History
Once the hub of the tuna industry, the streets of San Diego's Little Italy were filled with culturally-rich Italian families; whose main source of economic support came from the Port of San Diego; where their tuna boats were docked and the canneries packaged the daily catch. By the 1970's, with the decline of the tuna industry on the West Coast and the destruction of 35 percent of Little Italy due to the construction of Interstate 5, Little Italy suffered through nearly thirty years of blight and ruin. In the early 1990's, property and family-run business owners decided to take the revitalization, of their once thriving neighborhood, into their own hands. In 1996, Little Italy business owners voted to establish the Little Italy Association of San Diego to oversee and expedite the revitalization and beautification of the Little Italy neighborhood and promote it as a new destination in San Diego.
Specialties
The Little Italy Association of San Diego oversees the day-to-day operations of San Diego's Little Italy. It is a non-profit 501(c)(3) that administers the Business Improvement District (BID) and the Community Benefit District (CBD). The main tasks that the Association is charged with by the business owners and property owners is to promote Little Italy as a destination and to keep Little Italy clean and safe.