Heritage

Il Circolo Operaio Italiano (Italian Worker’s Club) was one of the groups headquartered at the Italian Hall. The club’s exclusively male membership sponsored Saturday evening dances at the building and hosted charitable events, including footraces and May Day celebrations. While …

In 1904, Los Angeles Bishop Thomas Conaty, concerned about the religious welfare of Italian Catholics in Los Angeles, ordered the creation of two churches, St. Peter’s and Immaculate Conception. St. Peter’s Italian Church, still in existence today, began as a …

Los Angeles’ little Italy contained many businesses whose popularity stretched beyond the Italian community itself, such as Giacchino’s Bakery, which was located on North Broadway and was famous for their rum cakes, and Dario’s, a popular eatery where downtown businessmen rubbed …

Originally known by its Italian name, “Figli d’Italia,” the Order Sons of Italy in America was established in New York City in 1905, by Italian immigrants in order to assist their countryfolk with obtaining United States citizenship, expanding educational opportunities …

Prohibition devastated the wine industry in California, a sector that Italian immigrants had played an integral role in developing. A handful of vintners, including Santo Cambianca, who had established a winery in Lincoln Heights in 1917, survived by manufacturing grape …

Calvary Cemetery is the resting place for Angelinos of various ethnicities, including countless Italians.   The Roman Catholic cemetery, now located in East Los Angeles, was originally found on Calle Eternidad or Eternity Street, a name given to the road …

Born Domenico Gebbia in Palermo, Sicily in 1886, Domenic Jebbia immigrated to the United States at age six, and arrived in California in 1925. Jebbia established the West Coast Banana Distributing Company at the Los Angeles Produce Market, and because …

One of the leading automobile dealerships in Southern California today, Bozzani Motors debuted in 1911 as a modest bicycle shop located at 632 North Main Street, next door to the Italian Hall. An advance in capital allowed brothers Amerigo, Joe, …

Born in New York City in 1905 to Domenico and Palmina LaBarba, Gold Medal Olympian Fidel LaBarba was raised in the heart of Los Angeles’ Little Italy where he sold newspapers for the Los Angeles Express and learned to fight …