California - 2008 Official State Visitor's Guide and Travel Planner - (Page 36) enjoy » taste » los angeles ethnic los angeles Explore four dynamic neighborhoods for a taste of L.A.-style diversity I f everyone in Los Angeles started talking at once, you’d hear a hubbub of 224 languages. This is California’s— and the nation’s—multicultural capital, attracting more immigrants over the past four decades than any other city. In fact, L.A. has more Koreans than any place outside Korea, and more Mexicans than any city outside Mexico. If California is this country’s fabled creator of new trends and lifestyles, then Los Angeles is the creative engine. A shape-shifter, the city is constantly reinventing itself, and many changes CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT Gathering for games in Central Plaza; trendy Munky King; noodles at Foo Chow; Olvera Street fruit stand; religious posters near the Plaza Church. flow out of ethnic diversity: L.A.’s 4 million residents hail from more than 140 different countries. As a result, there are chic luxury housing developments downtown where street life is largely Hispanic, and a Sunset Strip restaurant that serves Cuban spiced chicken with Thai coconut sticky rice and California avocado salsa. The dynamic cultures of Los Angeles are dreaming up the California of tomorrow. Luckily for visitors, many of the city’s ethnic groups live and work in distinct communities—Thai, Ethiopian, Filipino, Persian, Japanese—and this creates an L.A. of many faces. To meet them, start with the four fascinating neighborhoods we describe. Chinatown: Old and new hrough the painted pagoda gate on Broadway lie two Chinatowns. One is old and traditional, with bargain restaurants (“Lunch Special $3.95”) and gift shops such as Sincere Importing Company, stacked high with silk robes, back scratchers, and other items appealing to tourists. The other Chinatown is new and trendy, with contemporary art galleries holding evening openings for bohemian crowds. Quentin Tarantino even flirted with the idea of buying an old theater here, so he could screen Asian films. The old Chinatown got its exotic fantasy look in the 1930s with help from Hollywood set designers. Today T 36 Enter L keyword in Search box at visitcalifornia.com Rob Howard http://www.visitcalifornia.com
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