Italian in California is very different than Italian on the East Coast. Except for some very exclusive WASP circles (the ones that still don't have many jews), there has not been much, if any, discrimination against Italians since before WWII. And, even in those circles, there are Italian, although most of them were connected with the Bank of America families, the old aristocracy, came in the Gold Rush, or some combination thereof. (I know of one Italian gentelman who was a member of the exclusive Pacific Union Club in the first quarter of the 20th century, and several who were in the old, very exclusive, separate San Francisco social register)
And, for the most part, at least according to the information displays at Ellis Islan, the Italians who went to California came from Piedmont, Lombardy, Venetia and Genoa. On the East Coast, most of the Italians were from Southern Italy: Sicily, Naples, Calabria, etc. It is interesting to note that the immigration people classified the Northern Italians differently 'racially' than the Southern Italians.
At any rate, the Italians in California, by and large didn't look so "different" than the other whites who flowed into California in its youth and were more accepted. Many were educated, many were professionals: oenologists, teachers, lawyers, doctors, accountants. Poorer Italians were active in fishing (mostly Genovese) and truck farming, where they prospered, and often became respectable proprietors. There was never much of an urban Italian uneducated working class out West, as their as in the East.
On the East Coast, most of the Italians were from Southern Italy: Sicily, Naples, Calabria, etc. It is interesting to note that the immigration people classified the Northern Italians differently 'racially' than the Southern Italians.
***Yes this is true. My father is from Catania. I am splitting image of my grandmother Rosa Fichera. When my mother and I visited Italy earlier this year, all the Italians I met were speaking italian to me. My mother is creole woman from West Indies and is very dark complexioned and if people were not assuming she was Ethiopian sometimes they thought she was Sicilian also. Of course, almost every Italian woman said they could tell I'm Sicilian because of my full head of black brown hair...LOL
I have family photos on my homepage in my profile too to show.