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Big plans for Little Italy; tiny enclave
is on the brink of reinventing itself Take a good look at Little Italy. At the bright, red-and-green
awnings curving over the storefront doorways; at the second-story, wrought-iron
balconies, the shuttered windows and Mediterranean tile; at the sidewalk
tables-for-two. Hear the recorded mandolin or accordion pouring through
wide-open windows; the stately bells pealing the hour in the tower of
the neighborhood church; neighbors conversing in Italian in the morning,
before the visiting lunch crowds spill out of nearby downtown's high-
rises and parade onto India Street. The aroma of freshly baked bread
competes on the breeze with garlic and spicy salami. Take a good, long look. This is San Diego's Little Italy today -- the 1st of March, 2001. A year from now, Little Italy should look a bit different.
Maybe more than a bit -- it depends on whom you ask. We can be reasonably
certain that it won't be turning into Big Italy. But a growth spurt
is under way. Up to 180 new upscale housing units will add between 600
and 700 residents to the area. Four retail projects, either under construction
or soon to be, are earmarked. There are bucks going into this neighborhood,
and bucks to be made. More than menus Little Italy, a residential community since the '20s, is larger than you might realize. Its parameters are Pacific Highway to the west and Interstate 5 to the east, Ash Street on the south and Laurel Street on the north. You can stand on certain street corners and, at the same time, hear a jetliner landing overhead, an Amtrak train's whistle and the white noise of freeway traffic -- all with a peek-a- boo view of the bay. That's urban living. Some people do live here. Some live and work here. Others, particularly on weekdays around noontime, just visit and spend their money. They usually spend it on food. In and out of the Italian community, certain names are well known, from the cavernous Mimmo's Italian Village to the tiny Pete's Quality Meats & Deli. From Filippi's to Mona Lisa, to the Busalacchi family's Trattoria Fantastica and Cafe Zucchero. From Solunto's Bakery & Deli on the east side of India to Assenti's Pasta on the west. There's no doubt you can eat well in Little Italy, usually in charming environs free of the generic trappings of a chain restaurant. Now David and Lesley Cohn are getting into the act, with their Indigo Grill set to open in late spring. (Deborah Scott, chef at the former Indigo Grill on the corner of India and Date, will preside at the new I.G. She's describing the cuisine as "aboriginal.") "Of all the downtown neighborhoods," David Cohn
said from his Hillcrest office, "Little Italy is by far the most
exciting. It's becoming this wonderful, eclectic neighborhood, but still
with that great Italian heritage to it." Cohn says the Little Italy
business community has been welcoming. "There is excitement about
our doing something other than Italian food. They're also excited that
it's not a Starbucks, to be honest." Even before the tractors began
rolling into Little Italy, the neighborhood was branching out beyond
being merely a dining destination. Walkable India Street (beneficiary
of $1 million in infrastructural and aesthetic upgrades) is dotted with
diverting stops -- like Gargoyle Gallery, India St. Antiques (look for
it on both the east and the west side of the street), Juniper, Scarab
Pottery, Boomerang modern furniture. With its interior design, photography and art studios, and the annual ArtWalk event, Little Italy seems a natural for a growing art- gallery scene. Besides those in its business core, such as Kristen Victor and Villino Gallery, there's the multi-use Art Studio on Kettner, which includes the David Zapf and R.B. Stevenson galleries. "It's a safe area and I can have an affordable space that I could not have in the Gaslamp district," says Zapf, adding that Little Italy is "a known entity. There are so few areas in this town that have instant name recognition. There's an interesting mix of building sizes and types. This building (the Art Studio) was warehouse space and was great for galleries." Stevenson, who moved his gallery to Little Italy from La Jolla, says "there's never any negative energy" in his new neighborhood. "I think it's very positive here. It's not about competition. We all get along." Sign of the times. Since last October's annual Festa, there's been an art deco neon sign, not unlike those in Hillcrest, University Heights, Kensington, et. al., arched over the heart of India Street. "The sign was cheered at its unveiling," says Marco Li Mandri, executive director of the 7- year-old Little Italy Association, who scoffs at the suggestion that it's another kind of sign -- one of gentrification. "For generations, you had only small, working-class bungalows," he said. "The fact that the area is now able to retain more middle- class or upper-class people is fairly new. The worst thing that can happen is there'd be an economic gentrification of this community. We're cognizant that what makes an urban neighborhood livable is an economic mix of housing." "Communities constantly reinvent themselves. Downtown San Diego is a great example; so is Mission Valley." Li Mandri also pointed out that Little Italy is not an entertainment district, destined to become Gaslamp-pricey or Garnet Avenue-dense. "Will there be more concentration of retail activity on India Street? Yes. Will it be more receptive to night activity? Yes. Will you have more liquor licenses? No." Steve Galasso, owner of Caffe Italia, is also president of the Little Italy Board of Directors. "We don't want to be the Gaslamp. That's not us," he said. "(But) this is going to be a second destination downtown. We've got a built-in theme down here. We're the only Little Italy in the United States that's in a development area." That development may concern some of Little Italy's business owners, but not Brit Gerry Kenny, who with his wife owns and runs the Princess Pub & Grille. "I think Little Italy will always retain its neighborhood feeling," he said. "We've molded it that way." Architect Tony Cutri, involved in two new residential
projects in the area, has family roots in Little Italy dating to the
'30s -- when the tuna industry was thriving, when The Reader offices
were De Falco's market. "Architecturally," he said, "there
really wasn't anything in Little Italy. Outside of the church and a
couple of businesses right in the core of India Street, those were the
only buildings of any significance. It's not like it was Little Italy
in New York or Boston or San Francisco." As to the new businesses
destined for Little Itally, Joe Pantoja of Mimmo's Italian Village said:
"Some people are afraid of competition, (but) they don't understand
that it brings more people into the area." And David Cohn stressed that "Unlike the Gaslamp or the East Village, there isn't room for a lot to happen. There isn't the real estate for it." Nor the parking, but then Little Italy, like the Gaslamp, has trolley access. "Parking problems do not stop people from going to dynamic areas," the association's Li Mandri said. "A lot of the tenants like what's going on because they're seeing cleaner streets, safer streets, more people in their neighborhood." More restaurants. More shops. More galleries, perhaps.
More residents for sure. No Planet Hollywood. No cineplex. Let's get
real. This is still a storied neighborhood in the shadow of downtown's
glass skyline, with a church and a school and lots of fond memories.
Embedded as those memories are, they won't easily be swept aside, even
by good intentions. [Illustration] |
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