Now that I’m in New York, I ought to go check out Woodlawn, an improbably Irish neighborhood tucked into the far northern edge of the Bronx (practically in Yonkers).

It is getting close to St. Patrick’s Day, after all. And if I don’t go now, there’s a chance that all the Irish will be gone soon:

But in one of the unexpected effects of Sept. 11, Irish immigrants are leaving the United States in waves; they say the crackdown on illegal immigration, coupled with a booming Irish economy, has eliminated the advantages that drew them here.

Ten years from now, say activists pushing for immigration reform, there won’t be Irish neighborhoods left in New York.

In which case, we can always rent Gangs of New York.