Mirabito, originally uploaded by dailyheights.com.

It’s such an odd little island of retail storefronts in an otherwise residential location… and from the looks of this photo that
cbukster just posted on the Prospect Heights Message Board, it was home to at least one amazing shop, at 180 Underhill Ave.

Just take a look at that place. No offense to the current line-up of bodegas and bulletproof Chinese takeaways… but if Mirabito Market was there today, is there anywhere else in Prospect Heights that you would rather shop??

The story starts like this: “Salvatore and Mary Mirabito, my great grandfather and grandmother, came to America in the late 1800’s from the small town of Salerno on the west coast of Italy…” More…

cbukster has a direct personal connection to the photo. His father was part of the Mirabito family and worked as a delivery boy, “taking packages on bicycle to the once majestic apartments on Eastern Parkway, gathering tips of nickels along the way for his trouble. Soon this delivery boy, Gil, Jr., would look toward the future and begin to imagine his own path in this world. Thanks dad.”

…Waiting for the “before/after” remix to appear on the Prospect Heights Message Board