Pepper Tree Plaza renamed Italian Piazza, But will history be lost even as monuments stay?

On Oct. 20, Councilman Joe Buscaino and the Little Italy of Los Angeles Association hosted a ground-breaking for the Piazza Miramare, at the former Pepper Tree Plaza. In 1980, the city held a groundbreaking for Pepper Tree Plaza, in a celebration of San Pedro’s heritage and history, instead of one specific ethnic group.

The plaza was named after the Pepper Tree Saloon, which is where the city charter for San Pedro was signed in 1888, said Mona Dallas Reddick, president of the San Pedro Bay Historical Society. San Pedro became consolidated with the City of Los Angeles in 1909.

The saloon was closed in the 1920s, with the pepper tree near it dying in 1928, according to a 1980 article from the News Pilot. Another pepper tree was planted there in 1976, a few years prior to the plaza’s groundbreaking.

Three civic organizations were involved with Pepper Tree Plaza’s groundbreaking, including the 30-Year Club of San Pedro, the Harbor Area Bicentennial Committee and the San Pedro Bay Historical Society. For the groundbreaking of the piazza, Buscaino did not even consult San Pedro Bay Historical Society about what to do with the historical monuments at the plaza, with one exception. Reddick said that one of Buscaino’s staff members casually asked if the society would like to put the urn in the Muller House Museum. The urn is too big.

The monuments include a big urn from the old Matson terminal, two Bloody Thursday commemorative plaques, an antique cast-iron drinking fountain which was originally on Beacon Street, a time capsule and a granite city hall sign.

Buscaino said that the urn — which resembles a giant fountain in the shape of a goblet — will be taken to the new Wilmington waterfront, which is currently under construction. It will be placed next to its sister monument. He said the other monuments will be integrated into the finished piazza.

Reddick said that it is good that the urn is going to Wilmington, and that it belongs there.

Reddick said the historical society advocates for historical information and monuments to be maintained, while still allowing progress. The problem with changing the name of the plaza is that the connection to its history will fade, Reddick said.

Reddick said it is a nice idea to have a piazza, but based on the conceptual renderings, it looks like there will be a lot of concrete without much green, in an area that is already hot and noisy. She said the area does need more community gathering places, but there is already one across the street, in front of the Los Angeles Maritime Museum.

Buscaino gave a speech at the groundbreaking, describing what the piazza is supposed to imitate.

“This existing public area … starting today, we will recreate it into a space that functions like a traditional Italian piazza,” Buscaino said.

Buscaino said that in Europe, piazzas are squares that are the center point of an area. Buscaino complained about the City of Los Angeles changing Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples’ Day, which happened in 2017, without mentioning either by name. This was around the same time that Little Italy Association of Los Angeles was founded, which Buscaino was instrumental in. 

“The city can take away our holiday, but not our spirit,” Buscaino said.

According to History.com, Columbus enslaved and killed many Indigenous people when he came to the Americas. He sent thousands of the Taino people, from the island of Hispaniola, to be sold in Spain. Many of them died on the way.

“Within 60 years after Columbus landed, only a few hundred of what may have been 250,000 Taino were left on their island,” according to History.com.

Buscaino claimed that Pepper Tree Plaza isn’t used very often.

“We have found that this space has been used only for holiday events,” Buscaino said. “The tree lighting, bringing the snow. We have found that this space here before you has been underutilized piece of public land that will soon be thriving with activity.”

However, the plaza used to hold the San Pedro farmers market once a week, for nearly two years. It was held there from September 2020 until it moved to 6th and Mesa in July 2022.

Buscaino said the piazza will hold events, celebrations, outdoor films and many cultural events. It will also have a fountain, with surnames attached to it.

“I know we’re getting Facebook comments, ‘What about the homeless? What about the homeless? The homeless, la la la,’” Buscaino said. “Listen, if you look up and down the street here, we no longer have encampments. We no longer have people lying in our streets. And it’s because of this community, and I see Elise [Swanson] and others, who said ‘yes’ to solutions. And this is why we have been a model for other parts of the city, we do not see encampments because we saved lives.”

While it is true that there were no homeless people in sight at the event, homeless people certainly still exist in Buscaino’s district. As of the 2022 homeless count by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, there are 2,373 homeless people in Council District 15. Of that number, 457 are in shelters, while 1,916 are not. Buscaino has successfully sheltered 19% of the homeless population in his district. He has succeeded in convincing the city council to ban homeless people from 500 feet of any schools in the city, as well as certain other places in his district.

“This is going to be a piazza for everyone to enjoy,” Buscaino said. “But we will have personal accountability for those who want to come in and ruin our public spaces.”

Mario Amalfitano, president of the Little Italy of Los Angeles Association, said he has been working on this project for five years, around the time of the association’s founding. It was done in collaboration with the CD15 office.

“We always knew that this would be the location of the piazza,” Amalfitano said. “Because it’s one of the most underutilized pieces of property in San Pedro.”

Amalfitano said that once construction is finished, the association will likely have programming at the piazza once a month, if not more.

The current construction estimates are for 18 months. All the concrete in the plaza will be torn up and replaced.  

Amalfitano said he was surprised that the project hasn’t received a lot of pushback from the surrounding neighborhood. And yet the Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council was never asked for support nor given a full presentation of the plan prior to it moving forward. Nor did Buscaino explain how this project was funded.

“The local community has been very supportive of us, and what we’re trying to do here,” Amalfitano said.