THAI TOWN HISTORY Los Angeles’ Thai Town is home to about 60-plus Thai businesses, including silk shops, bookstores, and restaurants. Located within the diverse immigrant community of East Hollywood, Thai Town has served as the historic port of entry for newly arrived Thai immigrants, and has seen the proliferation of Thai-owned businesses over the last 50 years. With Hollywood being a well-known destination among Thais, the community took root here as a business enclave as well as source of social/family networks, employment and housing. When Thais made the decision to immigrate to the United States, they chose to settle in Hollywood. The first Thai business in Los Angeles is Bangkok Market on Melrose Avenue, which specializes in Thai and Southeast Asian groceries. Thus, L.A.’s East Hollywood area has become a major cultural and economic hub through a concentration of bilingual services, jobs, and family connections. The designation of Thai Town, an 8-year protracted community organizing campaign facilitated by the Thai Community Development Center during the 1990s, was an economic strategy to revitalize an otherwise depressed and neglected section of East Hollywood through the promotion of neighborhood pride, economic development, cultural exchanges, and cultural tourism.
On October 27, 1999, the Los Angeles City Council formally designated the world’s first and only Thai Town, located along Hollywood Blvd between Western and Normandie avenues. Thai Town is also the site of several historic Los Angeles structures and landmarks, such as the Don Carlos Apartments, Trianon Apartments, and the Mayer Building on Hollywood and Western. Thai CDC’s leadership and commitment to Thai Town’s cultural heritage preservation endeavors has also included its commitment to protecting historic properties through adaptive reuse. Thai Town is a form of community empowerment, because it has helped establish a Thai identity within the diversity of Los Angeles. Since the designation, Thai CDC continues to collaborate with fellow Thai community stakeholders and to provide leadership to the development of Thai Town’s tourism infrastructure, raising the community’s visibility, and providing support for small businesses and community asset building to establish this relatively small commercial center as a cultural destination.
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