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 elbows with the Italian colony. 

Ricci, Del Beato, Pontrelli and Borgia were three of Little Italy’s most popular photography studios. In the early 1900s, this group of Italian businessmen sought the services of Nick Borgia, whose studio was located on San Fernando Street. While the Italian American Museum has identified the studio where this photo was taken, very little other information is known about this photograph or its subjects. Do you recognize any of the men in this photograph? If so, please contact the Italian American Museum. 

This is one of the thousands of rare and one-of-a-kind photographs in the Italian American Museum’s collection, the only of its kind in the region. 

To learn more about our collection, donate photos or other artifacts, or support the collection’s preservation, visit www.italianhall.org or call 213.485.8432.
 
The mission of the Italian American Museum of Los Angeles is to foster understanding of Southern California’s diverse heritage through research, historic preservation, exhibitions and educational programs that examine the history and continuing contributions of Italian Americans in multi-ethnic Los Angeles and the United States.

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