Cambodia Town

12/31/2007
By Paul Eakins, Staff writer
Long Beach Press Telegram (California, USA)

The long-awaited Cambodia Town initiative also should be finalized in the coming year.

Business leaders along the proposed stretch of Anaheim Street are working at implementing a Business Improvement District as one of the prerequisites to formal designation and placement of plaques identifying the area.

Cambodia Town is now on the map

A stretch of Anaheim Street in Long Beach has the new designation, and its immigrant merchants are happy for the historic recognition.

July 18, 2007
By Anna Gorman, Times Staff Writer
Los Angeles Times (Calif., USA)

Sithea San fled the killing fields in Cambodia as a teenager and found refuge in Long Beach, where she attended college, got married and bought a house.

Now, more than a quarter-century later, San finally has a place that she and thousands of other native Cambodians say they can call home.

A strip of Anaheim Street was officially named the nation's first "Cambodia Town" earlier this month — the most recent cultural designation in a county that is home to Little India, Little Tokyo and Historic Filipinotown.

City and community leaders say the designation not only will recognize the contributions of Cambodians, but also will help revitalize the neighborhood by attracting more businesses, visitors and tourists to the area. San and others are making plans to put up Cambodia Town signs and set up a business improvement district and are considering building a community center and a memorial to those who died under the brutal Khmer Rouge regime.

"Now we have the name," said San, chairwoman of Cambodia Town Inc. "Now we have to make it happen. We have the responsibility to make the place nice."

Long Beach, known as the Cambodian capital of the United States, is believed to have the largest concentration of Cambodians outside of the home country. Some of the first Cambodians in the United States were students who attended Cal State Long Beach in the 1960s as part of an exchange program. Waves of refugees followed in the 1970s as they escaped the Khmer Rouge regime, which took the lives of more than 1 million people. According to 2000 census figures, about 20,000 Cambodians live in Long Beach, but community leaders estimate a larger population.

Cambodia Town runs along the Anaheim corridor, from Junipero Avenue to Atlantic Avenue. There are already scores of Cambodian-run businesses on the street, including jewelry stores, restaurants, travel agencies and fabric shops.

At Monorom restaurant Tuesday, a lunchtime crowd ate Cambodian noodle soup while Khmer-language music videos played on a television. Owner Sopha Nhoung, who came to the area more than 20 years ago, said he was proud to finally be recognized.

"They have Chinatown, Koreatown, Thai Town," Nhoung said. "We've been living here for a long time. We deserved this."

Down the street at Angkorwat Art, Sopheap Samrieth said he signed a petition that supported the designation. But his main reason was to draw customers.

"It will bring more people here," said Samrieth, as he pointed out paintings depicting the ancient temple complex of Angkor Wat in Cambodia. "It will generate more business."

The drive to get a Cambodia Town began in 2001, when a few community members began meeting to talk about the possibility.

The leaders brought the issue to the City Council last year. Some critics expressed concerns that the designation could lure more gangs to the area and that it would exclude Latinos and African Americans.

But Cambodian leaders argued that the title would help the entire city by making the street safer and cleaner and by developing the neighborhood into a regional destination.

Naming the area Cambodia Town would also highlight immigrants' cultural heritage and encourage youths to get involved helping their community, San said. In June, the city of Long Beach commissioned a survey that showed wide support for the cultural designation. On July 3, the City Council voted 8-1 in favor of naming the stretch Cambodia Town.

Councilwoman Suja Lowenthal, who voted for the designation, said the new name is a welcome mat for Cambodians, as well as for others who want to experience something different in Long Beach.

"We are leveraging a very unique destination," she said. "What makes Anaheim [Street] different is this collection of shops, stores and businesses that happen to be mostly Cambodian American owned."

Not all of the businesses on Anaheim Street are Cambodian. Manny Caldera, manager of La Bodega Market, said the name wasn't important to him.

"As long as the business is good, it doesn't matter," said Caldera. His store caters to Latinos. "They can name it Cambodia Town or any other."

Veasna Kiet, 40, who runs Phnom Penh Express travel agency, said the new name makes him proud. "We live far away from our country," he said. "Now we have a hometown here."

anna.gorman@latimes.com

'Cambodia Town' is now official

Community jubilant as stretch of Anaheim Street gains designation from city.

07/03/2007
By Hanna Chu, Staff writer
Long Beach Press Telegram (Long Beach, Calif., USA)

LONG BEACH - After lengthy discussion and several public comments, the City Council voted 8-1 to designate the stretch of Anaheim Street between Junipero Avenue and Atlantic Boulevard as Cambodia Town.

The area houses many Cambodian businesses, and Long Beach is home to about 17,000 Cambodian-Americans, according to the city.

The council, with Councilman Patrick O'Donnell of the 4th District dissenting, approved the cultural designation and strongly urged the businesses to create a business improvement district.

"This is a historical date for us," said Danny Vong, an Anaheim Street property owner.

The BID, which would consist of area businesses and property owners, would generate funds and decide on issues such as security, graffiti removal and sidewalk repair.

Until a BID is in place, the community will not receive any funds from the city.

After the proposal was introduced in October 2006, the Housing and Neighborhoods Committee commissioned a survey that examined responses from property and business owners within the area.

With 27.4 percent of the 387 mailed surveys completed, the survey found that more than 90 percent of respondents were in favor of designating the area as Cambodia Town. They also indicated on the survey that they were willing to pay an annual fee of as much as $100.

O'Donnell and 8th District Councilwoman Rae Gabelich voiced their concerns on funding if the city officially created a Cambodia Town without also creating a BID.

"I believe it's critical to have a BID in place before designation. ... You don't want this to be a second thought and only successful for some," Gabelich said.

Vice Mayor Bonnie Lowenthal of the 1st District said she was not concerned about the impact on general funds.

"The Cambodian New Years' Parade was a huge success without any impact to general funds," she said.

Councilwoman Suja Lowenthal of the 2nd District said requiring a BID first would be unprecedented.

"What they've come to us for is the acknowledgment of their years of commitment to this city and a designation that will allow them to celebrate and market this area," she said.

However, a substitute motion to delay the Cambodia Town designation pending the creation of a BID was rejected.

"They came here from Cambodia looking for hope and freedom, and they got that tonight," said 6th District Councilman Dee Andrews.

The council also unanimously approved naming the new community center as Admiral Kidd Park, 2125 Santa Fe Ave., as "Congresswoman Juanita Millender-McDonald Community Center."

Memorabilia given by the late Democratic Congresswoman's family will also be displayed at the site. Millender-McDonald died on April 21 after serving as a representative of the Long Beach area for more than a decade.

Harvey Cochran had urged the council to approve the name.

"Putting a name on a building simply isn't enough," he said. "It's going to be a really great display and I'm looking forward to it."

The skate park proposal was taken off Tuesday's agenda and will come back later because a number of 5th District youth council members were unable to attend the meeting as a result of Fourth of July.

"The kids started the process together, and they deserve to finish the process together," said 5th District Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske in a written statement.

Schipske had presented six suggestions in the proposal in hopes that the park will treat skateboarding as a sport, discouraging youth from negative activity.

The suggestions were to do away with helmet and pad requirements and $200 citations and improving the quality of signs to let skaters know they're skating at their own risk, among other suggestions.

The current proposal pertains only to El Dorado Park West, but the parks commission could decide to include other skate parks in Long Beach, such as Houghton, Drake and 14th Street.

Hanna Chu can be reached at hanna.chu@presstelegram.com or at (562) 499-1476.