San Pedro Little Italy (Los Angeles, Pittsburg: home, neighborhoods, to live in)

[blueeyes1982]

I was reading an article about ethnic enclaves in the United States and they got to the section about LA, I was expecting Mexican, Asian, Jewish, Iranian which was there but this surprised me. Apparently the neighborhood of San Pedro in LA is the biggest Little Italy on the Left Coast. Apparently it's a neighborhood of 80k people, 50% white, 40% hispanic, 10% other and within that population is almost 30k Italian Americans and 5% of residents were born in Italy, the second highest percentage after the 8% born in Mexico and there are also foreign born people from the Balkans and Eastern Europe. That really intrigued me because I never imagined a little Italy or any Italian-American culture in LA which I usually associate with hispanics and Asians. The info was from the 2010 census so it must be pretty current. I am half Italian and a lover of Italian food and culture.


Tell me about the San Pedro little Italy, from a residents POV?



Grazie

[yby1]

They have good pizza there. Try Bonello's on Gaffey. There is a high Croatian population in SP as well.

[blueeyes1982]

Originally Posted by yby1

They have good pizza there. Try Bonello's on Gaffey. There is a high Croatian population in SP as well.

That's cool! I never imagined a European enclave in LA, especially in today's world. I have never been to California (never been west of Pittsburgh, south of DC or north of Boston except for once for my 18th birthday in 2000 to Quebec so I can drink) but when my youngest son is a little older and we have some extra cash I would love for me, the wife and our 5 boys to take a road trip..maybe we will stay in San Pedro!

[jm1982]

I never heard of San Pedro having a large italian population, so that is pretty interesting. I actually don't know if I've spent time in San Pedro, besides taking a cruise out of the port there!



You'd probably be interested in this
Exploring The Remains of L.A.'s Little Italy | Block by Block | Departures Columns | KCET

I saw it recently and thought it was really interesting.

This is another article too
Dennis McCarthy: Little Italy hidden in LA's tangled roots

This too is on the same topic
Southern California People: Italians In Los Angeles | Historical Society of Southern California |

[StreetLegal]

In addition to the Italian influence, the area was also historically settled by a lot of Croatians and Portuguese as a lot of them were commercial fisherman (as were the Italians).

Krist Novoselic, the bass player for Nirvana, grew up in San Pedro until he moved away with his parents in 1979. His parents were immigrants from Croatia.

[jessemh431]

As an LA native, this is all brand new news to me. Growing up in the south bay, we saw San Pedro as a place with any culture or anything to do...and slightly dangerous. I honestly have never even been there, but my friends in PV only had bad things to say about it. Maybe I'll try to check it out when I'm back next.

[blueeyes1982]

Nice!! This is actually really interesting and I love the fact that it is still a somewhat extant Southern European (Italian plus Portuguese, Croatian and other Balkans/former Yugoslavian folks) enclave right on the water in Los Angeles!!


Does anyone on this forum live there? Or at least have experience and knowledge of the area? What's it like to live in San Pedro? The article also said that in SoCal, it's not pronounced "San Pay-dro" like the proper Spanish pronunciation, but "San Pee-dro" with a long 'e' like Peter. Is that right? I wonder where that comes from..

Such interesting history..I love the Internet LOL

[jessemh431]

I can't say with certainty, but I was always under the impression that it was a more blue-collar, working-class neighborhood. Nothing really to write home about. Not the safest, but not a dangerous neighborhood either. That's what I grew up with it in my mind as.

And yes, as with many other Spanish names, we also pronounce that one wrong. Well, the Latino immigrants and sometimes first-generation Americans of Latino immigrants pronounce it as San Pay-dro. The whiter communities and more established Latino families and neighborhoods pronounce it San Pee-dro.

[blueeyes1982]

Originally Posted by jessemh431

I can't say with certainty, but I was always under the impression that it was a more blue-collar, working-class neighborhood. Nothing really to write home about. Not the safest, but not a dangerous neighborhood either. That's what I grew up with it in my mind as.

And yes, as with many other Spanish names, we also pronounce that one wrong. Well, the Latino immigrants and sometimes first-generation Americans of Latino immigrants pronounce it as San Pay-dro. The whiter communities and more established Latino families and neighborhoods pronounce it San Pee-dro.

Well there are funny pronunciations of foreign words all over the USA. There is a town in the Midwest (forget where, I am pretty sure MO, IN or IL but don't quote me) called Versailles, but instead of pronouncing it "Ver-Sigh", it's said as "Ver-Sal-Es"...talk about mispronounciation!


Yeah, I figured it would be a blue collar neighborhood..it was (is?) a destination for European immigrants to come and work at the port, just going by that alone I was suspecting that it is less like "Beverly Hills" and more like "Can barely pay the bills" LOL

[BeauCharles]

No one pronounces Los Angeles "right" either but who cares? Spanish speakers butcher English and Native American place names with regularity too (Nueva Jork, Nueva Yersi, Cheekago, Meejami).