Thai community in los angeles

Many originally came to attend Southern California universities.

This area has long been a magnet for immigrant groups, and it was the same for Thais who began coming in the 1960s, said Somchai Vongpiansuksa, who owns the popular Palms restaurant on Hollywood Boulevard. The large Silom supermarket occupies the middle of a block near Hobart Boulevard, its exterior the rose-hued color of dusk with ornate trimming and a spirit house, draped with colorful garlands and a stone-faced Buddha image, guarding the entrance from destructive forces. A Thai dessert shop offers preserved jackfruit, Pandan cookies and Kring Krang, crisply sweetened rice. At the Bangkok Market, gourmands can stock up on bitter melon and round Thai eggplant. Armenian children walk to school accompanied by their grandmothers.īut on closer inspection, a theme begins to emerge in the form of elaborate Thai script. Guatemalan bodegas abut Mexican cantinas peopled with Russian diners. A drive east on Hollywood Boulevard past Western Avenue is like a quick tour through the Americas and Eastern Europe.