Living in the San Gabriel Valley (Los Angeles, Santa Ana: gated communities, salary, restaurant)

[VillageLife]

Originally Posted by ubringliten

Nothing beats the "Asian Oasis" in the States! I lived there in 1980 and left in 2006, and I have never seen anything changed that drastically. Hearing you guys talked about it makes me proud I grew up in that area. LOL. My fiancee and I going to SGV to see 30-40 relatives this weekend for Chinese New Year. Woohoo! Happy OX Year, fellow CD members!

Gong Hey Fat Choy! (Cantonese)

kung shi fa tsai (mandarin)

[VillageLife]

Please visit the Focus Plaza in San Gabriel. Corner of Del Mar and Valley.There are other plazas surrounding it. The Hilton is there too.

I belive the first day of Chinese New Year which is Monday,businesses will be closed!!

Here is part of the Focus Plaza,the one with the pointed structure is the Sam Woo Restaurant

San Gabriel Square: San Gabriel Valley's Chinese Mega-Mall | Asian American Parenting | GOLDSEA

[Macross21]

I don't think you can really compare the SGV and Houston's Bellaire. The big difference being that the SGV is alot more dense. This makes it feel alive like you're in Asia. In Houston it feels more like a tourist area where locals go to. It feels empty and you hardly see people outside. And it seems like most of the Asians in Houston don't live in that area. In SGV it's a true Asian community.

There are over 300,000 chinese in just a 10 mile radius within the cities of Monterey Park, Alhambra, San Gabriel, Arcadia, etc. That doesn't even include the Japanese, Koreans, and Vietnamese that make up about 10% of that area which equals to about another 75,000.

It also doesn't include the 130,000 chinese in cities of Rowland Heights, Walnut, and Diamond Bar areas which are also in the SGV. It also doesn't include the 200,000 chinese in the proper city of Los Angeles that also frequently visit the area.

This makes the SGV full of people throughout the day. Go see the SGV at 10p at night and you'll see hundreds of people in restaurants or in the streets. Houston just doesn't have that alive feeling. It does have lots of shopping centers but not mix use where people live so the place is quiet at night. Here's some links just to give some examples of what's going on in the SGV.

City of Monterey Park : Trends in Redevelopment

About Alhambra_MainSt-WestCorridorPlan

Also LA has a very large Japanese community (over 250,000) and Korean community (over 300,000). And Orange county also as a large Vietnamese community (over 300,000). They have their own "Asian Centers" that are alive and full of people. These are areas that Houston also doesn't have.

I really don't think there is an Asian center in the US quite like those in LA's outside of San Francisco. Even with that being said San Francisco's Chinatown is quite small in size compared to the SGV.

[VillageLife]

I have been to Houston for a quick trip,I never been to that Chinese Section.

You are so right about the Asian influence here. I left Taiwan when I was young,travelled to many other countries,so naturally I didn't speak Chinese that well. When I came to the San Gabriel Valley 29 years ago,my mandarin was sort of broken. After 7 years I spoke mandarin fluently. Bumped into someone who knew me,She was so surprised at my ability to speak so well!. So you can imagine what will happen if you stayed here! you might start speaking Mandarin or learn Cantonese too!

[worldlyman]

Originally Posted by Macross21

I don't think you can really compare the SGV and Houston's Bellaire. The big difference being that the SGV is alot more dense. This makes it feel alive like you're in Asia. In Houston it feels more like a tourist area where locals go to. It feels empty and you hardly see people outside. And it seems like most of the Asians in Houston don't live in that area. In SGV it's a true Asian community.

There are over 300,000 chinese in just a 10 mile radius within the cities of Monterey Park, Alhambra, San Gabriel, Arcadia, etc. That doesn't even include the Japanese, Koreans, and Vietnamese that make up about 10% of that area which equals to about another 75,000.

It also doesn't include the 130,000 chinese in cities of Rowland Heights, Walnut, and Diamond Bar areas which are also in the SGV. It also doesn't include the 200,000 chinese in the proper city of Los Angeles that also frequently visit the area.

This makes the SGV full of people throughout the day. Go see the SGV at 10p at night and you'll see hundreds of people in restaurants or in the streets. Houston just doesn't have that alive feeling. It does have lots of shopping centers but not mix use where people live so the place is quiet at night. Here's some links just to give some examples of what's going on in the SGV.

City of Monterey Park : Trends in Redevelopment

About Alhambra_MainSt-WestCorridorPlan

Also LA has a very large Japanese community (over 250,000) and Korean community (over 300,000). And Orange county also as a large Vietnamese community (over 300,000). They have their own "Asian Centers" that are alive and full of people. These are areas that Houston also doesn't have.

I really don't think there is an Asian center in the US quite like those in LA's outside of San Francisco. Even with that being said San Francisco's Chinatown is quite small in size compared to the SGV.

Houston is a newer mecca for Asian centers, to be honest. Even the L.A. Times noticed it:
http://www.latimes.com/classified/re...,6906841.story

The "mixed use" component is there along Bellaire now. And...also "San Francisco's Chinatown is quite small in size" compared to New Chinatown now.

I disagree with your assessment that Houston's Bellaire "isn't as alive." Have you been just to the Sin Chao and Diho plazas alone? There're people walking all over the place, especially on the weekends. There's even a traffic cop who has to manage Sin Chao as it's so bustling!

Sitting at some of the new boba spots on the recently new developments along Bellaire, you look outside and see lots of people meandering back and forth the sidewalks and parking lots...I don't know what Bellaire Blvd you've been seeing. This is HOUSTON 2009 not 1987.

I have been down Valley and San Gabriel, the major commercial Asian SGV arteries at night, and it seems actually quieter than Bellaire Blvd these days. It's a race track and car parade here in comparison.

There are new crowded food spots to go along with the older in Houston that are open until 2 or 3 a.m. such as FuFus, Tan Tan, Bodard's, Jackie Tan's, Cafe 101, Confucius, Pete's Thai, Sinh Sinh, Cafe Beignet...so there are "hundreds of people" at these restaurants at night just like in the SGV

From the older Chinese spots around Fondren and Gessner to the newer Viet establishments lining Bellaire Blvd out as far as Highway 6...it's getting unreal here in Houston. How far is it from Fondren to Highway 6? That's a drive!

And let's remember, for the sake of argument, L.A. had that 100 year headstart...Houston has become an Asian mecca since the early 1980s...and what's been happening out here CANNOT be discounted no matter what L.A. already has. What is happening here in Houston, a newer city NOT on the Pacific Rim, I say is pretty darn impressive as far as burgeoning pan-Asian culture.

So L.A. has Japanese, for instance...well, Houston has neighboring Nigerians and Pakistanis near New Chinatown (ethnicities Houston has more of). Really can't say much for that type of integration in the SGV compared to the New Chinatown area.

Can you get some Pakistani biryani or Nigerian special spicy rice chicken nearby if you are on Valley Blvd? I highly doubt it.

On Bellaire Blvd, it's just a cross street, mere 10 minutes, from Wilcrest to Bissonnet/W. Bellfort to get to some yummy plentiful Nigerian and Pakistani fare. I don't think we'd find a Finger Lickin' Bukateria on Valley or SG or the SG Center or Atlantic. Ah, that Nigerian cooking...

Like I said, Houston has a newer burgeoning mixed Asian area happening in the NW side along Veterans Memorial...? I went to a Papa John's near the area (F.M 1960) and just about 3/4 of the patrons were Asian-American! It's not just Bellaire Blvd.

There is also a Little Korea along Houston's Long Point/Gessner area near Memorial City, as well as remnants of the Old Chinatown/Old Little Saigon near downtown/midtown.

And what's neat about Houston's New Chinatown, as I pointed out, is that there's a nice sizeable chunk of that Viet Westminster/Bolsa right there on Bellaire Blvd...and we have some excellent Viet crawfish diners that way(something not really found out there). There are just but a HANDFUL of Viet/pho places along Valley/Atlantic. The selection of Viet food and businesses along Bellaire is quite proportionally MUCH more plentiful. In the L.A. area, you'd have to go down to Westminster/Garden Grove for all that stuff!

And what's the drive from Monterrey Park to Westminster? 40 minutes to 2 hours depending? In Houston, to get from a slice of Monterrey Park to Westminster...is just a matter of minutes...the Chinese flavor of Bellaire Blvd (east of Beltway 8) to the Vietnamese flavor of Bellaire Blvd (west of Beltway 8) with Korean shops/eateries mixed in as well as the newer Malaysian spots (like Banana Leaf)!

Up north a little, Westheimer Rd is a mecca of mixed ethnic eateries...from Japanese to Vietnamese to Korean to Lebanese to Greek to Colombian...

Houston's boba scene? Nothing that we need from SGV, though the places are comparable. Remember, Houston's been getting its share of new immigrants from Taiwan, Hong Kong and China these days. They bring with them their tasty pop culture too.

Where is there a humping and bumping urban mall vibe like a Sharpstown in the SGV? African-American hip hop culture is not really to be found in mostly Chinese-influenced SGV along Valley. In Houston, these two cultural elements seem to cross over in the area in a fairly peaceful way.

To see groups of black folks entering those SGV eateries at 1 a.m...would seem out of place to me, the way I take in the overall character of SG Valley. But here in New Chinatown in an eatery such as Sinh Sinh or Tan Tan? Not unusual.

Valley is more classically dense, I give it that but it doesn't tarnish what Bellaire has become recently. Bellaire actually feels more alive with cars and city noise compared with Valley. And Houston is not necessarily a "classical" city. L.A. is fairly young but it has more classical elements than Houston. Houston is more built for the automobile, good or bad, more so than even L.A.

Why is there such an insistence to undercut what Houston's accomplished in such a short time as far as the Asian influences?

[VillageLife]

Wordlyman,Macross..I am so impressed with all the description of Houston and the San Gabriel Valley. Everything is so well written,really impressed!
Have you been to Hacienda Heights,Rowland Heights those areas? these are mostly new immigrants from Hong Kong,Taiwan,some China.Very young vibrant,modern buildings,new type of cafe and busy traffic from Fullerton Rd and Colima near the 60 freeway. Check it out.
Alhambra,San Gabriel,Monterey Park have less younger crowds. Maybe 60% less.

[VillageLife]

I also love going to the Pasadena Rose Bowl's Flea Market.They do have it twice every month on a Sunday. It is huge! Goes around the whole place. You can find so many things out there!

[VillageLife]

I am sure you have heard of the foot massages here in the SGV. It took me 2 years to find one. I look for cleanliness and I would go in to see if it's sanitary. Then I would look for friendliness and atmosphere.
I was introduced by a friend who knew how particular I am. This one is called Harmony Day Spa in San Gabriel,CA.
They have their own washing machine,dryer in a room. You can see where they are.
The place is a little pushed back from the street side,it's next to Vans Bakery,which is a Vietnamese Bakery. There is a back parking. You can walk straight from the back between the Vans Bakery and the Spa and get in from the front
The sitting room is very nice with TV. you can see that in the link.
Once you are in,there is a nice big room that has a big screen TV and candles,then you walk in more,there are more spaces. There is also a full body massage. I tried that too.That's $40 an hour
The foot massage includes your upper body massages for $15. I usually tip $5. I tried 6 people and now I get the same person. I would call for my appointment.
It's on Valley Blvd.Cross San Gabriel Blvd going east. The spa is on the south side of the street.

Harmony Day Spa - San Gabriel, CA 91776

I am not advertising for them. I am just recommending

[Macross21]

Worldlyman,

I agree that Houston's new "Chinatown" is larger in size than SF's but again it's not dense. It's very speadout which makes it feel less "alive". I have been to Houston twice last year (and usually go to Texas two times a year dating back to the 90s).

I have seen the "drag racing" there but I would think that has more to do with whites and blacks then it does with the asians there. And if the Chinatown wasn't there I would think the drag racing would still continue there.

There is definitely more integration with Houston's new Chinatown but you're also combining all of those ethnic areas into one. It's not really such a mixture. The SGV's "Chinatown" is just one of the many ethnic areas in LA. If you were to discuss combining all the ethnic areas into one it would be much more larger than the SGV we are discussing here.

Houston's Koreatown is only a few stores, same with the Old Chinatown aswell as the Old Little Saigon in midtown. They're really just one or two blocks of shops. I'm not sure I would count those as ethnic centers in LA. There's many of those spead around small cities here, such as in Torrance, Carson, and Gardena which each has probably 5 times as many Asian stores as those 3 put together on multiple blocks but again I don't really count those as true ethnic centers.

The Koreatown in LA is much larger and feels "alive" compared to Houston's. Just to give you another example of development, here's a link to a new 22-story mix-use building by Korean investors which will be completed this summer.

CB Richard Ellis - Solair

And yes this has an "indoor" mall. There is more than just one "indoor" Asian mall in LA unlike Houston.

The only true Asian ethnic centers in LA that I consider are Koreatown in LA, Thaitown in LA, Little Toyko in LA, Chinatown in LA, SGV, Little India in Cerritos, and Little Saigon in OC. I don't have the exact breakdown but the total Asian population in LA/OC county is 2 million. That's almost as much as the 2.2 million total population in the proper city of Houston. I would believe just the SGV with it's 430,000 Chinese (not including other Ethnicities) is more than the total Asian population of Houston Metro.

I hope you are not reading me wrong here, I do think Houston has more ethnicities then other cities but my point was that the New Chinatown isn't on the level of SGV in terms of feeling alive. I'm not trying to "undercut" anything as so much you are with LA. I will salute you in being Houston "Proud".

[VillageLife]

Glad to know about Houston and California Asians,very informative!