My Meeting with Tony Dap, The Mayor of Greenwich Village

By Lynn Pacifico

The Tony Dapolito Rec Center is in jeopardy due to neglect. Facing the possibility of losing the landmark center, I want to say a few words about “Tony Dap” as many people from the neighborhood called him. He was raised in an era before television. In the earlier half of the twentieth century, people spent their spare time reading, listening to the radio and interacting with others, especially in parks and on stoops. In the evening, the family gathered to eat together, exchanging little intimacies and news. The Village was built around family customs by generations who valued family above all else.

Families and communities had more of an identity then and were tight-knit, relying on each other for help, as opposed to government agencies. There was security in belonging to your family, block and neighborhood as people felt that they were part of something bigger and more powerful than themselves. Each contributed, in their own way, to the whole.

These customs and values are what shaped Tony. Born in 1920,  Tony reminds me of my father’s father. He looked, dressed, and spoke with similar expressions and pronunciations. Tony wielded power artfully and his leadership position in the neighborhood seemed natural. He carried such sway that he was dubbed the “Mayor of Greenwich Village.”

Tony chaired the Community Board 2 Parks Committee. In Tony’s AM New York obit, CB 2 District Manager Arty Strickler said, “There is not a park in Community Board 2 that Tony did not get built, renovated, fixed up.” The recreation center was named after Tony to honor his leadership and the good he accomplished for our district.

I first became aware of Tony in the early 1990s. That’s when I began lobbying for dog owner recreation facilities after we lost the use of our last off-leash area at the JJ Walker Field.

I remember a meeting where changing the use of Seravalli Playground was on the agenda. Several very tall male basketball players filed into the room. They didn’t talk, smile or sit. They just stood in the back. Tony took one look at them and dismissed Seravalli from the agenda. He wasn’t going to waste his or anyone else’s time, as the community had spoken without uttering one word.

“Mr. Dapolito and powerful allies like Eleanor
Roosevelt and Jane Jacobs successfully fought to
remove traffic from the park and stop a freeway planned for
Lower Manhattan. But in more than half a century of membership
on his community board, he waged day-in, day-out battles for
parks and other amenities in the Village and adjoining
communities that were at least as important as his earlier fights.”
— New York Times obituary

The Vesuvio Bakery on Prince Street was opened by Tony’s parents. As their oldest child, Tony held a lot of responsibility and, as a boy, delivered bread in a horse-drawn wagon. The bakery became his place for all kinds of business. I went there in the nineties to ask for his support in gaining dog owner recreation facilities.

I began by explaining that my family was from the neighborhood as I wanted him to know that I was not from somewhere else trying to impose ideas that don’t belong here. I told him about my great grandmother who drove a horse-drawn wagon to deliver bread in the neighborhood and that she kept a club under the seat in case anyone gave her trouble. Tony didn’t say anything but stepped back to move an apron hanging on a hook behind him, exposing a club. Then he said, “That club was my mother’s.” Neither of us spoke for a minute letting the reality of our shared history and the probability that our families knew each other, sink in. 

Then I explained that civic leaders need to understand that dog ownership was on the rise, that people are putting off having babies and getting dogs instead and that we needed adequate recreational facilities. I stressed that dogs are not a luxury and that it has been well proven that interaction with dogs provides huge physiological benefits, including companionship for people who live alone. I added that visiting dog parks is a free daily activity that connects seniors and all users to their community. I knew that was very important to Tony. 

He listened and I felt heard. I noted a kind fatherly feeling coming from him and, in fact, Tony seemed to have affectionate relationships with the people who came in to buy bread as we spoke. He could have just as well been called the “Godfather of Greenwich Village.” I will never forget our meeting. I will never forget him.

Tony, and the smell of freshly baked Italian bread which filled the bakery, reminded me of my grandfather, bringing back feelings and memories from long ago. I wish that I had gone to visit him sooner. 

On July 5, 2003 we lost Tony to a stroke a day before his 83rd birthday. I cannot imagine what Tony would say if he knew what has been done to our parks and neighborhood since then.  The recreation center representing his legacy of public service and the community atmosphere and tradition that he brought to bear at the center, are too valuable to destroy.

---

Lynn Pacifico, a fourth generation villager, dog and parks activist, writes about New York City and its dogs.

---

City Wants to Spend $52 Million to Demolish Rather than Restore the Tony Dapolito Rec Center

RALLY Sunday, June 1 at 2 pm

By Village Preservation

First they told us there was no money to repair or to even study repairing the historic Tony Dapolito (formerly Carmine Street) Recreation Center, which the City has let rot and remain closed for five years. Now Mayor Adams says he has $52 million to spend on the Center, but ONLY to demolish it, rather than to restore and modernize it. We say No — Save The Tony Dapolito Recreation Center!

After years of false claims that the landmarked Center was beyond repair, the City has finally revealed that they have tens of millions of dollars to repair it — but ONLY want to spend it on demolition and “reimagining” JJ Walker Park. This is an outrageous insult — to the memory of community leader and preservationist Tony Dapolito; to the generations of New Yorkers who used and found community at the center, and those who still want to; and to everyone who cares about preserving history and landmarked buildings, which the City thinks should be demolished once you no longer want to deal with repairing or maintaining them.

Village Preservation is instead demanding that the $52 million Mayor Adams has allocated in his proposed 2026 budget be used to restore and modernize the historic Tony Dapolito Center, and that the City Council provide any additional funds needed to ensure the building is reopened — see our testimony at the City Council budget hearings, and our joint letters with downtown community organizations and city and state preservation organizations to City officials.