I may be wrong but it sounds like something my grandparents went through when coming to Buffalo from Sicily in 1908, my grandmother entering to live at 120 Erie St (Dante Place) and then a move to 106 Carolina St and then a final spot at the corner of Virginia & W Tupper. I both live and work in these areas.
Unfortunately, stereotypes are perpetuated to this day and I see new-to-the-US folks at the same locations being scorned in the same manner today.