Inventing Little Italy

Yes, that was campaign consultant, lobbyist and PR company capo Joseph Cerrell in the Times' California section on Friday. He's the force behind a drive to designate a section of downtown "Little Italy." The most authentic places to do this would apparently be Olvera Street or Chinatown, which had some Italian roots before being created as 20th Century tourist traps. But in the great L.A. tradition of fake ethnic enclaves, they are looking at Second Street west of Little Tokyo.