Little Armenia, Los Angeles, California
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Little Armenia is a community that is part of the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California. The area is served by the Metro Red Line at the Hollywood/Western station.
Little Armenia is defined by the Los Angeles City Council as "the area bounded on the north by Hollywood Blvd between the 101 Freeway and Vermont Ave, on the east by Vermont Avenue from Hollywood Blvd to Santa Monica Blvd, on the south by Santa Monica Blvd between Vermont Ave and the 101 Freeway and on the west by the 101 Freeway from Santa Monica Blvd to Hollywood Blvd". (Adopted on 6 October 2000.)[1]
Its name comes from the large number of Armenian-Americans that live in the area and also from the large number of Armenian stores and businesses that had already opened in the neighborhood by the early 1990's. Prior to this time, the neighborhood was known as being a rather seedy one, known for street prostitution, cheap bars, and drug sales. All of these still exist in the area, but to a significantly lesser extent, due to the efforts of the Armenian community and the city government of Los Angeles. Also, gentrification is beginning to spill over into East Hollywood due to its proximity to Los Feliz and Silver Lake, especially in the parts closest to those areas.
St. Garabed Armenian Apostolic Church is an Armenian church that is located inside Little Armenia. St. Garabed church is the place of prayer for the vast majority of Armenians living in Hollywood. It is located on Alexandria Avenue and it was built in 1978. The church is located front of the Rose and Alex Pilibos Armenian School. Little Armenia's only public park is Barnsdall Art Park, which includes the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Hollyhock House and a city-run arts center built in 1919-1921. The park, located on small but scenic Olive Hill, was donated to the city of Los Angeles by oil heiress Aline Barnsdall.
One of the major event that occurs in "Little Armenia" is every year on April 24, Armenians gather in Hollywood to take part in a protest for the recognition of Armenian Genocide.
Today, in spite of some streets in the neighborhood showing signs of neglect, there are some streets that together form pockets of decently-kept middle class homes. Due to the high real estate prices in Los Angeles in general, much of Little Armenia and East Hollywood still posses home prices higher than in other parts of the city and much of Los Angeles County, although it may not appear so at first glance.
Many of the novels, short stories and poems of Charles Bukowski, a native of East Hollywood who lived in the area for all but the last decade of his life, are set in the area.
Contents |
[edit] Gallery
 Little Armenia street sign |
 Little Armenia banner |
 Street map of Little Armenia |
[edit] See also
- Armenian-American
- List of Armenian-Americans
- Armenian Diaspora
- Armenian Assembly of America
- Armenian American Political Action Committee
- Armenian National Committee of America
- Armenian Youth Federation
[edit] External links
[edit] References
