Pest Control in Little Italy, Manhattan
Little Italy today is a compact stretch centered on Mulberry Street between Broome and Canal Streets, surrounded on most sides by Chinatown and Nolita. Red-sauce restaurants with sidewalk seating, cannoli bakeries and souvenir shops line the blocks, and the annual Feast of San Gennaro each September fills Mulberry Street with food stands and crowds. While the Italian-American population is much smaller than it once was, family-run businesses and churches keep traditions alive. Residents live in walk-up tenements above the restaurants, often alongside neighbors who have been in the same building for decades. The 6 at Canal Street and Spring Street and the J and Z at Canal Street serve the area.
Also known as: Mulberry Street.
About Little Italy
Beginning in the 1880s, hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Naples, Sicily and Calabria settled in the tenements around Mulberry Street, and by the early 1900s Little Italy stretched across dozens of blocks. The Feast of San Gennaro began in 1926. After World War II, many families moved to Brooklyn, Staten Island and the suburbs, and Chinatown gradually expanded into much of the old neighborhood, leaving the restaurant strip that remains today.
Common Pest Problems in Little Italy
Mulberry Street's concentration of restaurants means an enormous amount of food waste, and Norway rats take full advantage of curbside trash and outdoor dining setups. During the Feast of San Gennaro, temporary food stalls and crowds add even more pressure, and rats often become more visible in the following weeks. The old tenements share walls and basements, giving rodents routes from restaurant cellars into residential floors above. Restaurant cellars are the usual starting point.
Cockroaches are common in buildings where kitchens and grease traps sit directly beneath apartments, and mice find their way through gaps around old gas lines and radiator pipes. Pigeons feed on dropped crumbs in outdoor seating areas and roost on fire escapes and ledges, making bird-control measures useful for building owners. In the old brick basements and bathrooms, silverfish are common, especially where ventilation is limited. Old cellars stay humid year-round.