Cambodia Town, Long Beach

Cambodia Town is a district of Cambodian restaurants, shops, temples and services along Anaheim Street in Long Beach, California. The Long Beach City Council approved the name in 2007, after years of work by the community that had built the neighborhood.

Illustration inspired by a street of shops in the district.

Heritage site details
Also known as	Little Phnom Penh
Site type	Community landmark
Location	Anaheim Street, Long Beach, California
Country	United States
Period	2007
Subjects	Migration & Diaspora; Community & Civic Life

History

Cambodian students were living in Long Beach in the 1950s and 1960s. After the Khmer Rouge took power in 1975, Cambodian refugees followed, many arriving under the Refugee Act of 1980 and in the years after it. Along East Anaheim Street they opened restaurants, clothing and jewelry stores and donut shops, and the street became a Cambodian cultural enclave.

In 2001 the United Cambodian Community hung "Little Phnom Penh" banners along Anaheim Street, which started talk of a formal Cambodian district. At a community meeting, residents chose the name Cambodia Town over Cambodia Village, Khmer Town, Little Cambodia and Little Phnom Penh. Cambodia Town, Inc. was formed as a nonprofit in 2005 and drew up a plan to build community and civic support. In 2007 the City Council voted unanimously to designate the district, on the condition that it become a business improvement district.

Sophy's was already a neighborhood institution on Anaheim Street when the district was named. A year later, when its landlord would not renew the lease, the restaurant moved seven blocks away to Pacific Coast Highway. In 2009 an exhibition of Cambodian arts and handicrafts, developed with California State University, Dominguez Hills, grew into the yearly Cambodia Town Cultural Festival. In 2019 Long Beach proclaimed April as Cambodian Heritage Month.

Architecture and layout

The designated corridor runs about 1.2 miles (1.9 kilometers) along Anaheim Street between Atlantic and Junipero avenues. It is mostly low-rise, with Cambodian restaurants among other food, retail and automotive businesses. Alongside the shops are churches, Khmer temples, service centers for Cambodian Americans and Cambodian-owned businesses such as auto repair shops.

Art and inscriptions

A mural of a Cambodian Buddhist temple is a stop on community walking tours, and the Mark Twain Branch Library holds a major collection of Cambodian books. Young people in the United Cambodian Community's Living Arts program have painted murals and led public art projects. Community organizers have pushed for more public art as part of a plan that joins cultural life with the design of the street.

Significance and conservation

Cambodia Town sits within Long Beach's diverse Eastside, home to Black, Indigenous, Latinx and other Asian residents as well as Cambodian Americans. Rising rents and redevelopment have pushed out Cambodian-owned businesses and community institutions. In 2018, more than a dozen businesses in two commercial plazas faced demolition, and a petition against the plans gathered more than 9,000 signatures. The city held back approval until the developer met with the affected businesses.

Cambodia Town Inc. carries the district's advocacy, cultural events, fundraising and improvement work with the City of Long Beach and other community groups. Its Cambodian New Year festival fills the street with traditional dress, classical dance and drumming, and with the booths of local organizations and businesses.

Visiting

Cambodia Town is served by Long Beach Transit buses and the Los Angeles Metro A Line.

See also

• Cambodia Town Inc.
• Cambodia Town Parade and Culture Festival
• Cambodia Town Film Festival
• Sophy's
• Udom Khmer Restaurant

References