in the street because much of the sidewalk and all of the gutter is taken up with vendors' stands." For the urban reformer Jacob Riis, Mulberry Bend epitomized the worst of the city's slums: "A Mulberry Bend Alley" contrasted with "Mulberry Bend becomes a park" were two of the photographs illustrating Jacob Riis's call for renewal, The Battle with the Slum (1902). In response to reformers such as Riis, the city in the 1890s bought out many of the slumlords and replaced tenements with Columbus Park. Notable buildings The Puck Building stands near the north end of the street on the southwest corner of Houston Street. Further south is Saint Patrick's Old Cathedral, standing in its churchyard. Church of the Most Precious Blood, at 113 Baxter Street, was built by Italians, who as new immigrants were not allowed to worship in the main Churches of Transfiguration nor St. Patrick's Old Cathedral. Below Prince Street (no, 247) is the former Ravenite Social Club, where wire taps acquired evidence that sent John Gotti to prison. An Italian-American Museum is at 155 Mulberry and Grand Street. Culture Social structure The New York Times sent its reporters to characterize the Little Italy/Mulberry neighborhood in May 1896: They are laborers; toilers in all grades of manual work; they are artisans, they are junkman, and here, too, dwell the rag pickers....There is a monster colony of Italians who might be termed the commercial or shop keeping community of the Latins. Here are all sorts of stores, pensions, groceries, fruit emporiums, tailors, shoemakers, wine merchants, importers, musical instrument makers....There are notaries, lawyers, doctors, apothecaries, undertakers.... There are more bankers among the Italians than among any other foreigners except the Germans in the city. Feast of San Gennaro During the Italian-American festival of the Feast of San Gennaro each September, the entire street is blocked off to vehicular traffic for the street fair. The San Gennaro Feast began in 1926 and continues . It is the largest Italian-American Festival in New York and possibly the United States. In popular culture Manhattan's Mulberry Street has been the subject of books, films, and music. For example: Books The King of Mulberry Street, by Donna Jo Napoli. A young boy in the 1890s travels alone from Napoli (Naples), Italy to New York, where he settles on Mulberry Street. Films In the movie Donnie Brasco (1997), the character "Lefty" (based on real-life