L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, MARCH 27, 2014 www.italoamericano.com 10 Dear Readers, A March minestrone with Italian connections: San Francisco's Marina District has many Italian con- nections. The neighborhood known as the Marina District did not exist one hundred years ago. Much of the land where homes, stores and streets were built had been either salt marsh- es or submerged tide lands. San Francisco's great earthquake and fire of 1906 and the 1915 Panama-Pacific International exposition, both brought about plans to rebuild or develop on landfill the shoreline that com- mands beautiful and spectacular views of San Francisco Bay. Unlike "North Beach", which at one time was the West coast equivalent to New York's "Little Italy", the Marina was never "paesani" populated wall-to- wall, but was rather the neigh- borhood of choice in the 1940's and 1950's of San Francisco's socio-economically upward mobile Italo-Americans. Most homes were not man- sions, just houses that because of their desirable location, com- manded premium prices above identical floor plan tract homes elsewhere in the city. *** Joe DiMaggio bought a house on Beach Street in the Marina for his parents. In later years, during happier times, Marilyn Monroe would come to visit with Joe and his sister Marie. The baseball great died on March 8, 1999. *** When the Panama-Pacific International Exposition opened on February 20, 1915, after five years of construction, more than 150,000 visitors came to the Marina Fairgrounds on opening day (50¢ for adults and 25¢ for children). Mayor "Sunny Jim" Rolph led the way through the turnstile on Chestnut Street, which today remains the main business street in the Marina. In the Expos Festival Hall, opera superstar Luisa Tetrazzini gave a free concert for 3,000 children that attended from schools throughout the Bay Area. *** Dario Resta, driving a 5,6 liter Peugeot won the first place at the Expos International Grand Prix, the first major automotive race held in San Francisco. Twice daily, the Fair held aeronautical shows. Pilots used the North Garden, now the Marina Green, to take off and land. "Sea Food King" Achille Paladini built a home across the street from the Marina Green, now Marina Boulevard that is still owned by his heirs today. *** The Expo closed on Dec. 4, 1915 and over 459 thousand peo- ple attended the closing cere- monies in front of the "Tower of Jewels". After the exposition was dismantled, the debris removed and the land graded, the land was made suitable for sub- division and development. *** In 1922 the American Trust Company opened an office on Chestnut Street, followed by Bank of America a few years later. In 1924 the Metro Theater opened, followed by the Marina Theater in 1928 and the Municipal Railways F streetcar line build for the Panama-Pacific Exposition was extended and continues to this day with buses. *** Marina Junior High School opened in 1936 with facilities for 1,200 students. Graduating Marina Junior High School stu- dents mostly attended nearby Galileo High School on Van Ness Avenue, which during the 1940's and early 1950's had a student body that was predomi- nantly Italo-American. *** In May 1937, the Mayor Angelo Rossi cut the ribbon, the official Golden Gate Bridge Pedestrian Day began and the Bridge opened, adding Golden beauty to the views in the Marina. *** St. Frances of Rome (1384- 1440) was born to a well-to-do family in the Trastevere district of Rome. She married, at thir- teen, a prominent Roman figure, Lorenzo de Ponziani and bore him two sons and a daughter. During the forty years of their marriage Frances strove to be a truly Christian wife and mother. When plague spread throughout the crowded city of Rome, Frances sold her jewels and valuables for food for the strick- en. Together with her sister-in- law, Vannozza, she gathered other women to care for the needy and in 1426 founded the Oblates of Mary. After the death of her husband Lorenzo in 1436 she entered the community she had helped found and diedMarch 9, 1440. *** Donkeys with an Italian con- nections. Miniature donkeys came from the islands of Sicily and Sardinia, where they were used to pull carts and carry bag- gage. According to the Miniature Donkey Association of America, they began entering the United States around 1929. There are about 15,000 in North America today. Miniature donkeys stand, on average, 32 to 42 inches at the withers (shoul- ders) and weigh 200-350 pounds. They can live 35 years or more. In addition to the affec- tion and amusement the donkeys give, their owners also keep an eye on their investment potential a sires around the country. A breeder must learn the basics of genetics, to know how colors follow certain lines- if you breed a gray one to a red one, what are your chances of getting another red, for instance? Or how much smaller can you get by breeding a particular pair. It takes only $150 per year per donkey to raise them, much less than full- size horses or donkeys. A good miniature can bring in from $500 to $5000 for a male, whether gelding or sire. Jennys sell for $1,600 to $7,000, depending on pet quality and color. Miniatures are great for kids, they are affectionate and docile and can pull their buggies or with little saddles children can ride them. A male donkey is called a Jack and a female Jenny. *** Excelsior, motto of the great state of New York, title of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's popu- lar poem written in 1841 and name of a San Francisco neigh- borhood populated in the 1880's mainly by Irish potato farmers andItalian truck farmers who grew vegetables, means ever "higher" and was intended to convey a sense of optimism about moving on, ever upward. A less exalted defini- tion of excelsior is fine shredded tissue paper or wood shavings once used for packing figs and other fragile produce for ship- ping to eastern markets. As a young girl, I fancied myself a "jet setter" when transported by street car to the Excelsior District. I visited friends at Balboa High School, boys on London Street, danced on Russia, at the Italian Social Club, went with my mother to Italy Street to visit with Mrs. Parrino and her fig tree, and drank grenadine punch at the "Casbah" where Excelsior favorite "Pat" Valentino and middleweight champ Fred Apostoli often dropped by. *** The Lucky Bean The gift of a blessed fava bean is the most well known of the customs associated with the St. Joseph Altar. During one of Sicily's severe famines, the fava bean thrived while other crops failed. It was originally grown for animal fodder, but because of its amazing resilience, it became the sustaining food of the farmer and their families. Legend has it that the person who carries a "Lucky Bean" has a constant reminder to pray to St. Joseph and will also never be without money. *** Joe Di Maggio

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