History of Armenian Americans in Los Angeles
"[2] Since 1965 and as of 1993, the majority of immigration of ethnic Armenians from Iran or the former Soviet Union have gone to the Los Angeles area.
[2] Armenians in Los Angeles are plentiful and make up a large part of the local Middle Eastern population.
The first Armenian families began to settle in the Los Angeles area starting in the late 19th century.
[4] Most of the early Armenian settlers in Los Angeles were from Western Armenia- a territory located in modern-day eastern Turkey.
In August 1987, as part of glasnost, the Soviet Union began approving for exit visas for Armenians wishing to emigrate to the United States to reunite with relatives.
[7][failed verification][citation needed] In 1988, up to 3,000 Iranian Armenians were scheduled to arrive in the Los Angeles area.
[10] By the 1990s political conflict in the former Soviet Union caused more Armenians in that area to move to Los Angeles.
[2] He argued that many of the poor are not familiar with American customs and are uneducated, this therefore "risks increasing prejudice and discrimination against group members.
"[2] By 1996, longtime Anglo residents, largely fueled by anti-Armenian sentiment, decried the increased density in South Glendale.
[16] As of 1991 the established Armenian communities in the area included Encino and Hollywood in Los Angeles as well as the cities of Montebello and Pasadena.
"[9] In 1989 Vered Amit Talai wrote that "the Soviet Armenian emigrants form a very visible community in Hollywood".
The heavily engraved facade simultaneously references both Mount Ararat, as well as the Verdugo Mountains surrounding the city of Glendale.
[25] Armenian Apostolicism In 1994, Karekin II, Catholicos of the Holy See of Cilicia, visited Los Angeles.
[27] In an interview, Aram II stated that although he hoped for greater collaboration between the two sees, he believed the existence of two Catholicosates has turned out to be a blessing.
That same year, Mekhitarist priest Michael Akian arrived in Los Angeles to assist with establishing a local Armenian parish.
[29] Founded in Boyle Heights in 1952, Our Lady Queen of Martyrs became the center of Catholic Armenian life in Los Angeles, but most of its parishioners have since died or moved to more affluent neighborhoods.
[32] Aram Yeretzian's 1923 University of Southern California study found that there were around 2,500 to 3,000 Armenians in the city of Los Angeles.
[31] Citing a 1988 work by Lieberson and Waters, Bakalian wrote, "scholars find that these statistics from the 1980 census underestimate the actual number of Armenians in Los Angeles, and elsewhere in the U.S. for that matter".
[38] As of 2024, four-fifths of Glendale's City Council members are of Armenian descent: Elen Asatryan, Vartan Gharpetian, Ardy Kassakhian and Ara Najarian.
[21] In June 2021, Adrin Nazarian announced $9 million in state funding to establish a location of TUMO Center for Creative Technologies in the southeast San Fernando Valley.
[50] Serj Tankian, a member of TUMO's Advisory Board, has stated that the Los Angeles center will be located in North Hollywood.
[59] The emergence of increasingly visible ethnic groups — including Armenians, Cubans and Filipinos and Koreans — changed the official discourse in Glendale.
[60] During the 1992 Los Angeles uprising, Armenians largely remained on the sidelines and watched the events unfold from their ethnic enclaves.
Chahe Keuroghlian of the Glendale Police Department surmised that this isolationism was cultural, stating "We lived in the Ottoman Empire as a minority in forced isolation.
With Martinez unable to recall Ibranossian's last name, Gil Cedillo replied "It ends in i-a-n, I bet you.
[67] Individuals protesting the 2022–2023 blockade of the Republic of Artsakh outside the Turkish Consulate General In Los Angeles, in Beverly Hills, discovered numerous Armenophic flyers in the vicinity.
Mayor Lili Bosse immediately denounced the flyers on social media as the Beverly Hills Police Department reviewed surveillance camera footage.
[68] This incident was condemned by a number of local officials, including President of the Los Angeles City Council Paul Krekorian, West Hollywood Mayor Sepi Shyne, California State Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo, and Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath.
In response, Shant Sahakian, Glendale's Arts and Culture Commissioner, stated "This incident brings back painful memories without closure for our entire community.
Armen "Silent" Petrosyan, a founder of Armenian Power, was shot to death in Little Armenia on May 22, 2000, by Jose Argueta, a member of the Sureño White Fence gang.
