BEg2 ch26 Slagiattis

[Michael Bailey]

“Cornelia was equally stunned to find that the Slagiattis, most of whom
were distributed along a suburban archipelago well east of the Nassau line,
and for whom the closest thing to an Italian feast was to order in from
Pizza Hut, did not “do warmth,” even among themselves, regulating the
children, for example, not with the genial screaming or smacking around one
might have expected from an adolescence spent at the Thalia watching
neorealist films but with cold, silent, indeed one must say pathological
glaring.”



The Thalia - there are several, but I think it’s this one:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_Space


The Thalia Theater was built by the experienced theater architect Raymond
Irrera, and his novice assistant, Ben Schlanger. Schlanger introduced
numerous innovations, including the "reverse parabolic" design for the
floor.

After World War II, the Thalia gained a reputation as an arty repertory
film theater. Its regular patrons included Woody Allen, Peter Bogdanovich,
and Martin Scorsese. Woody Allen used it in Annie Hall.

The Thalia closed in 1987, its future clouded by disputes between Symphony
Space and various developers.[7]
<https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_Space#cite_note-7> After Symphony
Space won, the Thalia reopened briefly in 1993 and again in 1996. In 1999,
Sheffer had the Art Deco interior gutted as unsalvageable, angering some
neighborhood preservationists. The interior was used as a staging area for
construction of a 22-story apartment building above Symphony Space.
Afterwards the interior was rebuilt as a theater again, and in 2002 the
space was re-opened as the Leonard Nimitz Thalia, acknowledging the actor's
financing.



         Nassau Line - is a north-south subway line, right?

But then there’s these blog articles
https://forgotten-ny.com/2011/06/queens-nassau-line-part-1/
https://forgotten-ny.com/2011/06/borderline-crazy-queens-nassau-ii/
https://forgotten-ny.com/2011/06/queens-nassau-line-part-3/

about some affable bloke’s wandering along the borderline of Queens and
Nassau, with a lot of engaging detail.

Any New Yorkers willing to contextualize?

Stray thought: East of the Nassau Line is towards the sea - there’s
something in early part of GR about the expendable preterite of London
dwelling closer to the sea & to invaders.