Albert ( Nails ) Agostini
 
 

    I wrote a tribute a few years back about another member of this rather exclusive gathering of men from a generation and a community that now only exists in the memories of those that lived and grew up there in the latter half of the 20th Century. They suffered through Wars and poverty and prejudices with equal amounts of grace and indignation. They stood in their ‘clubs’ and on street corners always ready to enjoy each others company and swap tall tales and some absolute lies all for a laugh. I learned here that the only time it was acceptable to lie was when it was funny or to praise a friend. But there was always that underlying knowledge that any of these groups of men were always at ready to defend the neighborhood against any and all intruders.

      Nails was as close to a Giant among these men as any of them could be considered. He was the absolute persona of how and why these “Immortals of 49th Street’ came to own their reputations. He walked down the Street with his chin up and a large bold smile on his face. He didn’t walk past a single mop topped kid without giving it a scruff and never passed a lovely girl of any age without a warm greeting and that smile. I have heard  my own mother  refer to him as the “Best Looking Man in the Neighborhood” and always followed it by comparing him to Burt Lancaster

      In a recent discussion with his daughter, Angela, we declared that the best way to determine the “Immortals’ was by the sheer fact that they, not only,  had a nickname but that nearly every member of their family lived the better part of their young lives under the shadow of that same moniker. My sisters and I were often referred to as  “Joe the Hat’s Kid” or simply “Little Hat”. How many times did I walk the narrow streets we lived on with Albert Jr. and hear some  older guy yell out at us  “Yo!…. It’s Little Hat and Little Nails” I am certain that I have heard every one of his offspring  called by their given name followed by ‘Nails’ as if it was accepted to be their Last Name.

      These “Immortals” as I have grown to learn, had larger than life reputations as the Big Fish in our Little pond. They knew it and they did everything they needed to live up to the billing. On July 24, 2010, Nails passed away after a term of suffering that was almost too long  for his family to bear. They  will carry his legacy well into the New Millennium because so many of them have never outgrown that Nickname. When I was in the area for a ‘reunion party’ in April I saw my old buddy Albert Jr. and wasn’t the least bit surprised to hear so many greet him with that familiar ..
  “Yo!  … Nails”