“Americans in the West” Project included research on San Pedro, conducted by Doug Di Natale and David Taylor, Frank Russell, Paola Tavarelli. Further reading: Old Ties, New Attachments: Italian-American Folklife in the West, edited by David A. Taylor, John Alexander Williams, Library of Congress, 1992.
A Bit of History: Charles Speroni (1911-1984), Professor of Italian at UCLA, Dean of the College of Fine Arts, and perhaps best known for his Italian language reader, with C. Golino, Basic Italian, was one of the first to study Italian folklife in southern California. Among publications in this field, are: Charles Speroni, “California FishermenÃs Festivals,” in Western Folklore, 14 (1955) 77-91; and “Observance of St. Joseph’s Day Among the Sicilians of Southern California.” Southern Folklore Quarterly 4.3 (1940): 135-139. University of California obituary, by Giovanni Cecchetti:…