DANIEL FITTANTE
ABSTRACT Despite its many contributions to Los Angeles, the internally complex community of Armenian Angelenos remains enigmatically absent from academic print. As a result, its history remains untold. While Armenians live throughout Southern California, the greatest concentration exists in Glendale, where Armenians make up a demographic majority (approximately 40 percent of the population) and have done much to reconfigure this homogenous, sleepy, sundown town of the 1950s into an ethnically diverse and economically booming urban center. This article presents a brief history of Armenian immigration to Southern California and attempts to explain why Glendale has become the world’s most demographically concentrated Armenian diaspora hub. It does so by situating the history of Glendale’s Armenian community in a complex matrix of international, national, and local events. KEYWORDS: California history, Glendale, Armenian diaspora, immigration, U.S. ethnic history
INTRODUCTION
Los Angeles contains the most visible Armenian diaspora worldwide; however, it has received virtually no scholarly attention. The following pages begin to shed light on this community by providing a prefatory account of Armenians’ historical immigration to and settlement of Southern California. The following begins with a short history of Armenian migration to the United States. The article then hones in on Los Angeles, where the densest concentration of Armenians in the United States resides; within the greater Los Angeles area, Armenians make up an ethnic majority in Glendale. To date, the reasons for Armenians’ sudden and accelerated settlement of Glendale remains unclear. While many Angelenos and Armenian diasporans recognize Glendale as the epicenter of Armenian American habitation, no one has yet clarified why or how this came about. Prior to the 1960s, only a handful of Armenians resided in the ethnically
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homogenous and notoriously prejudicial community. However, at present, approximately 40 percent of Glendale’s population of over 200,000 residents claims Armenian ancestry. To be sure, Armenians inhabit several locales scattered throughout Greater Los Angeles and several communities throughout the United States. But there exists no explanation as to why Glendale has become the epicenter of the Armenian community outside Armenia. Based on interviews, archives, and census data, I explore the multilayered settlement of Armenians in Southern California, particularly in Glendale. While this article attempts to document Armenians’ historical immigration to and settlement of Southern California, it also analyzes these phenomena from various perspectives. Armenian history is often told through a limited prism, one that reflects the internal dynamics of the community in question. However, this article’s findings reflect the diverse and dialectic variables through which residents shape their communities and their communities shape them. Armenians represent an important part of Los Angeles’s history, and this article is a first attempt to explore the internally diverse Armenian Angeleno community.1
BACKGROUND EARLY MIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES
Armenians’ residency in the United States dates back to the American colonial period. The first person identified as Armenian in the New World came, most likely, in 1618 or 1619.2 Referred to as “Martin the Armenian,” this early Armenian immigrant is mentioned several times in the available records until 1624, at which time, presumably, Martin returned to England with the tobacco he had grown in Virginia.3 Several other Armenians followed Martin to Virginia, and their contributions are recorded in various spheres from the mid seventeenth century onward. By the 17th century, Armenians were already renowned for their silk-weaving production.4 As such, early colonial figures sought expertise from Armenians abroad around 1653.5 One of these Armenians, “George the Armenian,” has been eulogized in print. John Ferrer endorses early Armenian settlers thus:
His two Armenians from Turkey sent Are now most busy on his brave attempt And had he stock sufficient for next year Ten thousand pound of Silk would then appear And to the skies his worthy deeds upreare.6
Despite their numerical and cultural insignificance, the handful of early Armenian settlers,
as one scholar observes, played a “mythological role for a later generation of immigrant Armenians . . . to feel part of American history; like Yankee blue bloods, they too possessed deep roots in America.”7 Thus, Armenians have been woven into America’s multicultural fabric from the very outset.
Armenian migration to North America grew more conspicuously in the nineteenth century. Students and clergymen migrated to the United States for largely educational purposes in the first third of the century. In addition, a smattering of businesspeople moved to the industrializing city centers of the United States; and, toward the end of the century, rural Armenians migrated in larger numbers than they had previously.8 In fact,
by the late nineteenth century, approximately 5,000 Armenians had immigrated to the United States.9 As their situation at home became increasingly vulnerable under Ottoman control, these numbers increased substantially during the first two decades of the twentieth century. Although the number of immigrants varied by year (with a rather
significant decrease occurring on account of World War I), 1921 alone brought over 10,000 Armenians to U.S. territory.10 By World War II, approximately 80,000 Armenians had relocated to the United States. A considerable portion came directly or indirectly from Ottoman territory, where they faced considerable hardship and peril.11 However, several
also emigrated from Russian territories. On account of voyage expenses, only families with the means to send at least one member could make the trip. However, as the cost to transit between New York and Constantinople dropped during the first years of the twentieth century, an increasing number could afford passage. As indicated, most Armenians docked in New York (although smaller groupings docked in Boston, Philadelphia, Mexico, Canada, and other locations), and, as a result, settled in the Northeast. However, a small number starting in the twentieth century entered via California as well. Those reaching Californian ports often had come from Japan or China traveling via Russia and Siberia.12