John Fante Square Unveiled

Novels such as ‘Ask the Dust’ and ‘Dreams of Bunker Hill’ romanticized downtown Los Angeles. What they did not do is bring much money or acclaim to their author, John Fante. At least not until after his 1983 death, when his work began to receive acclaim posthumously and built on the gushing superlatives of Charles Bukowski, who idolized the Italian-American writer, to grow a steady cult of fans of his seminal L.A.-set literature. Fante finally got some love back from the city he waxed nostalgically over when on Thursday, April 8”what would have been Fante’s 101st birthday”a loyal contingent of family, friends and fans turned out at the intersection of 5th and Grand in downtown for the unveiling of John Fante Square. In his lifetime, Fante did not make money writing novels but screenplays, including 1956’s ‘Full of Life’ (his biggest commercial success, based on his book), which afforded him to raise a family in Malibu. Last year, the Palisadian-Post interviewed one of Fante’s sons, Jim Fante, and his only daughter, Victoria Fante Cohen, who, with husband Michael Cohen, is a longtime resident of Sunset Mesa (see ‘John Fante: Father of L.A. Lit,’ May 7, 2009, at the PalisadesPost.com archives). ‘He would have been thrilled to be recognized for his writing with the naming of the ‘John Fante Square,’ Fante Cohen tells the Palisadian-Post. ‘I’d like to extend a special thanks to Richard Schave and Kim Cooper of Esotouric Tours for helping to bring this recognition to fruition. This is a great honor for our family, but most importantly, for my father’s legacy.’ ‘It was a wonderful event,’ Schave tells the Post. ‘Gordon Pattison spoke about old Bunker Hill. All of the [living] Fante kids were there. There was a great show of [institutional] support [behind this dedication].’ The square’s creation came about after Schave had spent three years badgering Councilwoman Jan Perry’s office to pay tribute to the famously underrated author. ‘About a year ago,’ he says, ‘there was an article in the Los Angeles TImes which lamented the lack of a square for John Fante, and that was a great opening statement in my e-mail that day to the Perry deputy in charge of the project.’ On April 8, early birds got to see the southwest-corner sign’s installation prior to its big photo op. ‘The mood was giddy,’ Cooper says. ‘The crowd grew quickly, and all around you saw people smiling a sort of drunken ‘never thought this would happen’ smile.’ ‘It felt like a beautiful dream, from each of the moving short speeches to the ritual of family, scholars and Councilwoman Perry pulling the cord to reveal the John Fante Square sign for the big reveal.’ Some of the speakers in attendance included Fante biographer Stephen Cooper, representatives from UCLA’s Department of Special Collections library, where Fante’s letters and manuscripts are housed, and the Downtown Los Angeles Public Library. ‘Afterwards,’ Kim Cooper says, ‘a bunch of us rode the newly restored Angels Flight down to Grand Central Market, where we socialized over tacos. We ended the afternoon in the cool and welcoming King Edward Saloon, where [‘Ask the Dust’ protagonist Arturo Bandini] lost his royalty check to B-girls. Nobody wanted the day to end. It was magic.’ ‘His name is out there,’ Schave says of Fante. ‘People are thinking about him again, and thoughts have wings.’ For more on the dedication, visit archive.org/details/JohnFanteSquareCeremony