Strongest Italian presence: Baltimore, New Orleans or San Francisco? (populations, life, cons)
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The lack of "authenticity" in Manhattan doesn't matter much because there are plenty of actual Italian enclaves in the outer boroughs, Westchester County, Long Island and northern New Jersey.
Almost no "Little Italy" today is authentic anymore, except arguably for Boston's North End.
People aren't going to vote New Orleans because it's in the South. They aren't really paying attention to the numbers.
Funny thing is that La Cosa Nostra has always had a higher profile in NOLA than it has in SF or Baltimore. New Orleans has long been known as a Wiseguy town.
People aren't going to vote New Orleans because it's in the South. They aren't really paying attention to the numbers.
Funny thing is that La Cosa Nostra has always had a higher profile in NOLA than it has in SF or Baltimore. New Orleans has long been known as a Wiseguy town.
The history of the Mafia in New Orleans is pretty fascinating--they had one of the earliest if not the earliest branches of the Sicilian Mafia and Carlos Marcello was at one point one of the most powerful mob bosses in the entire US outside of New York or Chicago. Louisiana was such a corrupt state though that organized crime was able to really thrive for years.
North Beach is pretty touristy and as someone who's been going there since I was a kid in the 80s, it seems to have gotten even less Italian in that period, though it's gotten more touristy--and there's plenty of newer Italian restaurants of varying standards. Some of the old joints are still there though, despite the oldest one closing down two years ago and quality has gone down at some of the places--and the bakeries serving cannolis seem to be mostly run by Mexicans these days. I remember going as a kid though, and you still had restaurants that were very old school in feel. Also, a lot of where Italians used to live in North Beach is now part of Chinatown--and the rest is very expensive.
It's still a nice neighborhood to see, the area around Washington Square Park and St. Peter and Paul Church is attractive, and there's some decent cafes and the old City Lights bookstore(since it's also on the Beatnik nostalgia tour). And there is very high number of places to get Italian food and gelato, though there might be better places to eat at other parts of SF. It's fun to walk around though since it's always got a lot of pedestrian traffic usually even well into the night(though being close to a bunch of strip clubs on Broadway helps that), and if there's still some good places among the touristy places. There's a couple Italian social clubs still left though I'm sure the membership is pretty old at this point.
If one really wants to taste the best thing Italians were responsible for bringing to San Francisco, just find a place serving really good cioppino(with dungeness crab), that's the one dish that I'd say that sums up San Francisco(and that part of the coast) for me. You don't have to go to North Beach though as some of the best places are in other spots in the city.
It's better than San Diego's tiny Little Italy, I got a pretty good Italian sandwich at a deli there last time I was in San Diego that seemed to be about the highlight. Honestly though, a lot of the designated "Little Italy" districts around the country seem pretty touristy--just like Chinatowns they're not always even the best place to eat the food. But they can be fun.
Yeah, that sounds nice. SF is one of my favorite cities to walk around anyway and Little Italys are usually great for that-North Boston, Italian Market South Philly, Arthur Ave, etc. I know SF has a good deal of Italian/Italian-American history so that would also be interesting.
San Diego had an interesting history too mostly revolving around the fishing industry and the area seemed cool but our dinner wasn't that great. The "Italian Market" in South Philly these days is also increasingly Mexican and Asian but the old landmarks are still there-including Ralph's, the oldest Italian restaurant in the country.
Another interesting to note is that the surge in Italian immigration seemed to happen about a decade or two earlier in New Orleans/Louisiana and the Italian-born population peaked in 1910.
Italian-born population of New Orleans (Louisiana):
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