS does not disappoint. Even if you’ve never experienced family life in a crowded, densely populated urban neighborhood, you can close your eyes and see, hear and smell, Greenwich Village from Donna’s youth.

She captures the vibrant, colorful stokes of its artist population, while dutifully making note of the disparity between the have’s and have nots, the survivors, the mentally ill, the do-ers, and the takers; and she does all of this from her genuine perspective of a full fledged, born and raised Villager. Her narrative is clean and concise, and she successfully pulls the curtain back to give us a view of a world we never knew but from her prose, can certainly imagine.

This is a great read. It left me longing to know more about the people, the characters, the world that was her world.

I loved this book! The authors life and the very interesting lives of her neighbors are very well told and makes you feel that you are along with her. Certainly different than my small town Oklahoma background! I am suggesting it to my brother a long time NYC resident

What a fascinating and entertaining look at a most unconventional childhood and neighbourhood. As someone who grew up in the "family homestead" in a small farm town, Florio's childhood could not be more foreign to me. Yet she makes the Village sound like a small town. The dangers are there, never whitewashed, but one forgets them when the next unique character is described. This reads like a love letter to the place and past, as well as memoir.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

Growing Up Bank Street by Donna Florio
Pub date: March 9, 2021

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5

If you love NYC, especially Greenwich Village, then this is the memoir for you. Florio is so passionate about where she grew up, she writes so tenderly about a place she loves. Florio describes, in detail, the many people she has encountered through her time at Bank Street. She talks about the famous and non famous neighbors through the years.

The only issue I had was that some of the thoughts seemed random or did not flow. There were a several parts where I thought, “Awesome, I can’t wait to hear what she has to say about that...” then there was no detail or there was a small amount of detail later in the book. Overall, if you enjoy memoirs, I would recommend this book.

A special thanks to @netgalley and @nyupress for the early approval to this e-ARC!

#netgalley #netgalleyreview #nyupress #booksbooksbooks #readmorebooks #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #readersofinstagram #readersofig #bookish #bookishlove #bookishlife #ereader

Thank you to NetGalley, New York University Press and Donna Florio for an opportunity to read this delightful book in exchange for an honest review.

The description of Growing Up Bank Street immediately appealed to me as I worked for NYU for years and often would wander through the streets of Florio's Greenwich Village during my lunch hour. I loved the author's chatty style and reading this was reminiscent of a series of visits with a friend. It is a study of a microcosm of a unique neighborhood and its inhabitants, in a city where most people only nod to their neighbors or ignore them completely. Florio give us a charming memoir of a neighborhood in constant transition, full of compelling characters that come to life with Florio's descriptions.

Thank you to Donna Florio for the labor of love that she has give to us. I couldn't put this book down and am eager to recommend this book to many others when it is published.

I loved this glimpse into the life of one New York neighborhood through the decades. Donna Florio paints a lively and vivid picture of Bank Street, a microcosm of the unique Village life but reflecting the larger social and cultural shifts happening around her. If you have lived in New York City for any amount of time, it's hard not to get swept up into the nostalgia. Each time I sat down to read a chapter, I felt like I was having a regular coffee date with the neighborhood storyteller.

This book has alot of history in it. Who knew all these events had taken place.
This book is told how it is without the airs and graces that some people but on. Donna childhood is something that a didn't expect and parts of it deeply sadden me. Donna knows so many people I was actually shocked. I adored the insights into Bank Street and it characters.
Thank you to Netgalley for the Arc and New York University Press.

Loved it - as a NYC native I can attest to the richness of this story, absolutely loved the narrative style.

I absolutely loved this book. I love the stories of all the people who lived on Bank Street in New York City. I loved the caring and flamboyant world and it made me happy that for the author she had all these wonderful people to share her life with. I'm not going to go into detail about all the friendships Florio talks about, because I don't want to ruin the book, but the ones that touch me most was her friendship Al (her neighbor across from her, John who lived upstair and wrote wonderful poetry or "Auntie Mame," who Roz Russell portrayed in a movie, and there are many more that will make you smile and feel happy inside. One more thing if you loved Greenwich Village when there were a lot of Mom and Pop stores this is the book for you.

I want to Thank NYU Press and NetGalley for an advance copy of this colorful book.

“This building of mine, I came to realize, this 63 Bank Street, holds the stories of America.”

This book is a treasure trove of memories from Bank Streets’ past. Reading it, I imagined I was sitting atop the steps of a brownstone, cup of tea in hand, chatting with a neighbor who had lived there for years and who was welcoming me to the neighborhood. Each chapter is loosely based off one of the authors neighbors that she remembers from a life on Bank Street. The pages are filled with rich histories of different decades, the changing neighborhood and times, glimpses into her parents life before the author is born, as well as, her own life experiences from childhood through adulthood.

I SO enjoyed getting to know the people In this book. As I think back on it, I can actually visualize them and can easily recall some of the tidbits shared about their lives.

Many thanks to the Donna Florio, NYU Press, and NetGalley for a digital copy of this book. I read and reviewed this voluntarily and opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own. This book is available for purchase in March 9th, 2021!

"And everyone who arrives, whether by birth like me or under a border fence or on a jet plane, makes their own story on their own Bank Street"

Thank you, Donna, for an amazing insight into Bank Street and its soul.

It has been a long time since I have read an autobiography, as I mentioned I was drawn to this book because of the cover, the title, and of course the wish to visit NYC once in the future. This is an account of many important people in New York, socialites, actors, actresses, artists... Donna has such a great talent for grabbing your attention, the stories follow one after another and you just can't stop reading.

Before I started reading I had some expectations, so, at times Donna's style can be descriptive and detailed, I personally liked that, because my imagination has just enough details to go wild and create those images in my head. I loved all the stories about her friends, some of them were more vivid than others, and I would have to say that I was amazed at how much love and care Donna writes about her neighbors. I think it's rare to have such a connection with neighbors nowadays, everyone seems to be running around and about, burdened with their problems, and I always thought of NYC as a place where people felt alienated, but Donna's stories proved me wrong. And I am glad that's the case, this memoir surpassed my expectations, and it was just what I needed at this time.

”This building of mine, I came to realise, this 63 Bank Street, holds the stories of America. We are linked across the decades, and far more than we know.”

This is a remarkable memoir of the friends, neighbours and visitors of Bank Street, Greenwich Village. Over the decades this Street in ‘The Village’ has housed actors, actresses, movie producers, rock and roll stars (John Lennon and Sid Vicious!), investment bankers, teachers, mothers, fathers and children. So much history and this memoir is told with detail and emotion around those individuals. It’s incredible that this street was so welcoming to all, lifelong friendships were made and never forgotten.

It’s interesting thinking about neighbourhoods and how friendships are established. Do you have friendships with your neighbours? Donna Florio narrated this so well, with each chapter about a new neighbour in the street. I’m super lucky to have been to New York City a few times so I could really picture her writing. I knew the buildings she was talking about and can imagine what it would have been like back in the early 1900’s. NYC is really an incredible city with so many stories so if you are in the mood for a non-fiction memoir, this would be a great pick! I mean who doesn’t love reading about New York!

I received an advance digital copy of this book through NetGalley.

Donna Florio grew up and still resides in the same apartment building on Bank Street in New York City. In this memoir, she does a beautiful job of sharing the heartache, joy, generosity, mystery, and love of her fellow friends and neighbors. I am blown away by the extensive research and interviewing required to memorialize so many people in such a deep and meaningful way. I’ve never read a book that made me feel so connected to strangers. She has lived amongst celebrities, music stars, artists, Broadway performers, and just regular people doing quiet but extraordinary things. I was especially touched by the stories of Jack Heineman Jr., Auntie Mame, Billy Joyce and Marty Braverman. If you have ever visited New York, you understand the special charm and energy that the city and its people provide. This book gives you a behind-the-scenes look at the magic.

This is a very interesting, enjoyable account of the author’s life growing up in New York’s Greenwich Village. The events and the characters she describes are colorful, unusual, and she paints a picture of how these people, from vastly different backgrounds, lived together as a family of sorts. I recommend this book to those who are familiar with life in NY, as well as those who might want to learn about it. My review on Goodreads is linked below.

I have wanted to visit New York for quite some time, so when I had the opportunity to read this, I was very excited by the prospect. The book was even better than I expected.

The author, Donna Florio, seems to have amazing recall that is apparent with all the fascinating details she shares of her life on Bank Street and the interesting people she met throughout her life. She includes a combination of famous people and ordinary folks. With chapters dedicated to some of the personalities that stand out the most, we learn about what their lives were like—how they interacted with others—and even those little eccentricities that make us all human.

Florio also shares details of her own upbringing in a family that was more than a bit dysfunctional, with a mother who at times didn’t hold back her thoughts that she would would have been better off without a child. Growing up in an age when parents didn’t hover over their children, she was free to explore and learned street smarts at an early age.

I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good memoir.

As someone who has never even been to New York, I am always very interested in learning about the city and love stories from the residents there. Memoirs are not always my thing, but I really enjoyed this one. The people profiled were intriguing and I wish I could move into Bank Street too. The story was told a little slower than I would prefer and not being from New York, there were some portions that were hard to follow. I could see this definitely being made into a Netflix show or series going more in-depth with all of the characters discussed!

Disclaimer: I received the ARC from the publisher through Net Galley. All opinions are my own.

An atmospheric book that gives the reader a look into life on NYC's Bank Street. I loved the emphasis on the fact that place makes the person, and how much of Donna's identity was shaped by this street. It was an engaging read-- starting off giving background info on Donna and her upbringing, then moving on to describe the individual characters she met that also lived on Bank Street. All together, the snapshots worked to bring Bank Street to life and created an image of home that was moving and powerful.

This was a very interesting look at Greenwich Village across the years of a young girls life. It has short stories of people who have lived there that she got to know. I loved the feel of this book. Sometimes a book will take you somewhere that you wouldn't have a chance to experience. This book does that. Loved it.

Donna Florio has written her memoir but has also written a history of New York. Not all of New York, but of a certain neighborhood, at a certain time. It's everything you want in a story - artists and families/adventure and love/sadness and growth.

Thank to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this lovely book.

I found this memoir to be wonderfully written! I’ve been eager to read and learn more about NYC neighborhood and culture. So I was stoked to come across this one! I would recommend.

Having worked in and around Greenwich Village in my twenties, I was quite interested in reading Growing Up Bank Street, a memoir by Donna Florio. The author grew up in the neighborhood and I was sure she could give me insight into the area, both past and present. I have an insatiable interest when it comes to the histories of the neighborhoods I grew up and/or worked in, so I figured Growing Up Bank Street was the book for me.
We are briefly introduced to Donna Florio herself, but mostly the information we receive about the author comes through her tales about the various denizens of the Village. Not that I minded. No offense to the author, but I really wanted to know what the Village was like while she was growing up and what it eventually turned into when I stopped visiting the area. Seeing it through her eyes and the eyes of the various people she encountered there was just fine with me.
And so we meet various artists, eccentric individuals, politicians, musicians, writers and the like. Having performer parents meant that Donna met many actors both on and off the stage, but I most enjoyed the stories she told about her neighbors – the Italian artist who eventually lost her mind and became a hoarder, former Sex Pistols star Sid Vicious who actually overdosed on heroine and died in the apartment next door, the woman Auntie Mame was based upon who lived down the street, the former sailor turned Broadway dancer who became an advocate and caregiver to fellow Bank Street members stricken by AIDS.
There were tales of how Donna’s mother was rescued by Charles Kerault (host of the television series On the Road) when her heel got stuck in the melting tar in the middle of Bank Street, the time she met John Lennon…by accidentally dumping water on his head as he walked by, the eccentric man who roamed the streets during the day in suits but wore a jester’s costume by night and so many more. As Donna grows from precocious child into adult, we see how the Village was just like my neighborhood of old – everyone looked out for everyone else. If one child was in trouble, all the mothers would band together to help. If a neighbor fell on hard times, everyone helped, from cooking meals to cleaning the house to mending clothes and more.
Most important to me was to see how the Village changed throughout Donna’s years living in the area. How tenement apartment denizens rejoiced at having their own bathrooms installed after having to share a public bathroom for years. How certain businesses closed and others opened. How various warehouses and factories became apartment buildings and more. It was interesting to read about how the Depression, World War II, the AIDS epidemic and 9/11 affected the people living on Bank Street as well as the growth of the neighborhood.
Anyone who has ever enjoyed what Greenwich Village has to author or has lived in or worked around the area and loves history will enjoy Growing Up Bank Street. Once you start reading, you can’t get enough. Definitely a must read for anyone from New York City.

I was born five years later and grew up 35 miles away, but it might as well have been on another planet. Donna Florio's childhood was the childhood that my parents were afraid that I would have. She was mugged several times. Crazy people on the street shouted obscenities at her. People of non-mainstream political and sexual proclivities were her neighbors.

It's easy to second-guess my poor departed parents now, but it seems like Donna Florio had a lot more fun than I had, repeated muggings notwithstanding. She certainly has better stories, which form this book and make for excellent story-telling. She knew Sid Vicious, Frank McCourt, Bella Abzug, Alan Arkin, Theodore Bikel, Charles Kuralt, Jane Jacobs, and a whole load of people who were less famous but often more interesting.

She sang in the children's chorus of the Metropolitan Opera.

She accidentally dumped some water on John Lennon's head. He was surprisingly gracious about it.

In addition to her personal recollections, Florio also did a lot of research on about residents of Bank Street before her own appearance on the scene. The book slides back and forth between history and memoir, often within the space of a single chapter. This was acceptable to me, but it may bother the sort of person who doesn't like their peas to touch their carrots.

Reading non-fiction often sends me down informational rabbit holes. Here's one this book caused me to explore:

Madeline Lee Gilford was an actress, producer, author, and neighbor of Donna Florio on Bank Street. After World War II, she was compelled to testify before the U.S. House Un-American Activities Committee about alleged Communist activity in the entertainment industry. At Kindle location 1879, the book says:

"When the committee members interviewed Madeline, a petite blond beauty, she demurely misheard and stonewalled every question …. She offered respectful but utterly oblique answers to members of the increasingly baffled committee members, staying sweetly but firmly in ditzy, wide-eyed character until her interrogators threw up their hands in despair."

Elsewhere, Florio says that a re-enactment of this scene (at Gifford's 2008 funeral) left people in stitches. I'm always in the market for a good laugh, so I searched for this historical moment and found Gilford's daughter and others re-enacting it on the cable news channel C-SPAN . The exchange did not seem to me as hilarious as Florio claims, but it was an undeniably courageous moment for Gilford to face down a bunch of fat sweaty hypocrites in the manner that she did. Watch it for yourself at this URL:

https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4695455/user-clip-lisa-gilford-reading-madeline-gilfords-huac-testimony

When older, I got to spend a few happy months in residence near Bank Street and enjoyed myself mightily, so I did not totally miss out on the fun myself. However, this neighborhood is now completely out of my tax bracket, just as it would be for most of the eccentrics, radicals, and artists who gave the neighborhood its original character and reputation. It's a shame, but at least this book captures a part of Manhattan which is gone forever.

In the end, I think Florio would agree with my Long-Suffering Wife, who once bought (ironically, at an upscale boutique near Bank Street) a Kindle-sized cloth carrier bag which bore the following message: “I liked New York better before everyone had so much money.”

I received a free advance review copy of this book from NYU Press via Netgalley, who enticed me, damn them, to forsake the pile of other books I have by featuring this book in a mass email about new memoirs.

I have read many historical books of various building, but I must say this book was over the top. Donna Florio writes a books of heartache, love, family and change. She tells a story of the famous people who buy various apartments on Bank Street. Growing up in a family that breaths opera twenty-four seven. She then tells us of the hippies, musicians, actors, Broadway performers that had crossed Donna's path as she grew up. She wrote how nice John Lennon was when he spoke to her. She then said how can he be with someone like Yoko. Sid Vicious living next door, how nice he was to her dad but then died of an overdose which changed the feeling on Bank Street. She wrote of the real Auntie Mame who told her never to give up on her dreams, The Broadway dancer she helped during the AIDS crisis as his many friends died.. She wrote of the horrors of 9-11 and how her life went out of sync because of it. Yet these different people helped her through these terrible times. Even when she divorced and moved away, she always found her way back to Bank Street.. Donna took us through the many decades of change and yet Bank Street is still there. I loved reading this book because the author lived it. Lived on this street, call these people family and showed us over time things change but they also survive. Thank you Donna Florio for writing a book of love, family heart ache and survival. Thank you NYU Press for approving me for this wonderful book.

It was fun to read about the diverse group of people living in the Greenwich Village on Bank Street. To read about the lives of different creative artists right from actors, rockstars, drag queens to the neglected the forgotten

It was refreshing to see that the author didn't hold back on describing the not so fun parts of living in that street.

I would recommend this book to whoever is interested in the history of new york and all it had and continues to offer

What a delightful read! Following Donna through her life on Bank Street was fascinating. A mini history of a part of New York City of which I was unaware, even though major players in the theater world were involved. I loved reading this book. Well written and easy to read.

Donna Florio has written a love song to New York& particularly Bank Street where she has lived her life.As a former New Yorker I had heard of Bank Street her neighborhood it was a well known Cole toon of buildings with a cast of characters all drawn to the block.From Charles Karult living a double life to other actors a cast of characters that formed the neighborhood.I enjoyed reading the intimate details of this community the author did ad great job bringing it and the occupants to life.Well written and researched,#netgalley#nyupress

Donna Florio grew up in a make-believe world in Greenwich Village in in the 1950s and 60s. Her memoir of life on Bank Street almost sounds like it can’t be real. But it has to be. No one could make up these people.

The book starts rather slowly, but it picks up. Bank Street apparently was a short street with elegant brownstones morphing to tenements the closer you got to the Hudson River. She starts by giving a quick overview. That sort of bogs down. But it picks up when she gets into details of her own life. We are contemporaries, but I don’t think I would have enjoyed the life she lived. She spends the latter half of the book profiling a number of the more interesting residents of Bank Street.

Overall, persevering through the slow start was worth the effort. I enjoyed what was obviously a labor of love for her.