Growing up Italian at a New York institution

WEST VILLAGE, Manhattan -- Vivian Cardia's life story has been a true New York tale. She grew up working at the historic Beatrice Inn in New York's West Village, a famous rendezvous for the city's high society.

Cardia remembers how "Woody Allen filmed a movie there with Mia Farrow and Gena Rowlands. Charles Kuralt was there every night. Lovin' Spoonful lived across the street. You name it! Eli Wallach... They all came."

Cardia says she wasn't starstruck by the notable clientele. Coming from a family of hard-working immigrants kept her grounded.

Cardia's Italian grandparents have a love story for the ages. She says they "met in New York and got married. They went back to Italy with three children, and then World War Two devastated Italy. And my grandfather told my mother in 1947, 'go back to New York, find a building and call for your mother and me'."

Years later, Cardia's parents met in a similar way. She explains how, "my mother, you know, she started learning a little bit of English because she was raised in Genoa, and my father was from Sardinia. And then one night, the American Navy and the Italian Navy were going to meet at the New Yorker Hotel on 34th Street, and my mother went, met my father in May, and they got married in June. And she followed the fleet! So, I can honestly say that I was made in Italy and Born in the USA!"

After graduating from Notre Dame High School and Fordham University, Cardia became the first Italian-American woman to trade on the American Stock Exchange. Chaotic moments during the 1987 Black Monday stock market crash stick with her today. Vivian eventually went on to take over the family business.

Today Cardia serves on the board of John Cabot University in Rome and supports young Italian-American scholars alongside the Columbus Citizens Foundation in New York.