Little Armenia is a neighborhood in Central Los Angeles, California. The name comes from the large number of Armenian-Americans who 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 1970s.
The Los Angeles metropolitan area has the highest concentration of Armenian institutions and cultural programs in the United States. These institutions include businesses, restaurants, Armenian food stores, voluntary associations, clubs, radio programs, newspapers, television programs, nursing homes, churches, and Armenian American schools.
St. Garabed Armenian Apostolic Church is an Armenian church that is located inside Little Armenia. St. Garabed church is the place of worship for the vast majority of Armenians living in Hollywood. It is located on Alexandria Avenue and it was built in 1978.
On October 6, 2000, the Los Angeles City Council designated a portion of east Hollywood as “Little Armenia” in an effort to recognize the community’s vast “presence and voice in Los Angeles.” The area is served by the Metro Red Line at the Hollywood/Western, Vermont/Sunset and Vermont/Santa Monica stations.
It is named after the Armenians who escaped genocide and made their way to Los Angeles during the early part of the 20th century. On April 24 each year, Armenians gather in Hollywood to commemorate the Armenian Genocide. An Armenian genocide memorial opened in Grand Park in September 2016.
The 2015 Armenian March for Justice saw over 130,000 people march from the Little Armenia neighborhood of Hollywood to the Turkish Consulate of Los Angeles to demand recognition and justice for the Armenian Genocide on the centennial anniversary of the tragedy.
In June 2018, the City Council voted 4-0 to rename a two-block section of Maryland Avenue, between Wilson Avenue and Harvard Street, to Artsakh Avenue. During the decision-making process, Councilman Ara Najarian said it was overdue to have a street referencing the city’s large Armenian-American community.
Two blocks of Artsakh Avenue, the heart of Glendale’s art and entertainment district, will be turned into a one-way street with an extended sidewalk for public use. It is expected to be completed by spring 2021. The hope is that this project will finally breathe life into what the city designated as its art and entertainment district in 2012.
The first significant wave of Armenian immigration to Los Angeles occurred from Western Armenia – a territory located in modern-day eastern Turkey – due to the Armenian Genocide during the violent disruption and break-up of the Ottoman Empire – however, most Armenians ended up dispersed in countries such as Iran, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt.
The Armenian population is subdivided according to their countries of birth, where groups had developed distinctly different cultures. In addition to those born in Armenia, these include those born in the United States, Iranian Armenians, Lebanese Armenians, and Turkish Armenians, as well as those from elsewhere in the former Soviet Union and the Middle East.
The Los Angeles metropolitan area has a significant Armenian American population. As of 1990 this single area holds the largest population of Armenians in the world outside of Armenia. On February 23, 2007, Los Angeles became the sister city of Yerevan, the capital of Armenia.
Though Hollywood was once home to the biggest Armenian community in the region, Glendale surpassed Hollywood in both the total number and proportion of Armenians in population, while Burbank, Pasadena, Montebello, and La Crescenta also have large Armenian communities but with no special designation.
Anny P. Bakalian, author of Armenian-Americans: From Being to Feeling Armenian, wrote that “Los Angeles has become a sort of Mecca for traditional Armenianness.” In the Los Angeles area Armenians have frequent contact with Hispanics and Latinos, including those of Mexican and Salvadoran origin.