Your gateway to everything Italian/Italian-American in California
Showing posts with label Hollywood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hollywood. Show all posts

Saturday, July 30, 2022

Store

 





Join our listings FREE!

 


Join our listings FREE!


  • TheItalianCalifornian.com is a one-stop resource for everything Italian and Italian American in California with directories with useful links to Italian and Italian American social, cultural, charitable and professional organizations, to Italian neighborhoods and enclaves in California, to museums and cultural centers, to Italian businesses, and to sources about the history of Italians in the Golden State. As such, we expect this website to attract a large number of visitors.


Join our listings FREE! You can list your business, nonprofit, festival, museum, and more here for free! Why? CONTENT. "Content is king," so they say, with the proper type and amount of content, we can attract more visitors to our website. That not only translates into more potential customers or results for you, but with the right amount of website visitors we can make revenue through other types of advertising, including Google AdSense, sponsored content, and more! We are non-political and non-partisan, our goal is simply to give yet more exposure to the Italian American community of California, so rest assured you will never find yourself in a controversy by being associated with TheItalianCalifornian.com. For more information, please fill out the Contact sheet here or email us at theitaliancalifornian@gmx.com. Grazie!

-Christopher Forte,
Founder/Editor-in-Chief








Back to The Italian Californian Main Site

About: Who Can Benefit From this Website/Our Target Market


About: Who Can Benefit From this W
ebsite


  • TheItalianCalifornian.com is a one-stop resource for everything Italian and Italian American in California with directories with useful links to Italian and Italian American social, cultural, charitable and professional organizations, to Italian neighborhoods and enclaves in California, to museums and cultural centers, to Italian businesses, and to sources about the history of Italians in the Golden State. As such, this website is useful for a number of different types of users, including:

  • Academics, researchers and students of Italian and Italian American history and culture: you will find the listings and links here useful for your research,

  • Travelers visiting California and looking for a bit of Italian and/or Italian American heritage here: you can find listings and links about Italian neighborhoods, festivals, museums, businesses, and more,

  • Organizations of all kinds and businesses looking for some complimentary advertising and wanting to be exposed to yet another internet audience: you will find this site yet another way to get more free exposure,

  • Italophiles and patrons of Italian and Italian American culture: you will find this site quite useful and can even see news and culture from modern Italy.

  • People looking for consulate assistance: there are links to the Italian Consulates in California here.

Join our listings FREE! You can list your business, nonprofit, festival, museum, and more here for free! Why? CONTENT. "Content is king," so they say, with the proper type and amount of content, we can attract more visitors to our website. That not only translates into more potential customers or results for you, but with the right amount of website visitors we can make revenue through other types of advertising, including Google AdSense, sponsored content, and more! We are non-political and non-partisan, our goal is simply to give yet more exposure to the Italian American community of California, so rest assured you will never find yourself in a controversy by being associated with TheItalianCalifornian.com. For more information, please fill out the Contact sheet here or email us at theitaliancalifornian@gmx.com. Grazie!

-Christopher Forte,
Founder/Editor-in-Chief







Back to The Italian Californian Main Site


Thursday, July 28, 2022

Monday, July 25, 2022

About The Italian Californian

About The Italian Californian





Benvenuti! My name is Christopher Forte and I am The Italian Californian. My immediate family were very assimilated and far from their roots so when I had become interested in our Italian heritage at a young age when I was immersed in a culturally diverse setting in Southern California I went on a quest to learn more about it.  Once I discovered the richness, beauty and storied history that Italians have even right here in California, going as far back as when it was a Spanish colony, I dived into it headfirst, with a zeal to preserve that history and culture and share it with the world.

And that is where this web site comes in. With my esteemed colleagues, my sister Michelle L. Forte and her daughter, my niece, Marissa Forte, our quest, the goal of this publication is to preserve, celebrate, promote, and share the Italian American heritage of California with the world. We do not see this site in competition with any other Italian and Italian American publication, indeed the entire mission of this site to promote those publications and media and help them thrive. The more exposure the Italian American community gets, the better. We have the same goals, and we want to be an additional voice and advocate achieving those goals. "A rising tide lifts all boats," so the saying goes, and we just want to be a part of that tide.
To accomplish this, TheItalianCalifornian.com will be a gateway to everything Italian and Italian American in California. Here you will find directories with useful links to Italian and Italian American social, cultural, charitable and professional organizations, to Italian neighborhoods and enclaves in California, to museums and cultural centers, as well as to sources that can educate you on the history of Italians in the Golden State. Looking for an Italian restaurant? There will also be a link to sources that can help find one near you.

There will be a few original articles here as well, and while we'll be covering as much of California as I can, we will be focused mainly on my home of San Diego. This is not only because it is easier for us due to our limited staff and budget, but because despite the city's thriving Italian American community with so many organizations and events, the community lacks its own distinct publication and media outlet. So, we hope to fill that void. 
Christopher Forte, the President & CEO and Editor-in-Chief and author of this post, is the Facilities Coordinator for the Amici House, which is San Diego's Little Italy neighborhood event and heritage center which is run as part of the Heritage program of the Convivio Society. I also sit on the Convivio Society's Little Italy Heritage Commission, am a member of the House of Italy, the former 2nd Vice President of the Italian Catholic Federation ICF Branch #230-Our Lady of the Rosary, and am a volunteer for the Little Italy Association and am very active with my church, Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church, an Italian National Parish. I am a former board member of the Sons of Italy (now the Sons and Daughters of Italy San Diego Lodge #1627) (OSIA) and am a member of San Diego's Italian American Civic Association (IACA). I have over twenty years' experience in personnel and financial management and have a Certificate in Writing for Publication.  

The goal of my colleagues and I is to make The Italian Californian be the premiere promoter of all things Italian and Italian American in California and the most efficient gateway and directory for those who want to navigate the Italian American community in the Golden State.
-Christopher Forte,
President & CEO,
Editor-in-Chief





Publications & Media

 

 National

Italian Food/Restaurants in California

 Italian Food/Restaurants in California





To read about the differences between "Italian food" known in America and authentic Italian food in/from Italy, click here. And to read about how those differences occurred and why "Italian AMERICAN" food is so popular in the United States today, click here.

Thursday, July 21, 2022

History of Italians in California

History of Italians in California


The Butte Store (California Historical Landmark No. 39) No photo description available. An Italian stone mason constructed the building in 1857 to serve settlers and miners as both their post office and general store. The Gnocchio family operated the store for 50 years, closing its doors in the early 1900s. The roofless building is the last structure still standing where 100 miner’s cabins once stood during the height of the Gold Rush era

Introduction: The History of Italians in California

by Christopher Forte


The story of Italians in California defies two stereotypical historical narratives. The first is about Italians: You probably know the common narrative as repeated by so many movies, especially Mob movies, and documentaries about the mass migration of Southern Italians and Sicilians to the US in the years 1880 to about 1920 or so, how most of them entered through the eastern ports like Boston and New York, and mainly settled at first in urban enclaves called "Little Italys" like the famous one in Manhattan. That most of them were poor, faced some prejudice, and worked hard to be accepted and successful. You might have heard how some made it West to make it big in agriculture and wine-making. But how many of you knew that Italians were in the West during the time of the Gold Rush? Becoming the largest immigrant group in the Mother Lode? That there were Italian ranchers in the Sierra Nevada foothills as early as 1852? Did you know about all the places named after Italians, including Italian Camp, Italian Diggings, Italian Bar and the Italian Bar Trail in Tuolumne County, the Italian Mine in Nevada City and Italian Bar on the American River in El Dorado County?

The second stereotypical historical story we all know that this article may change for you is the history of California itself: that it was colonized by the Spanish, then became Mexican, and finally American. In this story line you were probably taught about the Gold Rush and how many different nationalities from all over the world, but especially from Europe and eastern parts of the US, rushed to the gold fields being dubbed "49ers" for the year the first gold was found, 1849. But how many of you knew that there were Italians in Los Angeles, at El Pueblo, when it was still Mexican territory? That many of them married into the influential Californio families and owned some of the historic ranches or ranchos like Giovanni Battista Leandri who owned Rancho Los Coyotes in present-day Buena Park, and the neighboring Rancho Cañada de la Habra, and married Maria Francesca Uribe, the daughter of a prominent Californio family? (The Californios were Spanish-speaking people of Latin American ancestry who were born in California during the era of Mexican and Spanish rule. During this era, Italians and Mexicans intermarried more frequently than any other group, according to the Italian American Museum of Los Angeles at IAMLA.org and at their permanent online exhibit here.) Leandri changed his name to Juan Leandry to better fit in among the Californios.

These little-known facts and more are revealed by clicking on the following links. Indeed, in my research, I have found that next to the Spaniards themselves, no other immigrant group left such an indelible and enduring impact on the development and culture of the Golden State.

_____________________________________________________________________

Bancroft Collection/Italian  Americans in California

Italian Americans in California

Introduction

Italians were some of the first European explorers and settlers of California. Religious duties and the search for new fishing grounds were initial reasons for Italians to explore what later became the thirty-first state, but their reasons for staying expanded after arriving. Though we often associate Italians in California with San Francisco, the initial Italian settlers established themselves in such diverse communities as Monterey, Stockton, and San Diego during the years of Spanish Rule.

While the majority of Italians settled in the urban centers of the east, many, especially northern Italians came out west. As late as 1890, there were more Italian immigrants on the Pacific coast than in New England. Their reasons for leaving and for choosing California varied. Overpopulation and the French capture of the wine industry in the 1880s made leaving attractive to Ligurians. The fact that California's small immigrant community was 80% northern made it more attractive to these people.  More here: Bancroft Collection/Italian  Americans in CaliforniaCredit to the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley.



Foreword


The contributions of Italian immigrants to 
this country and particularly to the State of 
California cannot be overestimated. In large 
part, Italian-Americans defined California with 
their hard work, intelligence, creativity and spirit 
of enterprise. Italian immigrants arrived early 
to the Golden State and established wineries, 
farms, canneries, fishing enterprises, factories 
and banks. They enhanced the state’s culture 
by founding universities and creating the 
San Francisco Opera Company. This positive 
influence continues as the most recent Italian 
immigrants make significant contributions to 
California’s new frontiers, particularly in the 
fields of technology and research.

The Museo ItaloAmericano continues the celebration of 
its first thirty years of existence by presenting In Cerca 
di una Nuova Vita, a documentary exhibit on Italian 
immigration to California from 1850 to the present day. 
There have been many individuals and organizations 
that have contributed to this exhibit — too many to 
enumerate all here. We do wish to acknowledge the 
following special contributors: Alessandro Baccari, who 
has contributed much material from his private collection; 
Professor Paola Sensi-Isolani of St. Mary’s College, whose 
First Wave narrative provides the historical context for 
the exhibit; and Paolo Pontoniere, who has curated a 
contemporary mode of presenting the accomplishments 
of the most recent immigrants. More here: From Italy to California (pdf)


Italian American Museum of Los Angeles: History

Southern California’s Italian Roots

Italians and Italian Americans have played an instrumental role in the development of Los Angeles as one of the world’s greatest metropolises, yet the history of Italians in the region is largely unknown. Though Los Angeles is home to the nation’s fifth-largest Italian population today, and the Italian presence in the American West predates the nation’s founding, seldom is the city included in dialogs surrounding contemporary or historic Italian American communities. An examination of the region’s Italian roots reveals both the complexity of the Italian Diaspora and the exceptionally diverse fabric of Southern California’s history. More here: IAMLA.org/History


ITALIAN ARCHIVES OF SAN DIEGO


OUR STORIED PAST


RECOUNTING A HISTORICAL NARRATIVE


Beginning in Little Italy and extending to the broader Italian community, Convivio (through its auxiliary, the Italian Historical Society of San Diego), is preserving San Diego’s Italian American historical narrative and creating a lasting historical tableau through education, research, archival work, historical projects, exhibitions, and events.


With the Italian Archives of San Diego, we now have a digital repository to safeguard and share photographs, documents, manuscripts, and other historical material donated by community members to help tell the story of the Italians of San Diego.


At Amici House in Little Italy—the community’s heritage, event, and visitor center overseen by the Little Italy Heritage Commission (an advisory committee of the Italian Historical Society of San Diego)—guests can learn about local Italian history and participate in diverse programs and events offering something for everyone.


Contact us for more information on our heritage programs or to contribute materials to our archives. More here: Italian Archives of San Diego


More: Google Search Results

Santa Claus and the Italian Diaspora in the Arctic

  I talians immigrated to almost all parts of the world, the UK, the USA, Canada, Australia, Latin America, and the North Pole. Wait...what?...