Portland

The Little Italy neighborhood in Portland was once a bustling neighborhood comprised mostly of Italian and Jewish immigrants to the southwest of the city center. At its peak, over 5,000 Italian immigrants lived in the city in the early 20th century and they held a wide variety of blue collar jobs and were the owners and operators of many different businesses. The Italian church, St. Michael’s the Archangel, built in 1902, was known to the area’s residents as “La Chiesa” and is one of the only remaining buildings from the original neighborhood, as nearly the entirety of the physical community was destroyed due to urban renewal. Today, Portland is still home to many unique Italian-American owned eateries and businesses, yet they are spread out similar to many other cities in the United States.