Narrator: On his deathbed, after being brutally mugged on a Bronx sidewalk, a 93-year-old Italian immigrant named Francesco Di Lorenzo has one final, lucid thought. He reflects on his long journey, from his arrival in America in 1900 to this final moment, and declares, “The streets here are truly paved with gold.” At his bedside, his grandson Ignazio—a blind jazz pianist who found immense fame and fortune—hears these words and thinks to himself, “Dreams are lies.” This stark contrast between the immigrant’s enduring faith and his grandson’s profound disillusionment lies at the heart of Evan Hunter’s sprawling family saga, Streets of Gold. The novel chronicles the journey of the Di Palermo family, exploring the seductive and often destructive nature of the American Dream through the eyes of a man who achieved it all, only to find it hollow.

Narrator: The novel dismantles the myth that success is a direct result of talent and hard work, suggesting instead that it is often a product of pure, unadulterated chance. The protagonist, Ignazio, is a talented classical pianist who transitions to jazz, but his big break is not a moment of artistic genius; it’s a chaotic accident.

In 1955, Ignazio’s quintet, a respectable but unoriginal imitation of the George Shearing sound, is hired to back an aspiring singer named Gerri Pryce for a recording session. The day is a disaster from the start. The band’s regular vibes player is out sick, replaced at the last minute by a flautist, a strange addition to a jazz combo. Then, the singer arrives over an hour late with a full entourage, behaves like a diva, and after a brief rehearsal, abruptly leaves the studio, claiming menstrual cramps. The A&R man, Rudy Hirsch, is left furious, with expensive studio time ticking away and nothing to show for it. In a desperate move to salvage the session, he orders Ignazio’s quintet to record two tracks themselves in the remaining 45 minutes. With no time to prepare, the angry and frustrated musicians rush through a performance of "The Man I Love." The resulting track, born of tension and compromise, has a unique sound created by the flute and the musicians' barely contained anger. To Ignazio, it’s a flawed, rushed recording. To the world, it becomes a national sensation, launching the Dwight Jamison Quintet to stardom. This accidental hit defines his career, proving that the "gold" he found was not mined with intention but stumbled upon in chaos.

Narrator: Streets of Gold critically examines the idea of the American "melting pot," revealing it as a fragile ideal that often fails to dissolve deep-seated cultural prejudices. The story of Ignazio’s marriage to Rebecca Baumgarten, a Jewish woman from the Lower East Side, becomes a case study in cultural collision. While Ignazio changes his name to the Anglo-sounding Dwight Jamison to assimilate, the families’ old-world biases remain.

This clash is perfectly captured in a visit Ignazio’s grandfather, Frank, pays to Rebecca’s father, Abe Baumgarten, just before the wedding in 1948. Frank, an old-school Italian immigrant, arrives at Abe’s Oldsmobile dealership to extend a hand of friendship and formally introduce the families. But the meeting is a disaster of miscommunication. Frank, speaking broken English, tries to explain that their children are getting married and they should be a "nize-a family." Abe, a man whose worldview is defined by a deep-seated hatred for non-Jews, or "goyim," completely fails—or refuses—to understand. He sees only a "crazy old wop" and dismisses him. Later, Abe recounts the story at his dinner table, still referring to Ignazio with the derogatory Yiddish term "shaygets," a slur for a non-Jewish boy, completely unaware or willfully ignorant that his daughter is about to marry him. The incident reveals that even as their children attempt to build a new, assimilated American life, the prejudices of the old world create an unbridgeable chasm.

Narrator: Once Ignazio becomes the famous Dwight Jamison, he discovers that the "streets of gold" are patrolled by predators. His success doesn't bring him security; it makes him a target. The novel shows how fame attracts a dark, corrupting force that threatens to destroy everything he has built.

In 1961, at the peak of his career, Ignazio is approached in Chicago by two mobsters. Identifying themselves as fellow Italians, or "paesani," they offer to "manage" his career for a 60-40 split. When Ignazio refuses, they reveal their leverage: they have compromising photographs of him with his flute player and mistress, Alice Keating, taken through a one-way mirror in his hotel room. They threaten to send the photos to his wife, Rebecca. Believing they are bluffing, Ignazio defiantly tells them to mail the pictures. For a while, nothing happens. But months later, in a Detroit hotel room, two enforcers arrive. They inform him the deal is off and they are there to punish his defiance. In a moment of chilling cruelty, they ask him which hand he wants broken. Forced to choose, Ignazio sacrifices his left hand. The men systematically smash three of his fingers, a brutal act that permanently alters his ability to play the piano. This event serves as a terrifying lesson: the American Dream, when realized, can come with a violent price tag, and the "gold" is often protected by a brutal underworld that demands its cut.

Narrator: The novel powerfully argues that achieving the external markers of the American Dream—wealth, fame, and a beautiful family—does not guarantee happiness. For Ignazio, success leads to profound moral decay and emotional emptiness, culminating in the destruction of his marriage. As his career flourished, his personal life withered. He engaged in a series of hollow affairs, creating elaborate lies to hide them from Rebecca.

The final blow to his marriage comes not from a stranger, but from within the family. In a moment of drunken aimlessness, Ignazio has an affair with Rebecca’s own sister, Davina. This ultimate betrayal signals the complete erosion of his moral compass. The truth finally comes out during a drive in the Catskills. Rebecca, tired of "looking the other way," confronts him, revealing she knows about his infidelities. She proposes they sell everything and move to Europe to start over. But it's too late. Faced with the wreckage of his own making, Ignazio confesses to the affair with Davina and delivers the final, devastating verdict on their life together: "I don't love you." Their divorce finalizes the collapse of the perfect American family they had tried to build, proving that the dream he achieved was a gilded cage that left him emotionally bankrupt.

Narrator: The single most important takeaway from Streets of Gold is its profound and cynical critique of the American Dream. The novel argues that the dream is not a noble pursuit of fulfillment but often a seductive lie—a myth of material success that, even when achieved, leads to spiritual and emotional ruin. Ignazio Di Palermo becomes Dwight Jamison, gets the fame, the money, and the family, only to realize he is a "figment of the American imagination," a hollow man who has lost his connection to his roots, his integrity, and his capacity for love.

The book leaves us with a challenging question that resonates far beyond its pages. When we chase the "gold in the streets," what parts of ourselves do we sacrifice along the way? Ignazio’s journey forces us to confront the true meaning of success, questioning whether it is found in the glittering illusion his grandfather died believing in, or in the authentic, elemental connections that Ignazio himself destroyed in his pursuit of the dream.