Casa Amadeo, antigua Casa Hernandez explained

Casa Amadeo, antigua Casa Hernandez
Location:786 Prospect Ave., Bronx, New York
Coordinates:40.8192°N -73.9014°W
Built:1905
Architect:Meehan, James F.
Architecture:Renaissance
Added:March 23, 2001
Area:less than one acre
Refnum:01000244

Casa Amadeo, antigua Casa Hernández is the oldest, continuously-occupied Latin music store in New York City, and the Bronx, having opened in 1941.[1]

Casa Amadeo is located in a historic apartment building located in the Longwood section of The Bronx, New York. Designed by James F. Meehan, the apartment building was built in 1905 and named The Manhaset. The building is a six-story, Neo-Renaissance style building with commercial storefronts on the first floor. The lower two stories are faced with rusticated stone and the upper floors in red brick. It features a projecting entrance porch flanked by Corinthian order columns.[1] The building is managed by local grassroots organization Banana Kelly, which has rehabilitated and maintained buildings in Longwood since the 1970s.[2] [3]

History

The first Puerto Rican owned music store in New York City, Almacenes Hernández was founded by Victoria Hernández and her brother Rafael Hernández at 1724 Madison Avenue in 1927. Almacenes Hernández was sold to record producer Luis Cuevas in 1939.[4]

The second music store founded by the siblings, Casa Hernández, was founded in 1941. It was sold in 1969 to musician and composer Miguel Angel "Mike" Amadeo, who renamed it Casa Amadeo, antigua Casa Hernández. Mike Amadeo still owns and operates the music store.[5]

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.

Miguel Angel Amadeo

Miguel Ángel Amadeo
Background:group_or_band
Birth Name:Miguel Ángel Amadeo Vicente
Occupation:musician, composer, music store owner.
Years Active:1954––present
Label:Alegre Records, Fania Records

Miguel Angel Amadeo, better known as "Mike" Amadeo, is a Puerto Rican musician and owner of the Casa Amadeo music store in the Bronx. Amadeo, born in Bayamon, Puerto Rico is the son of composer Alberto "Titi" Amadeo,[6] a musician who played with Cuban bandleader Desi Arnaz for NBC.[7] He is the uncle of Grammy Award-nominated musician Tito Nieves. Mike Amadeo is a prolific composer, with nearly 300 songs to his credit, performed by artists such as Celia Cruz, Danny Rivera, and Cheito Gonzalez.[8]

In 1954 Amadeo took a trip to Puerto Rico. While there he met pianist Rafael Ithier, who was working for bandleader Rafael Cortijo. When Cortijo's group fell apart, Ithier formed El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico, and Amadeo began contributing music to the Gran Combo, including Amadeo's best known song - Que Me Lo Den en Vida (Give it to Me in Life).

Back in New York City, Amadeo joined Alegre Records, and associated with the first generation of Nuyorican musicians including Johnny Pacheco, Ray Barretto and the brothers Eddie Palmieri, and Charlie Palmieri.

With his long residency, and personal connections to the Latin music community, Mike Amadeo is known as a community historian.[9] For his contributions to Puerto Rican music and the Bronx, Mike Amadeo has been honored by the National Puerto Rican Day Parade in 2008,[10] [11] a Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture concert in 2005,[12] and by the Bronx Council on the Arts in 2010.[13] In 2014, the corner of Logwood Avenue and Prospect Avenue was renamed Miguel Angel "Mike" Amadeo Way.[14]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: National Register of Historic Places Registration: Casa Amadeo, antigua Casa Hernandez. November 2000. 2011-01-12. Kathleen A. Howe. New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. https://web.archive.org/web/20121018194401/http://www.oprhp.state.ny.us/hpimaging/hp_view.asp?GroupView=625. 2012-10-18. dead. See also: Web site: Accompanying 10 photos. 2011-01-16. https://web.archive.org/web/20121018194415/http://www.oprhp.state.ny.us/hpimaging/hp_view.asp?GroupView=623. 2012-10-18. dead.
  2. News: Ricciulli . Valeria . The South Bronx Music Shop That's Surviving on Guitar Sales . October 13, 2020 . The Strategist . New York Magazine . August 20, 2020 . en-us.
  3. News: Beekman . Daniel . Will Banana Kelly make blocks more appeeling in South Bronx? . October 13, 2020 . nydailynews.com . August 2, 2011.
  4. Book: Martínez. Elena. Knight. Franklin W.. Gates, Jr. Henry Louis. Dictionary of Caribbean and Afro–Latin American Biography. 2016. Oxford University Press. Oxford, England. 978-0-199-93580-2. Hernández, Victoria (1897–1998), Latin music entrepreneur.
  5. Web site: Casa Amadeo, antigua Casa Hernández. National Park Service. 27 June 2017.
  6. Web site: Fernandez. Manny. Honoring Pop and His Palace of Latin Soul in the Bronx. The New York Times. 25 December 2017. 14 November 2005.
  7. Book: Rendell. Matt. Salsa for People Who Probably Shouldn't. 2011. Random House. 9781780571706. 26 December 2017. en.
  8. Web site: Parker. Sydney. S. Bronx store remains go-to spot for Latin music fans. NY Daily News. 25 December 2017. en. March 6, 2010.
  9. Web site: Siegal. Nina. In the Footsteps of Mambo Kings. The New York Times. 25 December 2017. 8 September 2000.
  10. Web site: Mike Amadeo - Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños. centroweb.hunter.cuny.edu. Center for Puerto Rican Studies. 25 December 2017. en.
  11. Web site: Vega. María. Music icon Mike Amadeo gets overdue recognition. NY Daily News. 25 December 2017. en. June 3, 2008. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20200915024602/http://www.nydailynews.com/latino/latin-music-icon-mike-amadeo-overdue-recognition-article-1.291833. 15 September 2020.
  12. Web site: Hostos Center Honors Composer and Music Store Propietor – Mike Amadeo – CUNY Newswire. www1.cuny.edu. Hostos Community College Center for the Arts & Culture. 25 December 2017. en. November 3, 2005. https://web.archive.org/web/20170812022021/https://www1.cuny.edu/mu/forum/2005/11/03/hostos-center-honors-composer-and-music-store-propietor-mike-amadeo/. 12 August 2017. dead.
  13. Web site: Bronx Council on the Arts Honors Mike Amadeo. bronxarts.org. The Bronx Council on the Arts. 25 December 2017. May 20, 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20100918131905/http://bronxarts.org/documents/BCAHonorsMikeAmadeo.pdf. 18 September 2010. dead.
  14. Web site: García Conde. Ed. Street Renaming This Saturday in Honor of Miguel A. (Mike) Amadeo, Owner Of Oldest NYC Latin Music Store. Welcome2TheBronx™. 25 December 2017. 7 May 2014.