Italian Los Angeles

Italians in Los Angeles: Guide to a Diverse Community (Luisa Del Giudice)

Demographics: Los Angeles: Fourth Italian City in the U.S. According to the most recent OSIA profile of Italians in America, based on the Year 2000 Census, Italian Americans are the nation’s fourth largest European ancestry group (after Germans, Irish, English), counting 15,700,000 or 6% of the entire U.S. population. Self-identification as “Italian American” increased by 7% since the 1990 census, Italian is the fourth foreign language most spoken in U.S. homes, and 66% are white-collar workers. Here are some statistics regarding California and Los Angeles Italians: California is the third state in the U.S. with most Italian Americans (1,450,000), after New York and New Jersey. Los Angeles is the 5th metropolitan area in the U.S. with most Italian Americans (after New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago): 568,000 (of a total metro population of 16,373,000). Among U.S. cities, Los Angeles ranks 4th in numbers of Italian Americans (95,300 out of a total population of 3,695,000). When Italians and California are mentioned in the same sentence, Northern California normally springs to mind, yet San Francisco has a total of only 39,200 Italians, out of a total population of 776,800—albeit in a more condensed geographic area.

(From: “A Profile of Today’s Italian Americans,” A Report Based on the Year 2000 Census, compiled by the Order Sons of Italy in America, OSIA, http://www.osia.org, see CLUBS & ORGANIZATIONS)

An Invisible Community? These statistics may be somewhat surprising. Yet the fact that currently there is no, publicly-identified “Little Italy” in Los Angeles, although the area around St. Peter’s Italian Church in what is now Chinatown, was once known as “Little Italy,” and that the majority of Italians seem to have been assimilated into the American mainstream and have ceased to “cluster,” account for the perception that Italians in Los Angeles are often invisible—even to themselves. (This online project, in fact, was created, in part, to help make the Italian community more visible to Angelenos—whether of Italian heritage or not.)

While in the 1980’s Los Angeles’ élites came to savor Italy’s culinary arts, its design innovations, and its fine arts, not surprisingly a majority of Italians (of remote peasant origin) remained silent—feeling slightly ambiguous about their personal heritage, or what may be referred to as their own regional Italian folk cultures. While 3rd-generation Italian Americans become increasingly interested in contemporary Italian culture and in Italian “high” culture, often visiting Italy for the first time or enrolling in Italian language courses, their parents and grandparents were sometimes “left in a time warp.” The fading of Italian identity during mid-century (until the ethnic revival of the 70’s) was more widespread in the U.S. than in other countries where Italians immigrated later (e.g., Canada). In Los Angeles this process of assimilation may have been even more rapid than in the East. The more tolerant and spacious California human environment did not make ethnic solidarity and geographic cohesion such strong psychological imperatives. Further, Italians of the earliest immigration, predominantly northern, were few and proved more readily assimilable than the subsequent numbers of immigrants from Southern Italy. Many descendents of these pioneers may vaguely remember that a grandparent was Italian or that their parents spoke Italian (amongst themselves only) or that they ate foods dimly recognized as Italian derived (e.g., polenta), do not feel particularly “Italian” today, although, as the 2000 Census reports, more Americans are generally identifying themselves as Italians. This new-found caché in all things Italian (but especially food, design, and travel), has made Italians and Italian culture clearly more visible in Los Angeles.

Italian Immigration to Los Angeles. Greater Los Angeles contains various historical strata of Italians: l) limited 19th-C. immigration from the Northern regions of Italy (Piedmont, Liguria, Lombardy and Ticino, western Tuscany); 2) larger numbers of Southern Italian (Puglia, Sicily, Calabria) in the early part of the 20th-C (although immigration quotas limited these numbers); 3) post-WWII immigration of Italians from all the above (but especially the South), from the Atlantic States (notably N.Y., Mass, Pennsylvania), a sprinkling from other Western States (i.e., Colorado), and even from South America—”trans-migrants” who have undergone a longer acculturation process than most, and; 4) recent individual middle-class or “white collar” “immigrants” (n.b. who might eschew this very term), primarily in business and in the professions. This growing presence of transient or “sojourning” Italians, numerically insignificant yet culturally and economically influential, might be considered part of Italy’s “brain drain” and entrepreneurial élan. They often represent outposts of Italian government and commerce (gravitating toward the Italian Consulate, the Trade Commission), academia & industry (the sciences and technology), entertainment, the arts, and food-related businesses (see: FOOD, Introduction). This trans-oceanic set represents contemporary Italian culture and tends to remain distinct and separate from the larger, established local Italian American community, and may be found primarily on the Westside.

Italians and Italian Americans. Amid this diversity of Italians, a self-selection process naturally occurs. Indeed a genuine gulf exists between Italian Americans and contemporary Italians—little interested in “folk” or “ethnic” manifestations of tradition. Since the vast majority of the historic Italian American community has rural and small town roots, however, traditional forms of folklife are the patrimony, whether acknowledged, remembered, or not, of this group. The historic community of Italians (now of second or third generation) who do form into associations, tend to make the preservation of cultural heritage and the celebration of town and regional festivities, a priority (See: CLUBS & ASSOCIATIONS). Post-economic boom Italians (1960s-) instead have a markedly different experience of Italian history and culture and have more often arrived as middle class professionals. Increasing economic parity and various other factors (e.g., shared work and educational milieux, recent experiences of Italian travel among older immigrants) have however helped blur such boundaries in recent years. Further, various aspects of Italian folk culture (festivals, foods, customs—but those associated with Italy rather than with Italians in America) have acquired renewed interest for descendents of the older as well as newer Italians. For instance, Italian traditional music collected in the field from oral tradition (See: PERFORMING ARTS, Traditional Music)—although little known—is showing greater appeal for young descendants of immigrants rediscovering their cultural roots, than is the “folk music” typical of Italian American (e.g., staged red, white and green, tambourine-shaking, “generic” tarantella dancers) festivals and other heritage events.

Suburban diffusion. Early Italians (See: ITALIANS AT EL PUEBLO), those primarily in agriculture (truck farming and vineyards), were also to be found in rural areas such as the San Fernando and San Gabriel Valleys, out through Upland, Cucamonga into San Bernardino County (cf. Guasti Winery, see: FURTHER READING, D’Amico). The early urban cluster spread from the Plaza at El Pueblo, to Lincoln Heights, and in the post WWII era fanned further eastward to suburban communities such as Alhambra, Monterey Park, Glendale, San Marino, and northward to Los Feliz-Vermont and even Encino, not to mention Santa Barbara or San Diego. Today, according to the informal census provided by the Italian newspaper’s circulation (See: MEDIA, Publications, L’Italo-Americano), ethnically loyal Italians can be found in Highland Park, S. Pasadena, Alhambra, Arcadia, Covina, Encino, Northridge, Woodland Hills, Burbank, Glendale. Further, many Italians participate in the Italian Catholic Federation (See: CLUBS & ASSOCIATION, Religious) which is affiliated with approximately 60 parishes (30 in Los Angeles, l0-12 in San Gabriel, about the same in San Fernando, and miscellaneous others). Because the ICF somewhat limits non-Italian participation in its chapters, their presence in the diocese is some indication of the demographic diffusion of the Italian community in Los Angeles.

San Pedro (See: SAN PEDRO: Italian Fishing Community; See: CELEBRATION, Folk Festival). While the downtown cluster (St. Peter’s Italian Church, Casa Italiana, and Italian Hall) may loosely be construed as a “Little Italy” (although resident Italians are now rare in that area), San Pedro may today represent the only visible local nucleus of Italians and approximate a de facto “Little Italy,” although outward diffusion and the changing fishing industry are changing this community as well. This clustering on the Los Angeles landscape has arisen for a unique reason. Until recently, San Pedro was geographically discrete and occupationally compact due to its function as Los Angeles’ port. Its two predominant Italian groups held a significant role in the local fishing industry (even though they leave no trace in the Los Angeles Maritime Museum!). San Pedro Italians come from two Italian island fishing communities: Ischia and Sicily. Although they arrived in the migrations of the early 20th C (the Sicilians later), the autonomous nature of this group’s trade, and the relative geographic compactness of San Pedro, fostered the preservation of ethnic loyalty.

San Pedro Italians and Los Angeles Italians may see themselves as separate communities and, as commonly occurs, each side’s perception of the other is that Italian culture is best preserved “over there.” Los Angeles Italians may see San Pedro as a compact and conservative Italian community (an “urban village”), while the San Pedrans point instead to St. Peter’s Church and Casa Italiana as the center of more large-scale Italian activity and events. San Pedro has few formal Italian American associations. This may be due to geographic, cultural, and occupational homogeneity (even though the fishing industry is in decline, the Ischietani and Sicilians have a common origin in San Pedro), rendering further forms of association superfluous. While the two San Pedro Italian groups have not formed their respective town and regional clubs, the Ischietani nonetheless have gravitated toward the Italian Catholic Federation (through their parish churches, such as Mary Star of the Sea), while the Sicilians are represented in great numbers in the Italian American Club and in the Trappeto (prov. of Palermo, Sicily) Club. They celebrate these patron saint days: Saint John Joseph (for the Ischietani); St. Joseph and St. Rosalia for the Sicilians, and St. Peter (Italian American Club). In past decades the Fisherman’s feasts (now in decline) were a major expression of the Italian community’s traditional culture. (See: COLLECTIONS, Archives).

Fragmentation and Unity. The extreme diversification of Italians (e.g., the North-South split, marked regionalism, and a sense of attachment to one’s hometown) are too well-documented in Italy and among immigrants, to repeat here. On the one hand, this diversity presents a richness of culture; while on the other, it creates obstacles when concerted effort and unity of action are called for. The pull between diversity and homogeneity may create ambiguities of cultural allegiance. For instance, for many older immigrants (particularly those who lived through the xenophobic war years when national loyalties were tested), needed to make American allegiance explicit, and succeeded, perhaps more in uniting Italian Americans on the “American” rather than on the “Italian” side of the equation. Their Italian side however, continued to promote splintering—defying many a St. Peter’s priest called to the community to administer to the notoriously factional community (See: FURTHER READING, St. Peter’s Italian Church). A need for unifying Italians seems to have been broadly felt in the 1970’s and continues to reverberate on up to the present for a variety of reasons. A residual splintering effect (due to regional and social origins, along with present economic and geographic factors) has generally thwarted clarity of direction and impact and has likely contributed to the Italian community’s relative invisibility. Some club charters actually preclude banding with other similar clubs, in order to better preserve their individuality. Recent developments however indicate that this situation may be improving.

St. Peter’s Catholic Church and the Scalabrini Order (See: RELIGION). The Scalabrini Fathers (Missionaries of St. Charles), under the energetic Father Luigi (Donanzan), have proven a major unifying force in the Italian community. The Scalabrinians, whose mission is to serve the needs of migrants and refugees (founded by Giovanni Battista Scalabrini in 1887 to assist immigrants to the Americas), continue to minister to their social and cultural needs as well as the strictly material and pastoral (See: RELIGION). (Today, under Father Giovanni Bizzotti, the Church also serves as a soup kitchen to the area’s migrants and the homeless.) The order managed L’Italo-Americano…

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