Minority communities in Los Angeles are different from those in most cities around the world. We have distinct cultural centers specific to this or that group—Greek Americans, Salvadorans, or Japanese Americans, for example—but for the most part, these centers overlap and share space with each other. We are a positive example of an answer to a crucial question: How should we live among culturally different people? The diverse communities here retain their identities but live together rather than in exclusive enclaves like many other large cities.
An unusual way to explore the patchwork cityscape is through its signs.
Angelenos are familiar with official cultural venues with blue signs throughout the city. They named the neighborhoods “Little Tokyo,” “Little Ethiopia” and “Little Armenia.” But there are also many, many signs around town marking the places and places that bring the community together for rituals, shopping, eating and hanging out.
An invitation to dance in multiple languages is painted on a utility bin on the Glendale sidewalk in Unofficial Little Armenia.
(Annette M. King)
As a professor of urban planning and director of the USC Spatial Analysis Laboratory, I Work with my team to generate data on the millions of words discovered All over Los Angeles – store signs, banners, flyers, posters and other places. With few regulations, these signs provide a unique perspective on the words and places people choose to label themselves.
When we categorized these terms by language and culture, we found that 97 groups expressed their cultural identity in Los Angeles County.when We mapped them, we found that 58 of these groups occupied areas with such a density of signs that we considered the location to be a cultural center. This shows us, for example, that while there is an official Chinatown in downtown Los Angeles, there are also larger unofficial Chinatowns in the suburbs of San Gabriel Valley and Rowland Heights, as well as a new Chinatown forming in the San Fernando Valley.
It’s worth noting what the map shows Demographer Previously noted: Unlike other large cities in the United States, racial and ethnic groups in Los Angeles are more likely to encounter each other because we are not crowded with only our own people. It’s not just that we happen to be next door. We talk to each other. We found that 18% of properties in Los Angeles had signs that contained more than one language or cultural expression. It is not uncommon to see three or more languages included on a single sign.
The expansion of Los Angeles allowed multiple cultures to have their own centers rather than a general international district like Seattle or New York’s Pan-Asian Flushing.In view of this More than 64% of Angelenos are renters Average moving volume of Americans 11 times in life, these centers are vital “third places” – places outside of home and work that serve as community gathering places. In many interviews about personal geographical locations, it is common to hear that people commute (sometimes taking hours) to reach their cultural places of origin. We interviewed people who drove from Porter Ranch to Little India in Artesia or from the Lancaster Desert to the African American community of Leimert Park. They go to great lengths because Los Angeles’ cultural centers are specific, unique places that fulfill the human need for belonging, especially given our history of gentrification and displacement.
What’s unique about Los Angeles is that these cultural venues are not exclusive. Our maps show that they are generally scattered. Traditionally, immigrants tend to live, work and interact in minority enclaves that are disconnected from the mainstream economy. The pattern we see in Los Angeles is people from different cultural backgrounds meeting and becoming familiar with each other.
We weren’t always like this. For example, in the 1980s and 1990s, California struggled to stem demographic cultural changes similar to what we see today in states like Texas and Florida.Citing the federal government’s failure to protect its borders, California attempted to enforce its own immigration policies through Proposition 187 and ban bilingual education. Proposition 227 .Additionally, in the 1980s, three city councilors Monterey Park An attempt was made to declare English the city’s official language and create an English-only business sign ordinance in response to the growing number of Chinese Americans in the San Gabriel Valley. The issue has divided the city into racial alliances.
Likewise, in 1980, the city of Pomona passed an ordinance requiring all commercial signs in non-Roman characters to include English translations in the same font size, in response to the increasing number of Korean-language signs in the area. A precedent-setting litigation In 1989, the Asian American Business Group overturned the ordinance because it violated free speech and association rights. Importantly, the U.S. District Court also noted that Pomona unfairly targeted non-European immigrants by failing to contest signs in Italian or French.
Public sentiment in Los Angeles has since changed. The presence of multiple languages is often seen as an advantage rather than a threat. In 2016, Proposition 227 was effectively repealed with the passage of Proposition 227. Proposal 58.The development of dual language immersion programs is a successful strategy Increase enrollment in the Los Angeles Unified School District and elsewhere.Parents responded one after another study This shows that learning multiple languages is beneficial to cognitive development.
Still, across the country, voter ballot measures at the state and municipal levels show that the debate over the role of language in our public sphere continues.go through some counting32 states and more than 40 cities have “official English” regulations Other languages are prohibited or restricted.
Los Angeles shows that cities don’t have to buy into the farce of a color-blind, melting-pot society or the bargaining between interest groups. Angelenos are coming to realize that a unique sense of belonging is important to all of us, and that our futures are interconnected. Anyone here can see this – they just have to look at the sign.
Annette M. Kim is an associate professor at the University Roski College of Art and Design and in Price School of Public Policy at USC.
