Los Angeles

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LA City Hall with sister cities sign showing Yerevan
Armenian street art in Silverlake neighborhood of Los Angeles

Los Angeles, California (often abbreviated as L.A., arm: Լոս Անջելես) has the second largest Armenian diaspora community in the world, after Moscow, Russia. While the exact number of Armenians is unknown, the US Census' American Community Survey 2009-2013 counts 172,000 people who speak Armenian at home as their primary language. Its pleasant Mediterranean climate, business opportunities and cosmopolitan culture has attracted Armenian immigrants from all over the world. The first larger influxes came from Fresno in the 1930s, with larger numbers coming in the 60s-80s from the near and middle east, follow by large numbers from the Soviet Union beginning in the 1980s and continuing beyond the collapse of the USSR to the present.

Los Angeles County, a vast sprawl, consists of many cities. Armenians have tended to collect in pockets of the city, and are especially concentrated in the following cities and towns:

File:La-armenianspeakers.jpg Neighboring Orange County is home to a significant, if more thinly spread Armenian community, while the communities in Ventura County and the Inland Empire are still quite small. Armenians who left LA have formed a large part of the Armenian community in Las Vegas.

Armenian Community

History

Churches

Educational institutions

Newspapers

Restaurants

Shops

Relations with Armenia

Armenians from Los Angeles

These are Armenians who were born or who have lived in the city of Los Angeles:

Aleksan Markaryan, Ara Zobayan, Araz Artinian, Arthur Ispirian, Carene Mekertichyan, Cyrinda Foxe, Edward Nalbandyan, Grigor Hovhannissian, Hampig Sassounian, Harry Kamian Jr, Harut Sassounian, Howard Kazanjian, John Thorrington, Ken Davitian, Kevin Mitnick, Khloe Kardashian, Kim Kardashian, Kirk Kerkorian, Larry Gagosian, Leo Sarkisian, Madlene Minassian, Mark Geragos, Michael Goorjian, Michael Omartian, Adrin Nazarian, Raffi Doudaklian, Raffi Hovannisian, Rien Long, Robert Kardashian, Salpi Ghazarian, Sara Anjargolian, Sebouh Aslanian, Sebu Simonian, Sev Ohanian, Shahen H. Minassian, Steven Zaillian, Vahe Berberian, Vahe Keushguerian, Gourgen Yanikian, Yurik Vardanyan

Map of Armenian Sites in Los Angeles

(A very incomplete) Clickable map of Armenian sites in Los Angeles metro area. You can pan around and zoom in and out. Because of the vast number of Armenian sites in LA, only major Armenian sites will be listed - Churches, Bookstores, very well known Armenian food places, etc.

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Maps of Armenian Attractions
Armenia & Karabakh (highlights only map), Janapar Trail
Detailed maps of: Yerevan, Aragatsotn Marz, Ararat Marz, Armavir Marz, Gegharkunik Marz, Kotayk Marz, Lori Marz, Shirak Marz, Syunik Marz, Tavush Marz, Vayots Dzor Marz
National maps of: Artsakh / Karabakh, Turkey, Georgia (and Tbilisi), Iran, Azerbaijan (including Nakhichevan)
Regional maps of: Middle East, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America (western), North America (eastern), South America, Asia, Australia

Map Legend

Marker-cross.png Church / Monastery Marker-crossbrown.png Ruined Church Marker-fort.png Fortress Marker-fortressbrown.png Ruined Fortress Marker-cave.png Cave Marker-ruins.png Ruins Marker-tree.png Nature / Scenic Marker-hike.png Hiking Marker-museum.png Museum Marker-springblue.png Spring Marker-toilet.png Toilet Marker-picnic.png Picnic Marker-tram.png Tram / Gondola Marker-camp.png Camping Marker-bike.png Biking Marker-bed.png Hotel Marker-ski.png Ski Marker-hang.png Hang glide Marker-shelter.png Shelter Marker-brown.png Minor site Marker-orange.png Other map

Relations with Turkey

City of LA severs ties with Genocide denier firm

24/02/2015

The Armenian National Committee of America – Western Region is encouraged that Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) is terminating a contract worth over $845,000 with Gephardt Government Relations, a firm which serves as a registered foreign agent for Turkey and a major tool in efforts to deny the Armenian Genocide, Asbarez reports.

Late last year, the ANCA-WR called upon Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to end any ties between the City of Los Angeles and Dick Gephardt, a known genocide denier, including a contract he had with LAWA. A seven-member Board of Airport Commissioners, six of whom were appointed last year by Mayor Eric Garcetti and approved by the Los Angeles City Council, governs LAWA.

“Since leaving Congress where he worked hard to pass Armenian Genocide resolutions, and now becoming a paid lobbyist, Dick Gephardt has gotten rich earning huge sums of money from the Turkish Government to lobby his former colleagues to deny justice for the Armenian Genocide in a complete reversal of his position on the issue. As a Genocide denier, he doesn’t deserve a single dollar from the citizens of Los Angeles, and should have no association with our great city,” said ANCA-WR Chair Nora Hovsepian. “We applaud LAWA and City of Los Angeles officials for their principled stand enforcing a zero-tolerance policy against deniers of genocide. LAWA’s action reflects the highest standards of good governance and reinforces the proud standing of Los Angeles as a leader – nationally and internationally – on issues of genocide-prevention and human rights.”

According to U.S. Government documents obtained by the ANCA-WR and cited in support of its request, Gephardt Government Relations had a contract worth over $845,000 with LAWA, which was agreed to in 2012 during the term of former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Meanwhile, since the approval of the contract with LAWA, Gephardt Government Affairs has been drawing over $23,000 a month for its work for the airport while simultaneously representing the interests of the Turkish Government against the interests of the Armenian-American community. Gephardt has made a name for himself on Capitol Hill by trading on his congressional connections for his work on behalf of the Republic of Turkey. As documents filed with the U.S. Department of Justice under the Foreign Agent Registration Act (which regulates the lobbying activity of those who advocate on behalf of foreign interests in the United States) reveal, Gephardt himself has had to disclose the fact that he acts on Turkey’s behalf as an ardent opponent of legislative efforts to fully recognize the Armenian Genocide.

New York Times writer and author of “This Town” Mark Leibovich outed Gephardt in 2013 for his hypocrisy on the Armenian Genocide. In a television interview later that year, Bill Moyers asked Leibovich about Gephardt’s stand on the Armenian Genocide. “In the House [of Representatives] he [Gephardt] had supported a resolution condemning the Armenian Genocide of 1915. When he left Congress he was paid about $75,000 a month to oppose the resolution,” Moyers commented. Leibovich responded by sharing, “Yes. I guess the word genocide goes down a little easier at those rates.” Also in 2013, Christopher Buckley, the son of William F. Buckley, wrote a review of “This Town” in The New York Times in which he cited Gephardt’s genocide denial efforts. “There are a number of sanctimonious standout “formers” in Leibovich’s Congressional hall of shame, but just to name a few exemplars who gleefully inhabit ethical no-worry zones and execute brisk 180-¬degree switcheroos on any issue, including the Armenian genocide, so long as it pays: Dick Gephardt…”

In his most recent anti-Armenian actions on Capitol Hill, Dick Gephardt aggresively lobbied against H.R. 4347 in the 113th Congress, a House measure to return Christian churches in Turkey to their rightful owners. Last year he also did the bidding of his lucrative Turkish Government client by fighting against a U.S. Senate resolution on the Armenian Genocide authored by U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ). Despite Gephardt’s opposition, the Armenian Genocide bill advanced by Senator Menendez in April of last year was ultimately adopted by the full Senate Foreign Relations Committee by a vote of 12 to 5.

The move by the ANCA-WR to seek termination of LAWA’s contract with Gephardt coincided with the launch of a nationwide campaign by a coalition of Armenian American groups, including the ANCA, to pressure Gephardt, former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (Dickstein Shapiro, LLC), Greenberg Traurig, Alpaytac, and LB International to stop advancing the Turkish Government’s Armenian Genocide denial agenda or face public scrutiny and protest. The effort was launched on January 29th, with over 200 letters sent to Turkey’s lobbying firms and the top businesses, universities, and NGOs who use their services, giving them until February 28th to drop their association with Turkey’s genocide denial or end their relationships with these public relations firms. Among those receiving letters were PepsiCo, TIME Inc., Amazon, and the Chrysler Corporation, in addition to many others.

The Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region is the largest and most influential Armenian American grassroots advocacy organization in the Western United States. Working in coordination with a network of offices, chapters, and supporters throughout the Western United States and affiliated organizations around the country, the ANCA-WR advances the concerns of the Armenian American community on a broad range of issues.

See also

External links

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