The Plaza Church on Main Street across from the Plaza and Olvera Street, 1925

 

Circa 1925 The Plaza Church on Main Street across from the Plaza and Olvera Street.  Behind the streetcar is the Hotel Pacific, the office of Philip Morici & Company, "Agencia Italiana," and the grocery store of Giovanni Piume, who also made wine (Piuma Road in Malibu was named for him.)  The area north of the Plaza was at this time an Italian neighborhood.

What impressed me about this photo is the caption that says that the area north of the Plaza was at this time an Italian neighborhood and that got me to thinking about the different Italian businesses over there, like Little Joe's, San Antonio Winery, and the the Italian neighborhoods over by Lincoln High School.  I had an Italian lunch one time with Dad at the San Antonio Winery.  The tables were decorated with checkered red-and-white cloth, and a candle in a Chianti bottle.  Dean Martin's "That's Amore" was playing, and I got to enjoy an exclusive hour with my father, one of the few members of the family who enjoyed talking about the past to give me a glimpse of his times, as he put it, the best days.