L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JUNE 19, 2014 www.italoamericano.com L'Italo-Americano 5 Mission Italian For the average visitor or newcomer to San Francisco, the city's distinct neighborhoods are readily associated with the eth- nic or cultural group whose imprint is most visible in the local landscape. The rainbow flags of the Castro point to the gay (and lesbian, bisexual, and transgender) community. The Haight's tie-dye murals pro- claim hippie-land. The profu- sion of tricolore festooned restaurants along Columbus Avenue indicate Little Italy. And the taquerias and murals throughout the Mission announce the Latino quarter. All valid conclusions to be drawn by any reasonable observ- er. But a little knowledge of local geography and history tells us more, and sometimes other- wise. Behind the tricolore- painted lampposts of North Beach, lies a neighborhood where the majority of residents are in fact Chinese. Before the Castro became a gay mecca, it was an enclave of straight-laced, middle class Irish. In the South of Market, gleaming glass tow- ers reflecting the high-tech boom, cover land that not so long ago housed auto repair and machine shops and the rooming houses of the city's laborer classes. Places are palimpsests, claimed and marked by different occupiers over time, then erased in whole or in part, and written over again. In San Francisco, where spectacular booms and big busts are the norm, the pace and extent of this transformation are correspondingly more dra- matic. Nowhere in the city today is this erasure taking place more quickly than in the Mission neighborhood. Famous in an infamously grey city for its sun- shine, and endowed with neigh- borhood parks, charming Victorian homes, a large stock of deteriorated rental housing, and proximity to the favorite work and play spaces of the new power elite, the Mission is an irresistible dish for hungry developers and commercial landlords seeking to maximize returns with new luxury apart- ments and expensive storefronts leased to hipster businesses. Today, the Mission is most closely associated with Latino culture, but it was not always so. The large influx of immigrants from Mexico and Central America that created the Latino majority in the Mission did not take place until the mid 20th century. Apart from the religious mission established by the Spanish, non-indigenous resi- dents up to around 1900 were Irish and German, and a small number of Italian truck farmers. Then in 1906, the district, which had been spared from the destruction of the earthquake and fire that left half the city homeless, attracted large num- bers of mostly working class Italians to its modest neighbor- hoods. By 1915, the Mission had become the second most important Italian quarter of the city after North Beach. The Mission Italian commu- nity has received little attention in general histories of the dis- trict, and is all but ignored in the few historical studies of Italian San Francisco. Yet several key institutions point to the commu- nity's importance. Two of these were direct imports from North Beach: A.P. Giannini's then Bank of Italy established its first ever branch here, in 1907, at 3343 Mission Street, with the express purpose of "building up the Mission district just the same as the main bank has been build- ing up the North Beach district." By 1917, the Italian population was large enough that another North Beach institution, the funeral home of Valente, Marini, Perata, opened a second location here as well, on the corner of Mission and 29th. Neither the bank nor the funeral home continues to oper- ate at these historic locations today, but several other Italian institutions founded here in the same period are still going elIsABetH VAsIle strong. In 1912, the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception opened at 3255 Folsom Street as the Italian National Church of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, pastored by Father Ludovico Pretta from Puglia. Other than St Peter and St Paul in North Beach, Immaculate Conception is the only church in the city still offering Sunday mass in Italian, and Italian cul- ture is evident everywhere in the church building and in its activi- ties. Inside the sanctuary, the figures of St Nicholas of Bari, the Madonna de la Guardia (from Genova), and San Pellegrino grace the chapel's vestibules. Below their central figures, the magnificent stained glass windows in the nave bear the names of the families who, long ago, donated them -- Parrinello, Campisi, and Paoli, among others. Outside, high relief tiles of Italian glazed terra cotta surround the main entrance with an exuberant array of fruits, flowers, and the central figure of the Madonna. When, in 1945, the chapel underwent extensive renovation, Father Sciocchetti came here from Italy to do the mural paintings in the apse. Father Guglielmo Lauriola, from Puglia, has been the pastor here since 1974. The congregation, he says, still includes Italian families who lived in the neigh- borhood at one time and have mostly moved on to other parts of the city and the bay area, but continue to worship here across the generations. On the third Wednesday of every month, the church hosts a well-attended spaghetti lunch. A similar loyalty holds at Lucca Ravioli, located nearby on the corner of Valencia and 22nd street. The immaculate Lucca Ravioli on the corner of Valencia and 22nd, has been making fresh ravi- oli here since 1925 The names of some of the families who donated the magnificent stained glass windows of the Immaculate Conception Church 650.400.4747 AdeleDS@aol.com www.AdeleDS.com BRE# 00911740 Certied Trust, Probate and Estate Specialist Expert in preparation, promotion, and negotiation! SELLING HOMES THROUGHOUT THE BAY AREA Adele Della Santina "e Right Realtor makes all the difference." shop imports and sells all man- ner of fine Italian foods and wines, as its name suggests, is a maker of fresh ravioli, along with several types of sauces. Lucca Ravioli opened in 1916, and since 1925 has been owned and run at this location by the Feno family, originally from Piemonte. The ravioli made here is sold only in the store. It has become a tradition for many Italian families who, like the congregants of the Immaculate Conception, have historic ties to the district and now come from all over the city to provision their holiday tables with the familiar flavors remembered and loved over generations. The dis- trict is also dotted with a number of clubs, the Marchegiani, the Verdi Club, and the Monte Cristo, lively gathering places for sociability and continuity. All of these places are also, potentially, sources for the preservation of community memory, markings in the palimpsest of place. The Latino community recently has made a very deliberate move to do just that. Under the aegis of the Latino Historical Society in col- laboration with San Francisco Heritage, an initiative has been launched to document and pre- serve Latino heritage, in the Mission neighborhood and city- wide. In this city of social move- ments and innovation, this could be the leading edge of a new wave, to read and preserve the traces of local history before they vanish.

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