Once upon a time in Chicago, there lived an Italian shoeshine man named Gino who dreamed of owning a fishing boat.

The riot was touched off after a black shoeshine man was arrested after a white girl said he tried to assault her in an elevator.

"No shoeshine man has a cash register," he said.

A student at La Guardia Community College, Mr. Braga is a traveling shoeshine man during the week, with a roster of corporate clients in midtown Manhattan.

The music had caught her attention; what she saw inside made her stop: a line of 15 shoeshine men dressed in white shirt, black tie and black hat.

"It's a natural thing, to be down this time of year," reasoned Robert Brown, a 66-year-old shoeshine man who works the French Quarter.

"It does affect business," said one shoeshine man.

"The legitimate shoeshine men now have a facility for their customers."

He is Tony Avena, an 81-year-old shoeshine man from Queens.

Some of the little guys remember the days when the shoeshine man came to every floor and the postman rang three times a day.