INTRODUCTION Hong Kong has long been one of those globally prominent places up there with London, Paris, Rome, and Tokyo — and yet surprisingly little has been written about the Hongkonger diaspora. There’s next-to-nothing specifically about Hong Kong emigration to Los Angeles — despite the fact that nearly as many Hongkongers live in the US … Continue reading No Enclave — Hongkonger Los Angeles
As someone who loves a good holiday, I tend to ignore most of the dumb ones. You know the ones — the dumb daily dumb food-related days created by grocery store trade publications (e.g. National Shrimp Day, National Shrimp Scampi Day, and National Fried Shrimp Day) or those “wacky” ones presumably invented by and for … Continue reading Swinging Doors — Los Angeles Beer Map and History on National Beer Day
Los Angeles was built around the walker. During the Last Glacial Period, the first humans arrived in Southern California, almost certainly by foot. As the glaciers receded, both these stone-age Paleoamericans and their non-human neighbors carved and shared trails through the green woodland, wetland, grassland, desert, and chaparral landscapes. Some 10,000 years later, the Tongva arrived … Continue reading Nobody Drives in LA — Public Stairways, Stair Streets, and Walk Streets of Los Angeles
As of 2018, Latinos comprised an estimated 47.7% of Los Angeles’s population. 75% of Latino Angelenos were of Mexican ancestry. Salvadorans comprised about 8% of Latino Angelenos. Guatemaltecos comprised about 5% of the Latino Angeleno population. Los Angeles is, additionally, home to the largest populations of Mexicans, Salvadorans, and Guatemaltecos outside of their respective homelands. I’d … Continue reading No Enclave — Cuban Los Angeles
Los Angeles was at one time home to the largest population of Japanese outside of Japan and the contributions of Japanese-Angelenos to history and culture are many. It was in Los Angeles that Hollywood created the first Asian-American film star. It was also in Los Angeles that a legal challenge in the Supreme Court re-shaped … Continue reading Pan-Asian Metropolis — Japanese Los Angeles
As far as I know, there haven’t been any comprehensive surveys of global vegetarianism and veganism. Nevertheless, it is generally accepted that India is home to the largest population and percentage of vegetarians in the world, followed by either Taiwan or Israel. Vegetarianism is also popular in Austria, Australia, Brazil, and Germany. The US is not an … Continue reading Vegetarian and Vegan Los Angeles
INTRODUCTION TO ASIAN ORANGE COUNTY Today, Orange County is widely recognized for its prominent Asian-American population. There are significant numbers of of Vietnamese, Koreans, Taiwanese, Filipinos, Indians, Japanese, Cambodians, Chinese, Pakistanis, Thais, Indonesians, and Laotians living there, as well as many smaller groups. Metro Los Angeles (which includes Los Angeles and Orange counties) is in fact home … Continue reading Pan-Asian Metropolis — Orange County’s Lost Chinatowns
The Los Angeles metropolitan area is widely recognized for its diversity, something which is reflected in its many ethnic enclaves. Those ethnic enclaves include ones that have been officially recognized, as well as ones that have only been colloquially recognized, and they’ve risen and fallen on waves of immigration and assimilation. The earliest of Los … Continue reading No Enclave — Emerging and Unofficial Ethnic Enclaves of Los Angeles
If you ever walk, bicycle, or take public transit in Los Angeles, you’ve no doubt noticed those nearly ubiquitous tan or beige-colored signs with brown lettering, a City of Los Angeles seal, and text designating an intersection or section of road a “square.” If you’re a motorist, you may’ very well have missed them, because … Continue reading Greater Streets — Los Angeles Squares, or When is a Square Not a Square?
Most metropolitan areas — at least the ones I’m familiar with — are divided both into neighborhoods and larger, multi-neighborhood administrative divisions or regions. Paris has its arrondissements, New York City its boroughs, Busan and Seoul have gu (구), Taipei has qū (區), St. Louis and New Orleans both have wards, Mexico City has municipios, and on. Their names vary, then, but the concept is generally the … Continue reading Los Angeles Linguistics Part 2: Regional Differences
Eric Brightwell 