BronxNet’s OPEN magazine show filmed live from the Arthur Avenue Market in an amazing and colorful tour of its Italian food vendors.
BronxNet, the borough’s public access television outlet, sent its culinary ambassador Baron Ambrosia and OPEN host Rhina Valentin to interview many of the vendors at the Arthur Avenue Market, located at 2344 Arthur Avenue, on Friday, December 3. They were joined by BronxNet’s executive director Michael Max Knobbe, as they celebrated the 70th anniversary of the indoor market.
It marked the second time in as many weeks that OPEN has hit the road during the holiday season. On Saturday, November 27, OPEN filmed at nearby Fordham Plaza as the show captured the spirit of the holiday shopping season.
“OPEN is the BronxNet magazine show that is live in the morning on your channels,” Knobbe said. “We broadcast from Lehman College. During the holiday season, we have been going out on the road. This week we are celebrating the Arthur Avenue Market with some of the great people here. We are finding out about an authentic Little Italy.”
Valentin and Ambrosia went from vendor to vendor in the market, which originally opened with 117 pushcart vendors when Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia decreed that all push carts should be taken off the streets and stored in a central location.
Today the tradition continues with vendors who sell a greater variety merchandise than ever before.
“No matter what nationality you are, everyone loves Italian food, clothes, pastries, eateries and everything,” said Giovanni Paolo of the Arthur Avenue Market Pasticceria during the filming.
Valentin interviewed Mike Greco, the owner of Mike’s Deli; Pasquale Boiano of the produce distributor Boinano Foods, Inc.; and Richard Liberatore of Joe Liberatore’s Garden of Plenty, among others.
The show, featuring authentic Italian music, will air on Friday, December 9 at 7 p.m. on Channel 67 and FiOS channel 33. It will re-broadcast on Saturday, December 10 at 1:30 p.m. on the same channels.
