Cambodia Town, Long Beach, California

thumb| Latino-owned and Cambodian-owned businesses, 2018

Cambodia Town (also known as Little Phnom Penh or Little Cambodia) is the official name for a business corridor along Anaheim Street between Atlantic and Junipero avenues in the Eastside of Long Beach, California. The area has numerous Cambodian restaurants, clothing stores, jewelry stores, and donut shops, as well as churches, Khmer temples, and service centers for Cambodian Americans. There are many other businesses in the area, such as auto repair shops, which are Cambodian-owned. Long Beach has the largest concentration of Cambodians of any city outside of Southeast Asia.

Pre-migration

Prior to the rise of the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s, Cambodia was a highly agricultural society that endured ninety years of French colonial rule. In 1973, the United States commissioned the Arclight missions. This was a series of bombings targeting the Cambodia-Vietnam border to fight the threat of communism from Vietnam. However, the bombings instead instilled chaos and fear in the civilians of Southeast Asia including Cambodia. These bombings convinced many Cambodians that establishing the Khmer Rouge and a new political system would solve all of their problems. Pol Pot led the Khmer Rouge as a communist group who sought to remove all Western influence in Cambodia and create an equal, agricultural society. These students were from wealthy and educated families in Cambodia. A few of these students permanently settled in Long Beach after graduating from college and planted the seeds for a Cambodian presence there. These were mostly farmers from small villages with limited educational backgrounds.

Resettlement

From April to November 1975, approximately 2,000 Cambodians migrated to Camp Pendleton, a military base in Southern California, for refuge.

Intergenerational trauma contributes to behavioral problems during the adolescent years of Cambodian youth. These problems impact the family dynamic by widening the generation gap between parent and child. As a result, unaddressed past trauma links to various issues, which may intensify the violence within the Cambodian community in Long Beach.

Cambodians received the opportunity to rebuild their lives and community when they came to Long Beach. At the time, Long Beach had many jobs that did not require English proficiency, which granted Cambodians a higher access to work and income. The United Cambodian Community (UCC) formed during this time to assist Cambodian refugees with housing, finance, and food.

Cambodia Town's population grew with services, stores, and migration. Thus, some community activists preferred the name Little Phnom Penh because the name does not impose a "singular national identity" unlike how the name Cambodia Town implies.

The founders of Cambodia Town, Inc. led a successful attempt to officially designate East Anaheim Street as Cambodia Town. Their attempt included the crucial step of gathering support from community and major stakeholders along East Anaheim Street. The advocates for the designation also used other established ethnic enclaves as examples of spaces where Asians, Blacks, Hispanics and Whites were able to live and work together. As a result, the Long Beach City Council unanimously approved the concept of Cambodia Town in 2007 – under the condition that it became a Business Improvement District (BID).

Racial tensions

Many Latino community members felt intimidated and threatened by the rapid growth of the Cambodian community. Cambodians became increasingly "confronted by the ethnic racial hierarchy" that arises in low-income communities due to the lack of resources. Cambodian gangs began forming as a method of resiliency. Young Cambodians gravitated towards gangs in hopes to reconcile their conflicting American and Cambodian identities. The lack of educational support within the Long Beach school system for Cambodians also contributed towards high rates of gang participation. In addition, gang participation also correlates to mental health because unaddressed intergenerational trauma among Cambodian youth caused many to search for support from gangs as a coping mechanism; 67 percent of Cambodians suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, while 51 percent suffer from severe depression. In a survey conducted in Cambodia Town, more than half of the participants reported public safety as a major concern. Many of these respondents cited gang activity, theft, violence, and substance abuse as issues that their families continually encountered. This transformation is said to be accompanied by divine beings, known as Tevoda, who migrate in a cycle to watch over the renewal in nature. Additionally, the celebration exhibits the ethnic diversity of the enclave as the event often includes monks, Cambodian and Black Christian ministers, and paleta vendors.

Another well-known local event is the annual Cambodia Town Film Festival which was founded by Cambodian American filmmaker Caylee So and hip-hop artist praCH Ly. The event features films from both established and emerging filmmakers whose works deal with the Cambodian experience. The festival includes screenings, discussions, and question-and-answer sessions with those who were involved in the film productions.

Businesses

The Cambodia Town business corridor outlines roughly the 1.2 mile stretch of East Anaheim Street just north of Downtown Long Beach and east of the 710 freeway. This location is accessible by the Long Beach Transit bus system and the Los Angeles Metro A Line. The area consists of Cambodian liquor stores, gift shops, jewelry stores, markets, and restaurants. The area also consists of many Latino-owned businesses and restaurants.

One of the most well-known Cambodia Town restaurants is Phnom Penh Noodle Shack, established in 1985. Phnom Penh Noodle Shack started as a modest, family-run restaurant, but over the years has garnered mass appeal from food critic reviews and social media.

The markets within Cambodia Town reflect the diversity of Asian ethnicities in Long Beach and carry key ingredients for a variety of cuisines including Khmer, Vietnamese, Thai, Korean, Japanese, and Chinese food. The stores provide ethnic foods ranging from ready-made Asian meals to cooking ingredients. In the United States, less than one-third of Cambodians hold less than a high school degree.

The median household income in Cambodia Town is $34,000, which is lower than the $56,000 median income for Los Angeles County. Moreover, Asians in Cambodia Town on average earn roughly $14,600 less than Asians in Los Angeles County. As a result, displacement and gentrification are becoming prevalent issues within the community.

Cambodia Town is currently undergoing many beautification projects with public investment in murals, bike lanes, parks, and community gardens, among others. This method of beautification is part of an effort to increase safety within the local community. Although beautification does promote safety, it also increases property values, which imposes a new challenge for locals such as a higher cost of living.

In Culture

Racial tensions between the Cambodian diaspora and other ethnic groups of Long Beach are depicted in the film Freedom Writers.

References

External links

The official website of Cambodia Town
"Ethnographic Evaluation of the 1990 Decennial Census Report Series Report #9 The Cambodian Community of Long Beach: An Ethnographic Analysis of Factors Leading to Census Undercount." By principal investigators, for the United Cambodian Community, Inc.
Cambodian Community History & Archive Project (CamCHAP)