L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, MAY 17, 2018 www.italoamericano.org 26 L'Italo-Americano G oats were among the first residents of San Francisco's Telegraph Hill, so much so that one of the first names for the hill was Goat Hill. It was designated as such by settlers of the area now known as North Beach, once a thriving Little Italy. Early accounts describe the slopes of Telegraph Hill as "swarmed with goats." Bret Harte is said to have complained that goats "browsed" on the gerani- ums in his second-story window. Another account reads: "On top of Telegraph Hill, goats grazed on open land. They were tended by the goat lady, Cosenza Milanelli who lead her bleating charges through the alleys and byways of the quarter and milked them at her customer's door until a city ordinance forbade grazing goats on the hill in 1928." In an oral history recalling their almost ninety years of residence on Tele- graph Hill (from 1913 to 2000), Virginia and Elio Anderlini share: "You could see these elderly women tending to the goats; they'd take them up there, they had their little rods, you know, and they'd take them up there to graze." Sadly, the goats have long since left town. And so have many other residents, including many of the Italians. The ongoing urban shuffle happening in San Francisco neighborhoods is not new by any means. It began back in the 1800s when the California Gold Rush drew thousands of people from all over the United States and Europe. It happened again after the 1906 earthquake and fire, and again after the two world wars. The popularity of the automobile from oddity to com- modity, spurred the exodus from neighborhoods. San Francisco's Little Italy saw a particularly massive change during the 1980s and 1990s when quaint bohemian cottages, origi- nally just fisherman's shacks dat- ing back to the late 1800s, turned into million dollar properties with just one new coat of paint. Old, established Italian families moved in mass to cities like San Jose and Redwood City. A few regret their hasty decision to seek un posto più sicuro e tranquillo per i bam- bini, a more calm and safe place for the children. A fancy word for this urban shuffle is "gentrification," although one does not think of colorful, vibrant, historic neigh- borhoods like North Beach and Telegraph Hill when using the "G" word. The area was never really blighted or abandoned. CATHERINE ACCARDI It's Not Goat Hill Anymore people; it's not just foreign investors. I think people are com- ing here from all over the world for lots of different jobs- plus you add to that the fact that many young people do not want to live in the suburbs anymore, even with kids (especially young cou- ples with two careers- they do not want to commute and often don't even own cars)." I interviewed Lorenzo Fer- linghetti regarding his new book, Writing Across the Landscape: Travel Journals 1960-2010. We chatted about his love of San Francisco, a fondness for the city that surpasses that of most of the cities he visited over his long and illustrious career. I asked why he settled in North Beach, where he still resides, versus another area of San Francisco. His answer was simple. "I'd lived in New York and there was not much opportu- nity there for a 21-year-old. Everything was still wide open in San Francisco in the 1950s and 1960s. It was just a provincial capital so you could do anything there." In the end, what does it all mean? Does it not beg the ques- tion: do you want to live in San Francisco tomorrow, or even today? For some of us, the answer is not as elusive as it might seem. Tony Bennett was right, of course. One would be hard-pressed to find someone, anyone, who has not left a bit of their heart on one of her hills. SAN FRANCISCO ITALIAN COMMUNITY Nonetheless, it is a striking example. The designated Telegraph Hill Historic District is bounded by Greenwich, Sansome, Mont- gomery, and Green Streets. The area has the greatest number of pre-1870 structures, several dat- ing back to the 1850s. These des- ignations have nothing to do with its earliest four-footed residents but, rather, with the bucolic dwellings that dotted the hill, and still do. The once rustic 293 Union Street, is appraised at $1.8 million. It's next door neighbor, 291 Union, is assessed at over $2 million. For this price, one wants goats and chickens along with the view. As with many California cities, San Francisco is experi- encing a cultural phenomenon driven in part by the growth of the South Bay's tech industry. Younger professionals have moved back into the City in droves, some immigrating direct- ly from Italy and some from the east coast after arriving from "The Old Country." Successful San Francisco real estate agent, Laura Lanzone, shared the following thoughts when I asked her what her expe- rience told her about people crav- ing to move in or out of San Francisco: "It's an interesting question- and one that a lot of people are asking about San Francisco in general, not just North Beach. It's not just tech 291 & 293 Union Street, San Francisco, in 1940. Photograph courtesy of the Library of Congress Shacks on Telegraph Hill in the 1890s. Photograph by J.B. Monaco

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