"ML: My understanding is that there used to be a big Italian community here in Excelsior. Julie Clima: It was all Italian in 1946. Italian and Irish, which is what we are. I mean, I'm Italian, she's (gesturing toward Leila Moylett) Italian and Irish. ML: How do you think that changed? LM: People just moved. And they got older. The kids want to take their kids down the Peninsula and raise them. They sell their homes."
An Italian-American Social Club at 25 Russia Ave near Mission Street began accepting women as members for less than a year, while women have been running the club for much longer. Julie Clima, 66, has managed the club since 2005 and has also tended bar and worked in the kitchen, becoming the first woman in that role. Her family background includes operating Joe's Fish Grotto, opened in 1946 by her grandfather, a merchant fisherman. Leila Moylett, 68, joined as bartender and server in 2009 after working for decades at the Granada Cafe, which closed after a kitchen fire. Moylett is described as a central local figure, living near the club and her childhood street. Longtime residents note that the neighborhood has changed as families moved away and sold homes.
Read at Mission Local
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]