Designated Culture: An Arab Community’s Struggle for Recognition and Identity

December, 2018 -

A pristine blue website and blog advertised the plaza as a “cultural destination in our city”, local newspapers toted always-full parking lots and restaurants bustling with people laughing and talking in their native tongues, Arabian music echoing in the background. Maybe that was true at night, when Little Arabia comes alive, but this afternoon, run-down stores lie empty, cracks mar sidewalks and empty parking spaces abound. The acrid fumes of oil drift from the auto shop across Brookhurst Street, mingling with the smell of asphalt baking in the midday sun. A bakery’s door stands open, but there seems to be no one inside; it is not a place of smiling strangers, but silent memoriam to the Arab way of life.

In the far corner of the plaza, remnants of Arabia waft from the propped, ornamented door of the Olive Tree Restaurant - the Palestinian drums and flutes carry with them the sweet aroma of mansaf, a rack of lamb on a bed of basmati rice drizzled with freshly cultured yogurt.

In early 2017, the restaurant expanded from a brick-layered storefront the size of a small apartment, to a space twice that across the lot, complete with a full terrace cordoned off by a black floral-patterned gate and tarps overhead to block the sun. The black-bricked wall facing the street is splashed with prints of some of their most famous lamb dishes. The smaller space, previously adorned with a block-lettered dark green Olive Tree insignia above round metal tables that crowded the sidewalk now advertises “Thai food here, GRAND OPENING soon!” with a bright yellow and blue banner decorated by seemingly homemade graphics.

Gathered around one of many rectangular granite tables on the concrete-floored restaurant terrace, business partners in smart suits discuss plans for the future while wide, screen-like windows display families huddled in booths, watching their children play.

A man in a suit runs in frantically glancing at his watch, spitting rapid-fire Arabic under his breath. “I called several hours ago,” he yells into the kitchen, at no one in particular. The man waits for his food only a few moments before leaving in more of a hurry than he’d come. The manager, Alan Abdo, sits at one of the center tables, his laptop and record books reflecting off the black surface. He looks up as a petite blonde comes into the restaurant. She glances uncertainly around before she greets him. “This is my first time here,” she says with a subtle smile.

Alan’s grey-green eyes light up and he stands to shake her hand, his pleasant stubbled face spreading in a welcoming grin. He invites her to sit at a corner table, and explains each Palestinian delicacy. There is freshly crushed hummus with a hint of spice served alongside soft mounds of laffa, leaven bread common in Palestine, Egypt, Lebanon and Syria. There’s cucumber and tomato salad drizzled with a slight balsamic, falafel and kebobs of all kinds, maglooba, another basmati rice and tender lamb dish drizzled in a minty spiced dipping sauce, and for dessert, kanafeh, a square cheese pastry layered with thin semolina dough, dipped in honey and pistachios. He has his waitress on duty, Annabelle, bring a complementary lentil and chicken soup and steaming mint tea. She is a tall, thin girl with jade blue eyes, olive skin and chestnut blonde hair, soft-spoken but friendly.

He greets each of the families as he glides about the restaurant, expressing the customary Arab greetings plastered in olive lettering on a black overhang above the kitchen in both Arabic and English transliteration; “Marhaba! Ahlan Wa Sahlan! Ahlan Biikum! Hello and welcome!”

He speaks with each customer for some time before he moves to the next tables, asking after the welfare of their relatives, their plans for the day, whether they would like their usual orders. Annabelle follows up his greetings with more halted Arabic – she joined the Olive Tree team a year ago during the Ramadan season, the restaurant’s busiest time. She hopes that by working there, she can become more involved in her Palestinian heritage and learn to speak Arabic more fluently with locals who frequent the restaurant.

Alan’s father Yusuf migrated to Huntington Beach from Palestine in the early 70s to escape the forced removal of Palestinians in what is now the West Bank, and his mother immigrated from Syria to escape the civil war. The two met and moved to the United States. They settled first in Florida and then in Huntington Beach, where they still remain. Yusuf founded the Olive Tree restaurant as a way of bringing his traditions and community back to the United States.

“Yusuf’s concern at the end of every night is if the people enjoyed their meals, not how much money the restaurant made.” Wrote the OC Weekly in their 2017 appraisal of the restaurant in their Best Food of OC awards. Following in his father’s footsteps, Alan often holds community events at his restaurant, and tells newcomers stories of the community that surrounds the restaurant. One of Alan’s favorite stories to recall since taking over the restaurant from his father in early 2017 is the evangelical group he hosted soon after the restaurant transferred to their new, larger space.

He remembered them entering the restaurant close together, one woman clutching a gold cross chain necklace, another glanced about nervously as if expecting to be attacked? A man wearing a red t-shirt and in any other circumstances a winning smile asked, “What do they serve here?”

Alan took the opportunity to make his customary jokes. “The blood of infidels.”

The group stared at him in shock for a moment before bursting into an uneasy laughter. Bright conversation followed, Alan sharing more about the food and the history of Little Arabia and its refugees. After the event, the man approached Alan and shook his hand.

“Thank you for saying that. It was refreshing.” The man now frequents the restaurant often bringing friends and asking Alan to retell the story and the joke along with it.

“That’s what I enjoy most about it,” Alan said. “Our community is a bridge between worlds. We’re breaking stereotypes.”

Communities like Little Arabia have been cropping up in Anaheim and Orange County since the late 1950s, when refugees began to flee Egypt’s first civil war and the Nasser regime. As more Arab countries experienced unrest and political and social upheaval, the Arab neighborhoods of Orange County began to grow, finally making a name for themselves as Little Gaza in the 1970s, with the arrival of Palestinians fleeing the conflict with Israel. however, business owners felt that the name did not represent the diversity in Arab cultures and countries and coined the term Little Arabia for their corner of the city.

Before Little Arabia came to fruition, Brookhurst Street consisted of a predominantly white agricultural community which fled when drugs ravaged the community in the 1980s leaving space for earlier Arab immigrants to establish a community for the influx of refugees in the 1980s. A prominent business tycoon and developer bought and fixed residential houses for new refugees incoming from Syria and Lebanon.

Alan’s parents were among those who migrated to Orange County from Florida, in a wave of Vietnamese immigrants. The couple made due with what they had – while Alan’s father worked at the engineering firm, Nahla Kayali, Alan’s mother, founded the organization Access California, a non-profit that provides resources for refugees. with herself as the only employee, working from a makeshift booth off of Brookhurst Street. In its first months, Nahla was its only employee and patron. She had noticed that the new refugees were not receiving necessities for living and working in the United States, and even less about finding the job that would grant access to such amenities of modern American society.

Sammy Khouraki founded Little Arabia as a refuge for Arabs and their cuisine culture along with his wife Nola. In 1983 in Anaheim, the couple set up a small store on Cerritos Avenue and opened a small market on Cerritos Avenue and Magnolia Street, which they dubbed Cerritos Produce. It was one of the first specialty markets of its kind that specifically targeted the Middle Eastern community, representing at least ten Middle Eastern identities. The size of a small house, the space could barely accommodate the overabundance of produce. The Khourakis expanded, and customers began suggesting additional nationalities whose food should be represented at the shop.

As Little Arabia grew, so did the Khourakis’ market. In 1987, Khouraki bought an egg ranch on the outskirts of the budding Middle Eastern district and expanded his market for the first time. He included French and Bulgarian recipes, Mexican meats, and American hot dogs, chips and chocolate mallow pies. Customers continued to suggest recipes and food items. In 1988, Cerritos Produce had to expand again, reopening with a new name, Altayebat Market. Roughly translated, the name means “the good,” in Arabic. Khouraki transmitted that good not only through his food but in his hospitality with his customers. His interaction with the community proved to be successful not only for his market, but also for the growth of Little Arabia leading to many different cultures and cuisines, now its claim to fame.

The market’s close quarter aisles force one to maneuver around the restaurant, with no choice but to interact with the other patrons. Women in patterned hijabs and robes push carts full of Russian and French breads and teas, passing shelves of Cheetos and other American junk food, the shelves teem with Italian, French and Greek cooking oils. In the fresh produce section, Khouraki still catalogues vegetables and fruits to his shelves, drifting between the checkout counter and produce to help customers check out their goods. He pats men on the back, laughs with both patrons and staff.

In the drink aisle, Latin inspired milk and malt-based drinks crowd the shelves. In fact, much of the produce in the market is Latin inspired, as proclaimed by a Lebanese malt drink – “Mexican Style” the bottle reads in proud gold lettering. Next to the malt drinks are petite neon pink, purple and green cans, Volta sparkling fruit flavored drinks in melon, watermelon and berry. Similar to Inca Cola, a Peruvian champagne cola, the watermelon Volta goes down with a sweet watermelon zing, a taste akin to Jolly Rancher candy.

From the earliest success of their restaurants and markets, followed by hijab and traditional clothing stores, hair salons, and legal firms, business owners in Little Arabia knew they needed a recognition beyond what the city, and Disneyland, their most adamant opponent, was willing to give them. From 2009 through 2014, Rashad Al Dabbagh and other business activists in the area worked on a social media and internet presence for the area, with dreams to not only have an official listing in Anaheim’s destination guide, but to erect a freeway sign directing people to Little Arabia when they take the Brookhurst exit off the 405.

. In the spring of 2014, Alan took his pride in his restaurant and his people to the county level, banding with other business owners to have Little Arabia officially designated a tourist destination with the ability to direct tourist traffic from Disneyland to the plaza at Brookhurst Street.

In multiple council meetings, Alan listened as Disney representatives on the council told the business representing Little Arabia that “Disney doesn’t want to segregate so we have to take another look at it at another time.” Alan said the company did not want one ethnic group highlighted over others in the region immediately surrounding the park, and argued that such a freeway sign directing tourists would encourage this.

When the meeting to promote designation of Little Arabia - dubbed the “shawarma summit” by locals - finally happened in 2009, every city council member voted a resounding yes when asked by Rashad Al Dabbagh the chair of the Arab American Civic Council, whether they would support the official designation of Little Arabia, “I want to see a green sign on the freeway!” a council member said with great enthusiasm. Although locals and newspaper reporters still call it by its designated name, the council and the city have yet to officially recognize the area – there will be no “green sign on the freeway” any time soon.

Publications like the OC Register and OC Weekly had popularized the unofficial designation through articles on holiday foods and best restaurants in the Anaheim area. Through the early 2000s to today, the online presence of Little Arabia is evolving with each new food discovery or cultural milestone. Media coverage increased from 2009 through 2014 as more food magazines began to of the area, and the designation began to pick up speed. In 2014, the OC Weekly reported their “official designation” with the addition of Little Arabia to the official Anaheim guide for tourism. But their fight was - and is - far from over.

Disney has funneled millions into the city of Anaheim in the last elections, with the resort tycoon giving at least $635,000 to Support Our Anaheim Resort (SOAR), a political action committee (PAC) in Anaheim which finances three seats of councilmembers. Disney’s total donations for the year totaled &1.5 million. In 2016, Disney spent $1.22 million on the elections. With such a tight hold on the actions of the council, Disney’s word is law, especially given that

Disneyland has threatened Anaheim with pulling its funds from the PACs as the tourism giant loses hold on the city council due to recent elections. For the first time in its history, Disney faces serious opposition from the city council, including form mayor Tom Tait. who has been a critic of Disney’s actions as well as a supporter of Little Arabia for years.

Disney used its leverage in the community to end the tax breaks in order to stop the effects of a ballot measure that would force Disney to pay their employees up to $18 and counting in 2022. While its workers live in poverty, Disney continues to insist that it supports the campaign. “That’s why we support candidates who will address the vital issues facing Anaheim and understand that a strong resort district means new jobs, increased investment and economic vitality, which benefits the entire city, its residents and neighborhoods,” said Disney spokesperson Suzi Brown to the Voice of OC, a Santa Ana non-profit publication.

Even members of the community were uneasy about what a designation would mean, if they thought about it at all. Alan was surprisingly nonchalant when describing the seemingly endless summits and campaign hearings that the business owners have dealt with over time, to no avail. Anaheim mayor Tom Tait and the Anaheim City Council have been promising the people of Little Arabia a designation for years, mentioning the restaurants by name and publicly supporting the immigrants and refugees. Each time the business owners confront the council about an official designation, they always hear the same resounding “yes.” But no action comes- year after year, they ask, and never receive the recognition “Maybe someday it will be, maybe someday it won’t,” says Alan. “It wasn't like that was our main intention and that was the only thing we were after. It was more in the spirit of community and bringing people together.”

~**~

One of Disney’s most well-known marketing strategies is their attempts at wide cultural scope and representation in their movie franchises, something that they have only been expanding in recent years with the addition of Tiana, Moana and Elena of Avalor, the company’s first black, Pacific Islander, and Hispanic princesses respectfully. This marketing strategy has also received great criticisms as a ploy of cultural appropriation.

Recent studies, as well as social media buzz around the tourism giant comment on Disney’s continued recycling of “deep-rooted stereotypes” of their characters, especially in the film Aladdin. One line that many critics have mentioned is the description of Agrabah as “barbaric”. The film was also criticized by the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee for the whitewashing of Aladdin and Jasmine, while shopkeepers, citizens that Aladdin comes in contact with, and nefarious characters like Jafar are depicted with decidedly Arab features and accents, perpetuating orientalist mindsets in children. The question then remains, if the company has received criticism for stereotyping Arab communities in the past, what could stop them from doing the same to Little Arabia?

Councilmembers in Anaheim hail Little Arabia as a “cultural destination”, and this election season have pledged their support for the community, saying. “The obvious reason [ that we support Little Arabia] is that we want to celebrate our immigrant communities, and we want them to have pride in being a part of Anaheim and get involved… Second, is the economic benefit in drawing tourists from the resort district…”

The words once again ring empty.

The other communities surrounding Brookhurst Street, well-paved suburban streets lined with trees and hedged brick walls, also pose an obstacle to Little Arabia’s official designation.

“They have their own way of doing things,” said Andre Beck, a member of the community board who has called West Anaheim home for about 50 years. “If you go into there to shop, they just kind of ignore you. And that’s part of the problem we have. They just don’t want to meld in with the community,” said Beck to 89.3 KPCC in response to a poll on the official designation.

"There's only one ethnic group that's being promoted and that's the Arab American group," Esther Wallace, Chairwoman of the West Anaheim Board of told the Los Angeles Times at the time. "We don't have a Little Mexico or a Little Korea. All the pressure seems to be on putting a Little Arabia out here, and I don't see why.”

The official designation of Little Arabia would be Orange County’s third designation of an ethnic community, after Little Saigon and Little Seoul.

Despite the inherent opposition, the official blog of the Little Arabia District continues to grow, readying itself for its role as a pit stop to the Happiest Place on Earth and a vessel for those outside of the Middle East to glimpse some Arab hospitality, as Alan likes to call it. The website now includes a downloadable interactive map of the area and advertisements that market traditional Ramadan recipes and discounts for patrons who vote in the Nov. 6 elections. An updated video from the 2018 election campaign reads “Which 2018 Mayoral Candidate will support the Designation of Little Arabia?”

Ahmed Alam, the developer who began construction of Little Arabia’s residential areas told Los Angeles Times in a 2014 article that Little Arabia was “not yet ready” for something as big as an official designation. “We're not ready to do a grand opening yet for Little Arabia because it's not ready.” Ahmed envisions malls, movie theaters, entertainment that would give Little Arabia "something to hang on to.”

~**~

In the fading pink light of the November evening, Sammy Khouraki sells his vegetables and sweet watermelon drinks, Alan Abdo welcomes new customers while cracking a smile and a timely joke or two; people still flow in and out of the restaurants and crowd the market places following the allure of Arabian sounds and smells, the mansaf wafting on the air.

SOURCES:

October 3, October 25: Alan Abdo, owner of Olive Tree Restaurant interviews

November 11, 2018. Altayebat Market information: http://altayebat.com/our-history/

November 28, 2018. Visit to Altaybat Market, Olive Tree.

Wikipedia – Little Arabia, May 1, 2015: http://www.latimes.com/tn-wknd-et-0503-little-arabia-20150501-story.html,

Little Arabia Blog: https://www.littlearabiadistrict.com/history

Access California information: http://www.accesscal.org/about-us/the-accesscal-story/

July 10, 2010: “Little Arabia Grows Up” OC Weekly, https://ocweekly.com/little-arabia-grows-up-6418506/

2014: Anaheim City Council puts Little Arabia on an official pamphlet as a place to visit. https://ocweekly.com/anaheims-little-arabia-now-an-official-tourist-attraction-6456475/

Feb 18, 2014 https://www.scpr.org/blogs/multiamerican/2014/02/18/15869/little-arabia-anaheim-district-west/

May 16, 2014: developments in Little Arabia designation: http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-little-arabia-20140316-story.html

May 2017 – Best Restaurants OC Weekly https://ocweekly.com/anaheims-olive-tree-restaurant-gets-new-location-8130459/, Alan takes over Olive Tree, Romy takes over Altaybat Market at this time too?

Nov 4, 2018 – Will Candidates Support Designation of Little Arabia? Website updated with map of official businesses…https://www.littlearabiadistrict.com/blog/2018/11/4/election-2018-will-anaheims-next-mayor-designate-little-arabia

Aladdin marketing timeline: https://ew.com/article/1993/03/12/marketing-aladdin/

Some criticisms of Aladdin: http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20170714-the-aladdin-controversy-disney-cant-escape

Etudes study: https://journals.openedition.org/etudescaribeennes/5863?lang=en