LosAngelesLittleItaly

Reception for the Author of Los Angeles' Little Italy

The Italian Cultural Institute of Los Angeles, Italian Consulate General Hon. Nicola Faganello and the  Italian American Museum of Los Angeles are holding a reception for Los Angeles’s Little Italy, the much anticipated new book from Historian Marianna Gatto.

Thursday, May 13, 2010
6:30 PM
Istituto Italiano di Cultur
1023 Hilgard Avenue  Los Angeles, CA 90024


Gatto, curator of History and Education for a department of the City of Los Angeles and key proponent of the Italian American Museum of Los Angeles, will make an interactive presentation followed by a book signing and reception. There is no cost to attend.

About Los Angeles’s Little Italy: While Los Angeles possesses the nation’s fifth-largest Italian population today, little is known about its Italian history, which has been examined by only a handful of authors over the past 70 years. In Los Angeles’s Little Italy, author Marianna Gatto chronicles the city’s vibrant Italian enclave during the 100-year period following the arrival of the first Italian pioneer in 1827. The extensively researched text includes dozens of never-before published photographs and eyewitness testimony of the early Italian community and its colorful

Daily Breeze Looks at L.A.'s Italian Past

Daily Breeze reporter John Bogert notices a detail that would authenticate a simulated Italian-American living room. Then he takes a look at the exhibition and the book:

With the Italian-American and Italian immigrant population in L.A. County numbering 300,000, concerned Italian-Americans like Gatto and Buscaino decided that it was time to remind ourselves of a now nearly forgotten era that is best summed up by the exhibit's title, "Sunshine and Struggle: The Italian Experience In Los Angeles, 1827-1927."

Actually, that experience started with the first European exploration of Alta California when Father Marco da Nizza arrived in the company of Coronado. He would be followed by a cavalcade of Italian priests that played a key role in colonization.

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All this is wonderfully detailed for the first time in Gatto's recent book, "Los Angeles's Little Italy."  Unlike many Arcadia books, this one is full of heart and soul and research that she likens to "chasing a ghost."       

For more, read the Daily Breeze.

Los Angeles Little Italy Exhibit a 'Proud Surprise'

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn, Mariela Salvatore from the Office of Italian Consul General Nicola Faganello, exhibition sponsor Eric Eisenberg, San Pedro luminaries Joe Buscaino, Anthony Pirozzi, Helene Pizzini, Carmela and Gianni Funicello pose with members of the Italian American Museum board Paul Pagnone, Doug Pozzo, John Rotondi, Roger Vitti with curator Marianna Gatto at the opening of "Sunshine and Struggle." (Photo courtesy of Joseph Gatto and Al Fasani.)

Darrell Fusaro of i-Italy surveyed "“Sunshine & Struggle, The Italian Experience In Los Angeles, 1827 – 1927" and read "Los Angeles's Little Italy." He writes: "So many may be very surprised, and if Italian very proud, to discover the origin of present day Los Angeles owes quite a bit to it’s Italian settlers. It may even be more surprising to learn that these settlers came to reside in this area nearly a century before those who came to America by way of Ellis Island."

The success of the Italians in Los Angeles early in Los Angeles’s history was mainly due to the fact that because of the cultural similarities between the Italians and the Mexicans they did not face the discrimination that characterized their experience elsewhere in the country. For example, an Italian settler, Frank Sabichi was President of the Los Angeles City Council in 1874. Much more of this “Largely Unknown History of Italians in Los Angeles” can be discovered at the current exhibition titled, “Sunshine & Struggle, The Italian Experience In Los Angeles, 1827 – 1927.” It is located at 437 West 6th Street, San Pedro, CA 90731. A storefront has been transformed to reflect the early Italian experience in the area. Discovering the little known facts that are jam packed throughout the exhibit is as fascinating as it is surprising. Mariann Gatto, curator of this exhibition and author of, “Los Angele’s Little Italy,” has put together the perfect amount of facts and trivia to satisfy and enlighten the curious.

“Sunshine & Struggle, The Italian Experience In Los Angeles, 1827 – 1927" runs until December 31st. For more information, call (323) 422-2668 to confirm hours.

Los Angeles Little Italy on NBC Los Angeles website

The witty and ever present Alysia Gray Painter, writer of all thing L.A. on nbclosangeles.com, peeks inside Los  Angeles's Little Italy. Addressing L.A's  "Food Lovers, History Aficionados, People Who Have to Know What Used to Be on Every Corner of Our Storied Megalopolis," Painter says:

Visitors see Little Tokyo and Little Ethiopia, and they often ask where LA's Little Italy is, or was. They want to know more of the story of our city's first Italian immigrants, their businesses, how they impacted what Los Angeles would become. Author Mariann Gatto looks back -- way back, to the 1800s -- and better illustrates the faces and names behind the events.

nbclosangeles

'Sunshine and Struggle' - Italians of Los Angeles exhibit - opens in San Pedro

Please join the Italian American Museum of Los Angeles, Hon. Nicola Faganello, Consul General of Italy, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn, the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce, Eric Eisenberg, the Italian American Club of San Pedro and Ischia-San Pedro-Los Angeles Sister City Foundation on Sunday, December 6, 2009 from 5-7 PM for a historical presentation on the Italians of Los Angeles as part of the Sunshine and Struggle Exhibition. 

447 West 6th Street, San Pedro, 90731. 

For Information: msgatto@earthlink.net

or www.italianhall.org

Welcome

Los Angeles's Little Italy presents a history of the city's vibrant Italian enclave during the 100-year period following the arrival of the city's first Italian pioneer in 1827. 

While Los Angeles possesses the nation's fifth-largest Italian population today, little is known about its Italian history, which has been examined by only a handful of historians over the past 50 years.

Much of historic Little Italy has been erased from the map or is masked by subsequent ethnic settlements. However, the community's memory lives on. From pioneer agriculturalists and winemakers to philanthropists and eccentric personalities, Italian Americans left a lasting impression on the city's social, economic, and cultural fabric and contributed to Los Angeles's development as one of the world's greatest metropolises.   

Mariann Gatto is the curator of history and education for the City of Los Angeles,  and has chronicled Los Angeles's Italian community for more than a decade. She is also the author of My City, My History: A Guide to Discovering Your History and the History of El Pueblo de Los Angeles. This new volume contains hundreds of never before published photographs from the archive of the Historic Italian Hall Foundation as well as rare photographs from local historical repositories.

Little Italy Exhibit Debuts At State Capitol

The landmark "Sunshine and Struggle: The Italian Experience in Los Angeles 1827-1927" exhibit exploring the largely unknown history of Italians in Los Angeles debuted at the Capital Museum in Sacramento in October 2009.  The exhibit written and curated by Mariann Gatto, and presented by the Italian American Museum  of Los Angeles, was a collaboration with the Italian American Members of the California Legislature Assemblymembers Tom Ammiano, Cathleen Galgiani, Jerry Hill, Roger Niello, and Anthony J. Portantino"Sunshine and Struggle"  drew thousands of visitors. 

City of LA Declared October 'Italian Heritage Month'

On Friday, October 9, 2009, The Los Angeles City Council declared October “Italian Heritage Month.” Present to commemorate this special occasion were Consul General of Italy Hon. Nicola Faganello, members of the Italian entertainment and business community, and representatives of Italian organizations including the National Italian American Foundation, Order of Sons of Italy in America, Italian American Museum of Los Angeles, and many more. 

Festivities were held at John Ferraro Council Chambers, where Councilman Tom LaBonge presented attendees with a "Little Italy" street sign.

Currently, an excess of 100,000 Italians live in the City of Los Angeles. Metropolitan Los Angeles possesses 300,000 Italians, making Los Angeles the nation’s fifth largest Italian community.

Taste of Italy Held at El Pueblo

A Taste of Italy at the Pico House.

On Saturday, June 27th at El Pueblo Historical Monument’s Pico House in Los Angeles’ historic Little Italy, the Historic Italian Hall Foundation presented "A Taste of Italy Los Angeles," an evening of authentic cuisine, fine wine and Italian culture. 

More than two dozen restaurants and wineries participated in the event, which benefited the Italian American Museum of Los Angeles. The 500+ attendees walked away with content bellies and a greater awareness of our city’s diverse history.

Gatto Honored as 2008 Columbian Woman of the Year

In 2008, Mariann Gatto received the Columbian Woman of the Year Award.  The award is bestowed annually upon an American-born individual of Italian extraction whose achievements have given "luster to Italy and to the Italo-American community"  and who has promoted goodwill and demonstrated a dedication to the Italian community.  Gatto Honored as 2008 Columbian Woman of the Year