Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
While the title of film is a bit of a misnomer (obviously it’s not the “last” Little Italy in America by a long shot) this 2020 documentary about The Hill in St. Louis highlights just how close-knit and authentically Italian the neighborhood remains even today.
Interesting because I was rewatching movies from the 80s and early 90s and I thought they were a lot of Italian Americans characters back then (Rocky, The Godfather, Goodfellas, Daniel LaRusso from Karate Kid, My cousin Vinnie,...).
I don't think Hollywood would choose a main Italian American character in 2022 or if he is, they wouldn't explicitly say is of Italian descent since most Italian Americans falls into the maintsream American category nowadays.
I am 100% Italian American but I have a unique perspective.
My whole family immigrated to New York City around the turn of the century.
My grandparents and parent were all born and raised in NYC with a New York Italian culture.
Shortly after getting married my parents moved to Texas where I was born.
Having witnessed the similarities and differences both Northeast Italian Americans and the Gulf Coast Italian Americans, I wonder if there were more Italian American sub groups and I found out there were 4!
1) Northeast Italian Americans- Large districts in the big North East Cities of NYC, Philly, Boston, Baltimore, DC etc. These are the stereotypical Italian Americans portrayed in movies and culture.
2) Gulf Coast Italian Americans- This group is actually the oldest group of Italian Americans. Sicilians started arriving to New Orleans in droves in the 1870s. Most in the 1890s -1910 would enter through Ellis Island but Galveston was 2nd to Ellis Island in accepting European immigrants. Having grown up in Houston, I notice the difference in the Italian Americans that immigrated to the region. They assimilated quicker but more of a white- cajun mix and the ones that did really well built restaurant empires. Down here, the Carrabbas, Mandolas, Vallones, and of course the Fertitta family come to mind. Little Italys in this region are scarce but there are noticeable communities.
3) Mid West Italian Americans- This is the cluster of Italians that made it inland to the Midwest cities of St. Louis, Kansas City, Chicago, Pittsburgh, etc. These cities do have Little Italys and are similar to the Northeast Italian Americans but there are some differences.
4) California Italian Americans- This is the group that headed straight for a the climate that was closest to their homeland. San Francisco and San Diego had large Italian communities. Look up the history of Bank of America, which was originally called the Bank of Italy due to the large community there....or Ghiradelli This group were the quickest to assimilate into "Californians"
There have been many attempts to further assimilate Italian Americans into the American 'White' population but 150 years after the first wave of Sicilians entering the Gulf Coast, I can say we are still one of the most identifiable of the "ethnic whites".
Remember the US went to great lengths to assimilate the Italians.
1. Language- this was inevitable. Italians came to the US speaking local dialects, not a unified Italian language. Even if they all spoke the same language, Italians not a world wide language, like Spanish, so it was never going to survive.
2. Immigration Reform- Many attempts were made to stop the influx of Southern and Eastern European immigrants into the United States. In the1920s the literally forced Italians to immigrate to Argentina, Brazil, and Canada because the United States did not want any more Italians. This stopped our pipeline and allowed cities like Buenos Aires to build huge Italian populations.
3. Branding of Latin Americans excluding Italian Americans- The term Latin literally means "of the the Italian peninsula" yet the US government said Italians were white...not Latin?!?? Lazio (root-Latium), the region Rome is in means "The Land of the Latins" yet Italian Americans are not Latin...ok?
Because the usage of "Latin" in the demonymic term "Latin American" is not referring to Italy but to people from the majority part of the Americas (North-Meso-South) south of the USA that was largely colonized by empires with Latin-family languages, especially Spanish and Portuguese, but arguably the Frenchie bits, - the Dutch, English, Danish colony exceptions were so small in relative terms as to not signify in this usage. Italy wasn't even united until long after the colonial process was done, and its main cultural colony in this area is in Argentina (enough that a lot of Argentinian Spanish is a hybrid, quite different from the comparatively pure Spanish of Colombia), and it's included, btw.
Because the usage of "Latin" in the geographic term "Latin America" is not referring to Italy but to the majority part of the Americas (North-Meso-South) south of the USA that was largely colonized by empires with Latin-family languages, especially Spanish and Portuguese, but arguably the Frenchie bits, - the Dutch, English, Danish colony exceptions were so small in relative terms as to not signify in this usage. Italy wasn't even united until long after the colonial process was done, and its main cultural colony in this area is in Argentina (enough that a lot of Argentinian Spanish is a hybrid, quite different from the comparatively pure Spanish of Colombia), and it's included, btw.
Yes but the Latin people, culture, & language originated out of the Italian peninsula....whether it was a unified nation or not.
Obviously, the term has been re-branded for today, ignoring 2,000 years of history, but calling the people of North and South America, of Spanish or Portuguese origin, 'Iberian-Americans' would have been more appropriate than referring them back to the influence of Italian peninsula.
If anything, Italian Americans with majority Italian ancestry are more 'Latin" than those in the Spanish speaking countries since they are actual Latin descendants.
Anyway, I was just pointing out how American demographics grouped Italian Americans in with the 'White- Caucasian' category. I acknowledge the term has been stolen and re-branded.
I am 100% Italian American but I have a unique perspective.
My whole family immigrated to New York City around the turn of the century.
My grandparents and parent were all born and raised in NYC with a New York Italian culture.
Shortly after getting married my parents moved to Texas where I was born.
Having witnessed the similarities and differences both Northeast Italian Americans and the Gulf Coast Italian Americans, I wonder if there were more Italian American sub groups and I found out there were 4!
1) Northeast Italian Americans- Large districts in the big North East Cities of NYC, Philly, Boston, Baltimore, DC etc. These are the stereotypical Italian Americans portrayed in movies and culture.
2) Gulf Coast Italian Americans- This group is actually the oldest group of Italian Americans. Sicilians started arriving to New Orleans in droves in the 1870s. Most in the 1890s -1910 would enter through Ellis Island but Galveston was 2nd to Ellis Island in accepting European immigrants. Having grown up in Houston, I notice the difference in the Italian Americans that immigrated to the region. They assimilated quicker but more of a white- cajun mix and the ones that did really well built restaurant empires. Down here, the Carrabbas, Mandolas, Vallones, and of course the Fertitta family come to mind. Little Italys in this region are scarce but there are noticeable communities.
3) Mid West Italian Americans- This is the cluster of Italians that made it inland to the Midwest cities of St. Louis, Kansas City, Chicago, Pittsburgh, etc. These cities do have Little Italys and are similar to the Northeast Italian Americans but there are some differences.
4) California Italian Americans- This is the group that headed straight for a the climate that was closest to their homeland. San Francisco and San Diego had large Italian communities. Look up the history of Bank of America, which was originally called the Bank of Italy due to the large community there....or Ghiradelli This group were the quickest to assimilate into "Californians"
There have been many attempts to further assimilate Italian Americans into the American 'White' population but 150 years after the first wave of Sicilians entering the Gulf Coast, I can say we are still one of the most identifiable of the "ethnic whites".
Remember the US went to great lengths to assimilate the Italians.
1. Language- this was inevitable. Italians came to the US speaking local dialects, not a unified Italian language. Even if they all spoke the same language, Italians not a world wide language, like Spanish, so it was never going to survive.
2. Immigration Reform- Many attempts were made to stop the influx of Southern and Eastern European immigrants into the United States. In the1920s the literally forced Italians to immigrate to Argentina, Brazil, and Canada because the United States did not want any more Italians. This stopped our pipeline and allowed cities like Buenos Aires to build huge Italian populations.
3. Branding of Latin Americans excluding Italian Americans- The term Latin literally means "of the the Italian peninsula" yet the US government said Italians were white...not Latin?!?? Lazio (root-Latium), the region Rome is in means "The Land of the Latins" yet Italian Americans are not Latin...ok?
It always seemed to me that there were more Italians in upstate NY, than in NYC. Places like Syracose, Binghamton.
My father grew up in a part of Albany, NY where the old timers there only spoke Italian. My grandfather could barely speak English. His neighborhood was in a suburb, but every vacant lot was filled with a veggie garden, lol.
When I watch The Godfather I get very nostalgic for my own family (father’s side), most of whom were from Italy or whose parents were from Italy. They nailed it in that film. The music, the food, the vernacular, the clothes, the hair, etc. Those people are mostly gone now.
I am 100% Italian American but I have a unique perspective.
My whole family immigrated to New York City around the turn of the century.
My grandparents and parent were all born and raised in NYC with a New York Italian culture.
Shortly after getting married my parents moved to Texas where I was born.
Having witnessed the similarities and differences both Northeast Italian Americans and the Gulf Coast Italian Americans, I wonder if there were more Italian American sub groups and I found out there were 4!
1) Northeast Italian Americans- Large districts in the big North East Cities of NYC, Philly, Boston, Baltimore, DCetc. These are the stereotypical Italian Americans portrayed in movies and culture.
2) Gulf Coast Italian Americans- This group is actually the oldest group of Italian Americans. Sicilians started arriving to New Orleans in droves in the 1870s. Most in the 1890s -1910 would enter through Ellis Island but Galveston was 2nd to Ellis Island in accepting European immigrants. Having grown up in Houston, I notice the difference in the Italian Americans that immigrated to the region. They assimilated quicker but more of a white- cajun mix and the ones that did really well built restaurant empires. Down here, the Carrabbas, Mandolas, Vallones, and of course the Fertitta family come to mind. Little Italys in this region are scarce but there are noticeable communities.
3) Mid West Italian Americans- This is the cluster of Italians that made it inland to the Midwest cities of St. Louis, Kansas City, Chicago, Pittsburgh, etc. These cities do have Little Italys and are similar to the Northeast Italian Americans but there are some differences.
4) California Italian Americans- This is the group that headed straight for a the climate that was closest to their homeland. San Francisco and San Diego had large Italian communities. Look up the history of Bank of America, which was originally called the Bank of Italy due to the large community there....or Ghiradelli This group were the quickest to assimilate into "Californians"
There have been many attempts to further assimilate Italian Americans into the American 'White' population but 150 years after the first wave of Sicilians entering the Gulf Coast, I can say we are still one of the most identifiable of the "ethnic whites".
Remember the US went to great lengths to assimilate the Italians.
1. Language- this was inevitable. Italians came to the US speaking local dialects, not a unified Italian language. Even if they all spoke the same language, Italians not a world wide language, like Spanish, so it was never going to survive.
2. Immigration Reform- Many attempts were made to stop the influx of Southern and Eastern European immigrants into the United States. In the1920s the literally forced Italians to immigrate to Argentina, Brazil, and Canada because the United States did not want any more Italians. This stopped our pipeline and allowed cities like Buenos Aires to build huge Italian populations.
3. Branding of Latin Americans excluding Italian Americans- The term Latin literally means "of the the Italian peninsula" yet the US government said Italians were white...not Latin?!?? Lazio (root-Latium), the region Rome is in means "The Land of the Latins" yet Italian Americans are not Latin...ok?
Baltimore and DC never really never really had that
large northeastern Italian American presence and feel (it makes sense because they're not actually in the Northeast but thats a different subject). They deserve their own category that's in between Midwestern and California in terms of cultural likeness/feel if that makes any sense. I also would include Pittsburgh and Buffalo in its own "Interior Northeast Italian American" category that would be wedged in between the iconic coastal Northeast Italian American, and Midwestern Italian American categories (literally and figuratively haha). Other than that, great breakdown.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
