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News 8 covers the history of Little Italy and how it is today. We visit Filippi’s Pizza, Our Lady of the Rosary and other sights from 1986.
SAN DIEGO COUNTY, California – Little Italy is one of the hippest neighborhoods in San Diego. It’s full of posh restaurants and bars. Residents pay the highest dollars to live there. But it wasn’t always like that.
Little Italy went through a period of decline in the 1970s.
News 8 portrayed Little Italy in 1986 when many companies were struggling to get customers. You could still buy bread, pasta and cheese there, but customers didn’t come that often anymore.
Bobby DePhilippis remembers how it was back then.
The 72-year-old started working in his family’s restaurant, Filippi’s Pizza Grotto, at the age of 15. It was founded by his grandfather Vincent DePhilippis and his grandmother Madeleine Manfredi. It has since expanded across San Diego.
The Little Italy location was the first. The restaurant has retained its original character. Some of the News 8 employees interviewed in 1986 are still with us in 2021.
Although the “Filippi’s” sign on top of the building looks like it did decades ago, the neighborhood doesn’t look like it.
“I just couldn’t believe all the structures on the street,” said DePhilippis. “It’s like day and night, an incredible change.”
India Street was once home to only a handful of restaurants and shops.
“If you’re a real estate investor and bought some of this stuff in 1965, you’re a very rich man – or woman, today,” he laughed.
“Just an overwhelming situation, but I think it’s good. I think it’s good for San Diego,” he added.
In addition to Filippis, there are other historical attractions in Little Italy. Our Lady of the Rosary recently underwent a $ 2.5 million renovation. In 2021 it looked the same as it did 35 years ago.
Little Italy was once home to thousands of Italian families. It used to be a thriving fishing community. However, the construction of Interstate 5 in the early 1970s destroyed much of the neighborhood. Many families fled to the suburbs. However, the Pecoraros decided to stay.
“It’s 71 years in our family, I was born and raised in the fourth generation in the neighborhood. It’s nice to see the circle come full circle,” said 49-year-old Onofrio Pecoraro.
He said his great grandparents settled in Little Italy in 1906.
“They could have gone to El Cajon, they could have gone to South Bay, they could have gone anywhere, but they came here,” Pecoraro said.
His family owns the yellow house on India Street near the giant “Little Italy” sign. It’s one of the few houses in the neighborhood. His father is a familiar face in the area. He sits on the porch every day.
“The memories are just too special,” he said. “You have to remember when we grew up in the house, it was one story, six people, two bedrooms, one bathroom. We come from humble beginnings. We know how lucky we are to be part of the neighborhood.”
In 1988 News 8 interviewed Onofrio’s brother Jack, who was just 11 years old at the time. It was easy for him to “fix” Little Italy.
“Take out the old junk apartments and put in new ones. Decorate the streets to make them look beautiful, ”he said.
His wish was granted. Pecoraro said they have been offered millions for their property over the years. He said there was no amount of money that would ever be enough to sell them.
“Before she died, my mother recorded it in her will that the property would never be sold,” said Pecoraro. “We have no intention of selling.”
The goal in 1986 was simply to make Little Italy more pedestrian-friendly by moving utilities underground and widening sidewalks. The turning point came a decade later. Business and real estate owners helped found the Little Italy Association of San Diego. The organization found a way to drive economic growth while preserving the neighborhood’s Italian charm and character.
But as it grows, there are traffic, crowds, and parking problems. However, some longtime residents told News 8 they don’t mind. In fact, they like the new energy.
“I’ve lived here for 53 years,” said Nino LaLicata.
Every morning he meets up with a group of Italian friends for coffee in Little Italy.
“We meet every day. We talk about the old days,” he said.
He never thought that the neighborhood would develop into what it is today.
“Little Italy is still a place to be enjoyed,” he said.
“It’s all good, life changes. You have to change with it,” said Giovanni Orlando, another long-time resident.
CELEBRATE THE SAN DIEGO SERIES
Celebrate San Diego was a 1986/1987 series about neighborhoods in San Diego County. CBS 8 anchor reporter Connie Healy and a team of photographers roamed the county providing detailed profiles of several cities and towns in the area. They were history lessons focused on change and progress.
Many of the longtime residents she spoke to thought about what it was like to grow up in their city and what they thought of all the changes they had seen. You really get a feel for what the character and personality of the community were in each profile – and how diverse the county really is.
Thirty-five years later, we’re sending out a team of reporters to see how things have changed or stayed the same in each of the nearly 20 neighborhoods we studied in the mid-1980s.
Connie shares her memories of working on this fantastic series below:
“I love talking to people. People make the news, not news anchors. They simply tell how we live our lives. In the 1980s, Celebrate San Diego did just that. It painted a picture of everyday life very different from what we live today, and a city many of us would not even recognize.
Talking to people, listening to their stories is what reporters do every day. But these stories about life in San Diego 50 to 100 years ago were amazing. This city has come a long way in the past 30 years, but some of the people in these stories saw change at the speed of light. I encourage you to take some time to peek into our past, indulge in the present, and celebrate the wonderful city we all call home. “
MORE THROWBACKS FROM LITTLE ITALY
MORE THEN & NOW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videoseries
RELATED: North Park Then and Now: Reunion of the 1980s series about the neighborhoods of San Diego
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