ABSTRACT
On August 2, 2002, over one hundred community leaders, city workers, war veterans, students, and residents of Filipino descent gathered in Los Angeles City Hall to witness the proclamation of a new neighborhood sign that read “Historic Filipinotown.” The unveiling of this humble marker was a significant event for the long-standing Filipino community at the heart of this global metropolis.1 Since the gentrification by a cluster of upscale offices, banks, and hotels in the 1960s, this ethnic community has experienced political wrangling and several major urban redevelopment cycles in its struggle for formal recognition. Although the Filipino American population is fairly geographically dispersed, Filipino Americans have often identified this Filipinotown at the heart of Los Angeles as the symbolic cultural center of their community.2
