Call it Cambodia Town
Long Beach Press Telegram (Long Beach, CA, USA)
Special designation would honor entrepreneurship and attract tourists as well.
There's no reason to oppose christening a stretch of Central Long Beach Cambodia Town. It's already there. Only the moniker is missing.
Long Beach City Hall should give the Cambodian community the designation, permission to post new signs and marketing support to draw visitors.
Asian immigrants have built a distinctive neighborhood of restaurants, shops and galleries in an area begging for economic investment. Renaming Anaheim Street between Junipero and Atlantic avenues would honor that enterprise and give Cambodian business groups the ability to advertise the area as a unique destination.
Investment along Anaheim is especially significant because it was done largely with private funds and a do-it-yourself spirit by political refugees seeking protection from a murderous regime. Some say the Cambodia Town title would create an area that sees itself separate from American culture, but the independent businesses operating and employing people along Anaheim are a testament to the entrepreneurship of this country and the possibilities it offers outsiders.
It also shows the market for blue collar shoppers. Not everyone in town can afford Belmont Shore's Second Street or the Pike at Rainbow Harbor. The shops along Anaheim exist because there is a market for them.
All residents, Cambodian or not, would benefit from renaming the neighborhood. Cambodia Town would improve tourism, one of the city's stated goals for economic growth. The name would alienate non-Cambodians about as much as Naples Island alienates those who aren't Italian.
Ethnic districts work well throughout Southern California. Little Saigon, Little India, Little Tokyo and Koreatown draw visitors with their designations, even though each are in cities of greater diversity than the neighborhood designations suggest. Artesia, for example, is home to far more Latinos than those from India, but the city benefits from Little India's reputation.
Other ethnic enclaves - Mexicans in Huntington Park, Brazilians in Venice, Peruvians in Lawndale and Croatians in San Pedro - are well known but don't have the marketing power of those in designated areas.
Cambodians are not the only ethnic group living in that section of Central Long Beach and, in fact, their overall numbers are smaller than those of blacks, Hispanics and whites citywide. But the Cambodians have strung together a group of interesting and unusual businesses the rest of the country needs to hear about.
The point of naming the area in Cambodia's honor is not to drive away non-Cambodians but to attract visitors to an area they otherwise might overlook.
There's no reason to oppose christening a stretch of Central Long Beach Cambodia Town. It's already there. Only the moniker is missing.
Long Beach City Hall should give the Cambodian community the designation, permission to post new signs and marketing support to draw visitors.
Asian immigrants have built a distinctive neighborhood of restaurants, shops and galleries in an area begging for economic investment. Renaming Anaheim Street between Junipero and Atlantic avenues would honor that enterprise and give Cambodian business groups the ability to advertise the area as a unique destination.
Investment along Anaheim is especially significant because it was done largely with private funds and a do-it-yourself spirit by political refugees seeking protection from a murderous regime. Some say the Cambodia Town title would create an area that sees itself separate from American culture, but the independent businesses operating and employing people along Anaheim are a testament to the entrepreneurship of this country and the possibilities it offers outsiders.
It also shows the market for blue collar shoppers. Not everyone in town can afford Belmont Shore's Second Street or the Pike at Rainbow Harbor. The shops along Anaheim exist because there is a market for them.
All residents, Cambodian or not, would benefit from renaming the neighborhood. Cambodia Town would improve tourism, one of the city's stated goals for economic growth. The name would alienate non-Cambodians about as much as Naples Island alienates those who aren't Italian.
Ethnic districts work well throughout Southern California. Little Saigon, Little India, Little Tokyo and Koreatown draw visitors with their designations, even though each are in cities of greater diversity than the neighborhood designations suggest. Artesia, for example, is home to far more Latinos than those from India, but the city benefits from Little India's reputation.
Other ethnic enclaves - Mexicans in Huntington Park, Brazilians in Venice, Peruvians in Lawndale and Croatians in San Pedro - are well known but don't have the marketing power of those in designated areas.
Cambodians are not the only ethnic group living in that section of Central Long Beach and, in fact, their overall numbers are smaller than those of blacks, Hispanics and whites citywide. But the Cambodians have strung together a group of interesting and unusual businesses the rest of the country needs to hear about.
The point of naming the area in Cambodia's honor is not to drive away non-Cambodians but to attract visitors to an area they otherwise might overlook.
3 comments:
Wal Mart or Sam's Club owners are US of back country.In economic benefits,Wal Mart fills its stores with most Asian made products and none of US consumer complaint of being alienated by foreign goods.
US means all in here,thus Cambodia Town is aminor decor for the US giant marketeer.It is a positive encouragement and incentive for those fit in affirmative action especially.
Procrastination is against affirmative action of 1964 Civil Rights Act.
To 7:41PM
What?! What on Earth are you talking about?! AFFIRMATIVE ACTION?
Man! You are comparing orange and apple!
As a cambodian we should be proud that we have our first town outside Cambodia and hope we all can work together to preserve our culture even we are now thousand mile away from our homeland,
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