If you go to my digital library mia5.com you will see 65,000 photos that I have taken and edited them out of 300,000 yes I went to hundreds of parties events some pretty wild soirées fashion shows you name it I was there I also stood on different street corners for hours at a time photographing Real people fashion emotion and expression this has been an art project still in the works I am still editing digital chips and negatives after 35 years you can also go to my fine-tuned website portraitsofnewyork.com

Between my great uncle Sal and myself we probably have taken 1000 photographs of my grandfather Captain Tony because of his adventures out at sea and of course his bar the original Hemingway bar in between his smuggling trips to Cuba and working for the CIA during the Bay of Pigs there was lots of other crazy things going on this was no ordinary Captain Tony fishing trip to San Diego Bay in Cuba We’re talking CIA agents assault rifles lots of ammunition And for his own personal use five giant kegs of incredible rum

After publishing dozens of postcards and posters in key west and working for the newspaper there it was a great seven year run 1976 through 1983 it was time to move on to the Big Apple One of my first rides into the city in 1983 I took this photo sold it and published it for many years after 911 I took it off the market I called it the road to Oz

Hell of a day that day my dad and I had to meet my grandfather at the bar and who stopped in Mel Fisher I got to hang out and drink with the big boys my grandfather who very rarely drinks started with Scotch and water so my dad and I had to drink the same Mel started pounding down Bacardi and Coke’s we all ended up walking over to the two friends bar We had to send my grandfather home in a cab we had that bar rocking Key West the way it was

I cropped this Image out of one of my great uncle Sal‘s original glass slides the guy screaming in the background is my grandfather Captain Tony the year 1945 If you go further into this category you will see hundreds upgrade images all taken by and my great uncle Sal, Captain Tony and myself lotta great stories go with these photos and some of them go back to the mid-20s that my great grandfather Luigi has taken you might see some missed spelled words Or disorganize sentences we will be editing the story soon

This is my great uncle Sal’s second Mask Photography in Manhattan 1938 on this category on this site you will see over 300 images pertaining to my families photography The images go back as far as the early 20s some of them my great grandfather Luigi took you will also see a lot of misspelled words we’re having a big problem with the spellcheck on this site So bear with us

My great uncle Sal play the piano and then his mind when he act in night clubs all over the country as far back as the late 20s something he always did which was pretty cool when he without a break he would go behind the bar and take pictures of the customers I have thousands of them large format negatives 60 years worth This is just one random one

One of my favorite portraits I took at Saint Vincents hospital in New York my great uncle Sal just had his fourth heart attack I am Captain Tony flew in from Key West I picked him up at the airport and also picked up great uncle Joey we all went to visit Sal I took my large format camera with me to take a couple photos my great uncle Sal knew the camera very well he was impressed it made me very proud after visiting uncle Sal in the hospital my dad right uncle Joey and Captain Tony we all took off to the race track at the Meadowlands I got to gamble with the big boys I’ll post some pictures during the week of all of us at the track

Between my mother and my father I have over 24 aunts and uncles 90% of them are some pretty wild Italians mostly Jersey shore and then of course you have the Elizabeth New Jersey gangsters so I was raised with a lot of interesting mentors I have to admit this is why I hate turned out this way this is my great uncle Joey born 1925 golden glove boxer 42nd St. hustler and one of those hustling pool players that’s with Jackie Gleason liked about him uncle Joey was also in a couple bands That played on the Jackie Gleason show twice in Miami at Sullivan show in New York and mini Yankee games great uncle Joey took me under his wing wayback in the mid-70s in Key West his band play at his older brothers bar Captain Tony saloon as the years went bye I got to spend a lot of time with him in New York City before he passed away he had an apartment in the village for over 50 years He married one of the top belly dancers and stay married to her for over 50 years before his death a lot of the stor

What you’re looking at here is really cool it is an original glass slide which is 8 x 10“ it is my great uncle Sal’s first professional promo picture 1929 she was 18 years old he was booked in some major nightclubs in Chicago and New York city as the world juniors mind reader and piano player he just was released from Rahway state prison there was a juvenile section back then he was set up on some attempted robbery charges they planted the gun and his piano and Elizabeth New Jersey The people that said him up never got to live to tell about it Crazy true story you’ll read about it in our book the Terracina masquerade and don’t stare at this photo too much especially his eyes

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