Vince Romano

 

Vince grew up in and is a product of the Legendary Taylor Street, Chicago's Little Italy, the port-of-call for Chicago's Italian American immigrants. Like many first generation Italian Americans, his identity was, in part, the creation of the neighborhood and its institutions.

 

Among those institutions was the Jane Addams Hull House, America's first settlement house. The Taylor-Halsted area became known as "The Hull House Neighborhood."  As early as 1895, Jane Addams and Ellen Starr described the inner core of the Hull House neighborhood as wall-to-wall Italians.

 

Later, armed with his post graduate courses, Vince hired on as a social worker with the Hull House. He also served as a counselor for the Hull House summer camp, the Bowen Country Club. Reversing roles, he now became a contributor to the fashioning of identities of waves of other first and second generation Italian Americans that followed him.

 

It is from this unique perspective, which evolved from having been both the recipient of and contributor to that Taylor Street phenomenon, which sets Vince apart from most writers of the Italian American experience. Vincent Romano is uniquely qualified as a writer of the Italian American experience!

 

The Taylor Street Archives reflects his distinctive perspective of a time, a place and a people that were and will never be again. While sometimes lacking political correctness, it strives for historical accuracy. The Taylor Street Archives was designed to go beyond family values and the work ethic so often espoused by those who report the Italian American experience.

 

Former President of the Gregorians, an association of Italian American Educators, Vince left the college ranks in 1983. He entered the Financial Services industry. Holding the title of Senior Vice President at Morgan Stanley, he is the senior member of the Romano Group, which services the financial needs of businesses and the investment needs of individuals.  His avocation, as well as his passion, is the preservation of a time, a place and a people who were and will never be again - the Taylor Street Archives.

 

While Vince Romano is the primary source of the essays and stories to be found in the Archives, a host of people have directly or indirectly contributed to the Archives, as writers and or corroborators.

 

The biographies of other contributors are also recorded in these Archives. They can be located via the search engine. The stories that Vince wrote, or contributed to, were the result of resurrecting the memories of those who had lived the Taylor Street experience.

 

Some were enthusiastic enough to contribute their own stories. Others simply reached into their memory banks and gave their version of growing up Taylor Street...a time, a place and a people that were and will never be again.

 

I mention a few of the contributors at this time:

Luke Capuano, writer

John Parise, contributor

Ralph Di Lorenzo, contributor

Fred Mancini, writer

Nick Balice, contributor

Eleanor Camardo, writer

Frank Caruso, contributor

Joe Esposito, contributor

Mike "Wacker" Alesia, contributor

Sarah Loconte, writer,

...and a host of others whose brains were picked in order to tell our story as we had lived it.

 

All inquires and correspondence for Taylor Street Archives, please click here.

Copyright, 2009, Vince Romano, All Rights Reserved

Maintained by Curtis Schalek & Associates