March 18, 2024

About

We’re Armenians of LA!

A, for the most part, tenacious and energetic group of people who love spending time with family and friends, eating good food and owning expensive cars and houses!

Early on

At least one old manuscript raises the possibility of an Armenian who sailed with Columbus. More documented is the arrival of “Martin the Armenian,” who was brought as a farmer to the Virginia Bay colony by Governor George Yeardley in 1618—two years before the Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth Rock. Still, up to 1870, there were fewer than 70 Armenians in the United States, most of whom planned to return to Anatolia after completing their training in college or a trade. Since the 1975 Lebanese civil war, Los Angeles has replaced war-torn Beirut as the “first city” of the Armenian diaspora—the largest Armenian community outside of Armenia. The majority of Armenian immigrants to the United States since the 1970s has settled in greater Los Angeles, bringing its size to between 200,000 and 300,000. This includes some 30,000 Armenians who left Soviet Armenia between 1960 and 1984.

Current

The Armenian presence in Los Angeles makes this U.S. city one of the few that is noticeable to the general public. The community bustles with Armenian media and publishers, some 30 schools and 40 churches, one college, and all sorts of ethnic specialty shops and businesses. The number of current Armenians in Los Angeles is estimated between 800 thousand to a million. The highest concentration of this numbers are seen in Glendale, North Hollywood, Tujunga, Montebello, Granada Hills, Mission Hills and Pasadena areas.