Like so much else in New York City, the new Italian American Museum now under construction in Manhattan got its start in Queens. As Dr. Joseph Scelsa, the founder and driving force behind the IAM, likes to point out, he got the idea and laid most of the groundwork for the museum while working at Queens College. “The idea was to show visitors that we are more than cannoli and pasta,” Scelsa told the Chronicle.

“But it all started in Queens.” Actually, Little Italy has had an Italian American Museum since 2008, when Sclesa, the former director of the John D. Calandra Italian-American Institute at Queens College, opened it in a storefront at Grand and Mulberry streets.