“The finest place to live", Mr. Bennett, 82, said as he showed a reporter his favorite haunts. “Ive been all over the world Paris and Florence and Capri and yet I come back here and I like this better than any place Ive ever lived."
Mr. Bennett lives on West 57th Street in Manhattan now, but visits his old neighborhood regularly, and it seems to transport him back in time to when hed stare longingly at the shimmering skyline of Manhattan across the East River. It is only a 15-minute subway ride away, but to a young Anthony Dominick Benedetto, the son of an Italian immigrant grocer, it loomed large and distant like Oz.
When you'd see this big city, youd say, Boy, someday wouldnt it be great to become famous in that great city there? he said, standing where Astoria Park meets the East River and overlooks the skyline. Heading back down 21st Street, he pointed out Riccardos by the Bridge catering hall and said, I worked as a singing waiter there.
He had come on this drizzly afternoon to tour a sleek new building that, in September, will become the new home of the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, a public school of 640 students that has been operating in nearby Long Island City since 2001.
Mr. Bennett, his wife, Susan, and their Exploring the Arts foundation helped open the Sinatra school, using his Astoria connections Peter F. Vallone Sr., who also grew up in the neighborhood, was then the speaker of the New York City Council, and George Kaufman, of Kaufman Astoria Studios, donated the land. On a lovely rooftop area in the new building that connects through sliding glass doors to the student cafeteria, Mr. Bennett spoke of his own education at the High School of Industrial Arts in Manhattan: Great school, crummy building.
Although Sinatra's Class of 2009 attended classes in less impressive spaces, their commencement on Friday will be in the new building in the Tony Bennett Concert Hall, where Mr. Bennett will sing for the students. Bruce Willis is the keynote speaker (previous commencement headliners have included Jerry Seinfeld, Kevin Spacey, Wynton Marsalis, Harry Belafonte and Mario M. Cuomo).
