Sunday,
May 20, 2007
A Piece of
The
ANNOTICO Report
A piece of
AREA IS AUTHENTIC, NOT
TOURIST TRAP
By Eric Noland
MediaNews
May 20, 2007
Oh, come on, let's be serious: They were girl-watching. They chatted in Italian, laughed a great deal and didn't seem in any hurry to go anywhere.
From the doorway behind them, delectable scents of grilling sausage and frying peppers and onions wafted forth. Right next door, the candy-stripe pole of the barber shop turned slowly; both chairs were occupied.
It might be startling to hear that this scene
was playing out on a downtown street in
It's true. And this neighborhood is
authentic, as richly ethnic as
"It was a quaint little community,"
said Danny Moceri, general manager of Filippi's Pizza Grotto, begun by his grandparents as a
grocery store in 1950. "From the bay up, it was all Italians and
Portuguese. It was so much like
"We knew every household, and all the parents knew who all the kids were," added Lou Palestini, a San Diego National Bank manager who also grew up here.
The idyll was shattered in the late 1950s and
early 1960s when
Families began moving out. Businesses closed down. And the neighborhood descended into blight.
A rebound began 15 years ago, however. Antique stores and furniture boutiques moved in. Former fisherman's cottages were turned into shops or offices. Restaurants opened and cordoned off part of the sidewalk for outdoor seating. High-rise condo buildings began to sprout - this being prime real estate on the northern edge of downtown.
Now a revitalized Little Italy is one of the most popular hangouts in the city, whether by day or by night (as a chronic parking crunch will attest).
It has authenticity
Much of the neighborhood's appeal derives
from its authenticity. This isn't
No, Little Italy is organically grown: Amid the cafes and art galleries are radiator repair shops, dry cleaners and little grocery stores selling homemade pasta. Where cottages haven't yet been torn down for high-rises, morning glories engulf walls and fences, and citrus trees flourish in the back yards.
The melange of
sounds, meanwhile, is nothing short of enchanting: a train whistle, the chimes
of Our Lady of the
Because the city's terrain slopes here, you
can also gaze down upon
The Little Italy of today is just a sliver of
what it once was. It lies along
In this clutch of easily walked blocks, a visitor will find eclectic shopping and will be in no danger whatsoever of going hungry.
Step into Filippi's
(
For Italian fare that strides beyond the
traditional, try Sogno DiVino (
In the morning, one of the most popular
gathering spots is Caffe Italia (
But lest you think the dining options are monolithic in Little Italy, there is actually quite a cultural mix here. ....
The shopping in Little Italy, meanwhile, is first-rate and all over the map.
A charming enclave for getting started is the
Fir Street Cottages, a row of former homes just off
India Street Antiques (
Mixture (
Italian appliances
Disegno Italiano (
And at Assenti's (
While strolling in Little Italy, you can't miss the many colorful murals painted on the sides of buildings, some of them dramatized depictions of tuna fishermen at their labors, or wistful memories of the neighborhood - or the home country.
The streets are also dressed up with lamppost banners. During one recent visit, Italian-American baseball heroes were being celebrated: Joe DiMaggio, Joe Torre, Sal Maglie, Ron Santo. Another time it was figures from the entertainment and political worlds.
It is easy to linger in
Palestini, who no longer lives in the neighborhood, chuckled when asked about the chairs. "I took my father down there before he passed away," he said. "He would sit there with all of his friends and complain about how things had changed. They would talk about the fishing, have their wine, sometimes start singing."
And watch the girls, no doubt. Just as the fellows in front of Pete's were doing.
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