Celebrate 150 years of North Beach in San Francisco

Sunday, for the 150th time, a Queen Isabella and her court will march through the streets of the city’s Little Italy section, North Beach, for an Italian Heritage and Pride parade. There’s a lot to be prideful about. North Beach is the oldest section of the city, with the largest concentration of authentic Italian restaurants, including old-time institutions like Sodini’s, which has served customers on Green Street for over 100 years, Original Joe’s, Calzone’s, Mona Lisa, Da Flora, US Restaurant and more. The pre-Columbus Day parade is the USA's longest continuously running Italian Heritage parade,  featuring music, performances, floats, and representatives of Italian and Italian-American organizations and businesses. It’s “the largest annual event in the Bay Area for the Italian-American community and those who just want to be Italian for a day,” says Italian Heritage Parade president Jim Fanucchi. But as the city celebrates, it also has to acknowledge that change is in the air, change that may make future parades rather smaller in scope. “Rents,” says Elias Bikahi, who runs the Caffe Sapore on busy Lombard Street. “That’s what’s happening.”