The History of Italian California

Monument to Immigrants at St. Peter's Italian Catholic Church in Chinatown, LA's old "Little Italy"

The story of Italians in California defies two stereotypical historical narratives. The first is about Italians: You probably know the common narrative as repeated by so many movies, especially Mob movies, and documentaries about the mass migration of Southern Italians and Sicilians to the US in the years 1880 to about 1920 or so, how most of them entered through the eastern ports like Boston and New York, and mainly settled at first in urban enclaves called "Little Italys" like the famous one in Manhattan. That most of them were poor, faced some prejudice, and worked hard to be accepted and successful. You might have heard how some made it West to make it big in agriculture and wine-making. But how many of you knew that Italians were in the West during the time of the Gold Rush? Becoming the largest immigrant group in the Mother Lode? That there were Italian ranchers in the Sierra Nevada foothills as early as 1852? Did you know about all the places named after Italians, including Italian Camp, Italian Diggings, Italian Bar and the Italian Bar Trail in Tuolumne County, the Italian Mine in Nevada City and Italian Bar on the American River in El Dorado County?

The Butte Store (California Historical Landmark No. 39)An Italian stone mason constructed the building in 1857 to serve settlers and miners as both their post office and general store. The Gnocchio family operated the store for 50 years, closing its doors in the early 1900s. The roofless building is the last structure still standing where 100 miner’s cabins once stood during the height of the Gold Rush era.

The second stereotypical historical story we all know that this article may change for you is the history of California itself: that it was colonized by the Spanish, then became Mexican, and finally American. In this story line you were probably taught about the Gold Rush and how many different nationalities from all over the world, but especially from Europe and eastern parts of the US, rushed to the gold fields being dubbed "49ers" for the year the first gold was found, 1849. But how many of you knew that there were Italians in Los Angeles, at El Pueblo, when it was still Mexican territory? That many of them married into the influential Californio families and owned some of the historic ranches or ranchos like Giovanni Battista Leandri who owned Rancho Los Coyotes in present-day Buena Park, and the neighboring Rancho Cañada de la Habra, and married Maria Francesca Uribe, the daughter of a prominent Californio family? (The Californios were Spanish-speaking people of Latin American ancestry who were born in California during the era of Mexican and Spanish rule. During this era, Italians and Mexicans intermarried more frequently than any other group, according to the Italian American Museum of Los Angeles at IAMLA.org and at their permanent online exhibit here.) Leandri changed his name to Juan Leandry to better fit in among the Californios.

The "Italian Hall" home of the Italian American Museum of LA in 2010

These little known facts and more will be revealed in the following series of articles about the Italian influence on California. Indeed, in my research, I have found that next to the Spaniards themselves, no other immigrant group left such an indelible and enduring impact on the development and culture of the Golden State.

I will break up this series by regions, not in alphabetical order, but in chronological order concerning Italian immigration to California. And by my research I can only currently conclude that the earliest appearance of Italians here was in Los Angeles, at the Pueblo when it was still Mexican. We can trace that to the 1820s as explained by IAMLA. Whereas it seems that Italians didn't arrive in Northern California until the Gold Rush and the 1850s as explained by "Nostra Storia: The Italian Legacy in the Mother Lode" an exhibit sponsored by the Italian Cultural Society of Sacramento at italiancenter.net.

If any of my information is incorrect or incomplete I do welcome a correction and further education. Please use the Contact form on the left to message us or text us on our Instagram page @theitaliancalifornian or on Facebook @TheItalianCalifornian . And we are looking for article submissions and press releases. Grazie! Auguri! And Viva Italia e California!