Can Little Italy be revived?
01/04/04 BY ANNIE SWEENEY Staff Reporter Chicago Sun Times From atop the new National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame –sweeping city skyline to the right, imposing hospital district to the left– George Randazzo sees big things. It’s a windy day on the newly built terrace, where Randazzo hopes to one day host weddings and other events. The basement theater named in honor of Frank Sinatra could draw the likes of Italian Americans like Ray Romano and Jay Leno. But what Randazzo is imagining today is four stories below on Taylor, the neatly manicured spine of Chicago’s Little Italy. He sees Italian groceries and bakeries reopening here. And families coming back to restore some of the old character to a neighborhood that some fear has already lost its identity — like many Italian enclaves across the country. “This was the reason we came to Taylor Street,” said Randazzo, whosegrandfather opened a bakery there in 1925. “This is Little Italy. You can’t change the history, and anyone w
