Blog

"Barber's Friends, Little Italy, San Diego II" (14"x21")

There I see the same old men sit and talk with an Italian accent on a sidewalk.  Inside a deli, I pick up some imported pasta, a can of San Marzano tomatoes and olives, feeling suddenly transported to a corner alimentari in a small town in Italy.  If you say “Grazie,” the cashier would respond with “Prego” with a smile.  The Old World pride immigrants brought here all the way from Italy still lives inside some of the Italian-American residents here in Little Italy in San Diego, California.

Not far from San Diego Bay, Little Italy was once a neighborhood of Italian immigrant fishermen when the tuna industry was booming.  After decades of a decline of both the industry and the neighborhood, it has been enjoying rapid redevelopment in recent years, fast becoming a more interesting area in downtown San Diego.  It’s amazing every time I visit, I see new condos and high-rises with unique designs and colors.  Italian restaurants and pizza places are filled with visitors.  All this must be a good thing as it is a result of its residents and business owners working hard to revive their community.

The vibrant energy from its urban streets is in and of itself inspiring for me to paint, but I always look for little signs of its connection to the motherland of the immigrant families who still live there.

- Visit my website to view more Little Italy paintings in my California Landscapes Collection.