Vincent also known to his friends and family as ”Buster” was the son of Southern Italian immigrants, who established a well-known cobbler business in the ghetto district of Seattle in the turn of the century. As one of the first families in “Garlic Gulch”, they nurtured a budding opera company that provided a cohesive fabric for the germination of a rich Italian American culture and tightly knit community. In the 1970s, the neighborhood was demolished to make way for I-5, a freeway that would connect downtown Seattle with its western suburbs.
Through the stories of his grandchildren, children and photographs, Buster not only explores the singing career of a working class Italian American man, it also confronts differing perspectives on the struggles of immigration and gentrification. This short portrait film is a glimpse of an Italian American community now vanished.