Feast of San Gennaro

I have been hearing about the Feast of San Gennaro and Jimmy Kimmel’s involvement with it for years, but just never had the time or ability to go until this past weekend. I have heard in the past that it was held in front of the Jimmy Kimmel Show theater, but when we got there it was literally in a small alley way between a parking lot and a high school. They charge a $ 5 entrance fee and kids 12 and under are free. First impressions upon entering were «wow this festival is tiny» and «this is it»? Well we drove about 32 miles to get here because I wanted to show my family some good Olé fashion Italian culture, but the Italian culture was limited to a few food vendor stands and some badly sung typical Italian music. With the exception of some pasta e fagioli that was was some good old fashioned Italian all the other food my family and I tried was either mediocre or not good at all. We had some mediocre pizza, penne with sauce and meatballs, sausage and peppers sandwich and a really bad cannoli and lemon Italian ice. I don’t believe that Jimmy Kimmel sponsors or supports this festival anymore, or at least I hope not because this festival was a disgrace to the Italian culture. It’s so tiny and bad that it might as well not exist anymore. Los Angeles was built by Italians and this pathetic festival is the best we can do to show and support the Italian culture? Its just sad.

I was a little disappointed compared to the last time I went in 2011. It has shrunk in space and vendors, but I liked the addition of Kids Corner. The food was good (I Love Frankie’s of Melrose food) but wish they would find a larger venue and add more vendors. I am Italian and have been to the Feast in Brooklyn and this is nowhere near the «real Feast of San Gennaro.» Come on Italians of LA, let’s get a real celebration together…

My friend and I went to the festival after stopping by Grom (the Italian gelateria at Hollywood & Highland). The entrance donation is $ 5, and once you’re in, there’s quite a selection of delicious food. Naturally, I had to indulge. I ordered a Sicilian calzone (fried calzone with herbed ricotta cheese, with tomato sauce on top), plus a fresh cannolo. (Cannoli is the plural form of cannolo. Deal.) The calzone was insanely delicious. And my cannolo was HEAVEN. It had chocolate chips and a nice dusting of powdered sugar. Mmmm.
The atmosphere was jovial, and there was a fun band playing and lots of people milling about. The vendors I dealt with were friendly. We had a great time.
I lived in Italy for many years. Sometimes you just want some good, solid comfort food, the kind that calls to mind that hole-​in-​the-​wall fiaschetteria behind the Duomo, where the workers come in for lunch and talk shop over fresh sandwiches and robust house wine. Or those festivals celebrating a particular vegetable or meat, with kids running around and carnival games in full swing, offset by families tucking into plates of fresh pasta. This festival made me more than a bit nostalgic. Thank you!

Disappointment!
I’m 100% Italian and took my parents to «Prima Notte» at a price of $ 100 a seat and the food was slooooooow coming and meager servings, anti pasta with NO BREAD, cold, the pizza was cheese and tasted like Dominoes Pizza. The pasta was a cheap Rigatoni with an Italian sauce that tasted like it came out of a can! The music offered on the first night was anything but jazzy Italian, it was elevator music at best, I felt like I was at a museum :(
Do I sound pissed? You Bet! At best it was a money grab, all the food was over priced, the bar was a CASH BAR, they don’t take cards, but they have no problem charging you $ 4 to use their expensive ATM’s. As far as entertainment goes, you could sit at the stage area and literally watch 3 – 5 singers come up and never hear an Italian song come from their lips!
My family and Italian friends all agreed that the Feast of LA was pretty much a waste of time and energy, I’ve attended this Italian Carnival event 3 times, and 2 of the 3 was a complete DISAPPOINTMENT!

My better half is Italian from New York. She has been to the one in Brooklyn. It was a small festival. Not too crowded on a Saturday night. The food was OK. The meatballs I had were best. The Zeppoles were average at best. According to the in-​laws, they were to large and doughy for what they know Zeppoles to be. They had rides and activities for the kids. The entertainment was good. $ 3 for soda or Costco water. I understand the mark-​up but that was $ 1 too much. They need more food options, a lot more food options.

I love this festival. It’s small but so charming. My family and I make the hour drive from Orange County to attend it every year. Lots of good food to choose from and fun live music. We over load of pastries to bring back home for later. Also the best iced coffee drinks I’ve ever tasted. They put those delicious Chocolate/​Hazelnut swirl sticks in the drink! Can’t wait for more!

Everyone is very helpful & there are just good happy vibes & the food smells delish but the portions are HUGE!

I love this festival. I go every year. It’s pretty small, but packed with food vendors. And let’s face it. That’s why I go. To eat. For being a festival, the prices are pretty reasonable at each booth. They average about $ 5. Everything i’ve gotten was delicious. Pizza, calamari, pasta, arancini, gelato, espresso…
The beer and wine garden is nice, although I wish they offered more of a selection.
There is always music on stage from opera to old standards. In English and Italian.
Overall, it’s a fun, different thing to do in Hollywood. I’ll be back next year I’m sure of it.

It’s an Italian Festival, it is like the one in New York called Feast of San Gennaro. The music stage is JKL (Jimmy Kimmel Live Stage). It has been critiqued that the LA version is not as good as the one in New York. Well… I have been going here for a few years now, It Is A OK! Personal opinion, The Entertainer, one can be better than the other or precious years… But still decent! They got Food, Music, Cooking Stage, Bocce, Bada Bingo, Kid’s Corner, Culture Booth, Gift Shop… Just like a typical festival. A little bit of everything. You got to check it out at least once. It is happening annually on a One September Weekend Friday-​Sunday. It does not hurt to check it out at least once! Italian or Not… Divertirsi! ;-)

There are so many other street fair like these ones (recently I have been to a Brazilian one and an Egyptian one) and they don’t charge entrance fees. $ 5? Really??? It’s supposed to go to a good cause, but you can raise money just by free admission, more people would pop in.

Went here 2011 as a VIP. Pricey ticket, but you got in the night before it opened, tasted some free food, a table to see the shows (awesome) and Jimmy, and a glass of wine.
The big bummer was each table had this huge antipasto platter… I mean HUGE, but with NO BREAD available. I mean, what Italian serves salami, olives and cheese without BREAD?! I am telling you, it was the biggest waste of food I’ve ever seen in my life. Those lovely platters of food just sat there for the most part. And there’s only one thing an Italian despises more than a table with no bread: watching food go to waste. Boo.

The Feast of San Gennaro is OK. I’m happy that I went, but I don’t know if I will go again.
As with all fairs it’s way overpriced and just kind of boring. The live music was cool and the beer was alcoholic so that’s a plus in my book.
It’s good to predrink if you go here, then have a beer here, then stumble out to Hollywood and then do whatever you want there. I know it’s random and kind of a tangent, but I just want to give you options.
The Feast is nice. there’s rides, there’s Italian stuff, but it’s mostly people hocking crap that’s WAY too expensive. that’s why it’s worth going to once, so you know. How much sense does that make? Ahh, not really much, but who cares. That’s life my little paisano.

It’s all about the attitude baby! ;) La famiglia è tutto!
This is NOT Chicago or N.Y. San Gennaro Festival but I’m hoping it is on it’s way to being that wonderful. The Italian community in California is really spread out so there is really is no solid ITALIAN neighborhood to hold this festival in. So, Jimmy Kimmel and a few other great Italians started this festival as a good beginning. But it’s way time to either EXPAND the Festival into more than a back ally way or find another area of the City to hold it in so you CAN expand. Be more selective on who your vendors are and placement of them. Have someone who over sees the entire thing instead of only being concerned about the entertainment. A few TWEEKS and they may have something here. :) Someone made a dissapointing comment about the Mafia being alive and well because they felt so cheated paying $ 5 to get into the Festival, $ 5 that goes to CHARITY! Stop with the Stereo type BS and grow-​up.
The performers this year 2012 are TOP NOTCH! Patrizio is WONDERFUL! Make it just one of the things you do when going to Hollywood Blvd. Pay $ 5 for Charity, walk through and eat if you find what you like or go out onto the Blvd and find something else. Check out the singers and comedians.(yes it’s OLD SCHOOL but that’s the fun of it) and have a GOOD TIME! You are allowed to go IN and OUT of the Festival so look at the schedule to find when your favorite entertainer will be going on and then head out onto HOLLYWOOD Blvd and enjoy the day. THEN come back to enjoy more of the Festival when your performer comes on. To complain about a $ 5 entrée fee that goes to Charity when one probably spends that much on their daily coffee is just silly.
La famiglia è tutto!

It was a nice break from the usual day. Good food (a bit pricy) but tasty. The best thing was actually the Italian Ice (had the lemon flavor). It was so fresh and crisp. The zeppole was nicely fried and tasty. The only slightly disappointing thing to me was the cannoli shells were a bit softer than I would’ve liked. I pride myself in the cannoli I make and one thing I try my best to not serve is a soft cannoli shell. That being said the filling was delicious. The sfogliatelle was also nicely done. the custard was tasty and nice and warm and the pastry part was super soft and pliable yet super crunchy and flaky. Rocco’s NY Pizza was also good. And I had the time to sit and enjoy a couple different acts on the stage that were performing. Definitely worth the trip to go to.

Annual Street Festival
Fun going into Hollywood and the Feast of San Gennaro festival.
Yes, Italians food, a beer, lot’s of pizza, band on stage, some good, some not so good.
The fun event here is to play BINGO. We brought our beer /​wine and played which the 4 of us has not done for years. I won a book in the raffle, and took a chance in a drawing for a TV with a cancer charity, and played BINGO for a bit.
The festival is nothing grand, kind of small town like. For what it is, it is just fine.
Frankie’s Seafood on Melrose was here. I like that place a lot.
PS Going to Hollywood cracks me up. Where do these people on Hollywood Blvd come from ??
And they keep coming year after year…

People, it’s a street festival. Street festivals always a little cheesy, but at least this one has live entertainment all weekend long, courtesy of the stage set up in Jimmy Kimmel’s backlot.
The $ 5 admission fee goes to charity (specifically low-​income families in SoCal), so anyone who complains about that is just really, really cheap, especially when kids get in for free. Frankly, I liked that the admission fee kept the homeless and riff-​raff out.

I have to admit. I wasn’t a huge fan. I remember way back when (’07 I used to have to come here as part of my high school cheerleading duties) it was probably a lot cooler back then — you know, given the free food and all.
The $ 5 admission goes to charity, which I like. There was a selection of charities (animals, low income, meals on wheels) so you can feel like you’re doing good. But besides that there wasn’t much. I think it was the fastest $ 30 I’ve ever blown, and I didn’t even leave buzzed!!!
The sausage and pepper sandwich SOUNDS good, but it leaves a lot to be desired. LAPD is up in there serving $ 3 canoles (which I liked, but I’ve never had a canole before, so I’m probably not the best judge.) The calzones were 2 for $ 5 and they were alright, but I’m stretching it with that «alright».
You can win a fish, if you can get the ball in the little hole. Or if you have a screaming/​excited kid in tow I think you can just buy the fish and the tank for $ 5. They had bettas this year. I love bettas, and I hope the people winning them know how to TAKE CARE of them. You can also win smoe Justin Beiber posters, which is like… whatever.
All in all, I took my boyfriend, and he tried to act all excited and thankful that we went, but I’m pretty sure he would have much rather appreciated taking that $ 30 to the local bar so at least we could have left giggly and happy.

I’ve been to the previous Feast before when my friends volunteered. This year they didn’t and we just went to check it out.
Unfortunately it was over 100’f this weekend, and that didn’t make for a good festival if you went during the day like us (Sunday afternoon).
Stop complaining about the $ 5 entrance fees, it was for a good cause. BUT, the food, atmosphere and heat was just ok. We ended up trying a lot of the food. Rocco’s pizza, not too bad and nice crust. Those Nonna empanadas weren’t too shabby either (beef was the best out of beef, tomato and veggies). The baked dough was a good dessert with the powdered sugar. And the pasta I had (with the free range chicken and olive oil) was very greasy and a 7-​spot was toooo damn expensive for a small foam bowl.
The guy at the 1^st refreshment stand was awesome (coming in from Highland side). Yeah, the prices of soda cans were $ 2 a piece and $ 2 for water, but after the 3^rd time we walked past… he gave us free Peroni beers! =) That’s where the TIP went!
But all in all, not really a good experience. There were bees everywhere, the carnival rides were G-​H-​E-​T-​T-​O and we even saw a girl get cheated from her fighting fish. She got a ping pong in the fish bowl and the carnival lady said you needed to get TWO (2) ping pongs in. WTF??? Are you kidding me? She got a ping pong in fair and square.
The lady singing was awesome. Other than that, it was just OK. Maybe next year will be better.

This festival was really whatever.
The food was way overpriced and not very good. All the rides looked really shabby and ghetto too. They looked kind of haunted.
I went Saturday afternoon. It was really dead. There was a church thing going on and after five minutes of being there I just felt like leaving. Nothing stood out. It was just really insanely boring.
I wasted like 20 minutes of my life at that festival. and five dollars. Blegh.
My Italian friend was with me and she was disgusted by all of the food and stereotypes. She actually wanted to leave after five minutes, but I felt like walking and looking around… nothing was accomplished while we wandered around.
Boring boring boring. That’s pretty much it.

Honestly, this event was pretty weak. The festival consisted of a few shabby carnival booths and a handful of food booths.
I went on Saturday afternoon, and it was pretty dead. Maybe things get more exciting in the evening with performances and entertainment.
The food wasn’t bad. People were raving about the empanadas, but they were just so so. The meatball sandwich was pretty good, but my favorite thing there was the Italian ice. Perfect for a hot day.
You can park at Hollywood & Highland for $ 2 for 4 hours, but don’t bother. Park at the 1 hour meters on the nearby streets and just pop in for lunch.
Oh and there’s a $ 5 admission fee. But it goes to a good cause.