Road Signs To Go Up Directing Motorists to 'Little Arabia' In Anaheim

Published Jan 10, 2024 2:56 PM

ARAB-MENTAL-HEALTH. A building with brown tiled roofing with an American flag hanging on it facing the road. There is a row of bushes outside the building. Next to the building is a mural of a woman in a pink hijab wearing golden jewelry, pink eyeshadow and pink lipstick on top of a purple background.

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Road signs are going to go up on the 5 and 91 Freeways directing motorists to the nation’s first Arab American ethnic enclave, Little Arabia, in Anaheim.

In 2022, the city council formally designated the Brookhurst corridor from Broadway to Ball Road as Little Arabia. But, since then there had been no signage recognizing the area. The Anaheim city council commissioned an in-depth study of the Brookhurst Corridor, a 3.5 mile stretch along the street in the western side of the city, before the signage was to be approved.

At the study’s recommendation, the Anaheim City Council voted Tuesday to move forward with installing the signs within six to nine months.

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Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh Aitken said the study was part of a “larger economic development plan” that encompassed the entire Brookhurst Corridor and not just the Little Arabia segment. It looked at the cultural contributions of businesses along the street plus examined safety issues, wayfinding issues, street beautification.

The study also recommended that the Little Arabia designation be expanded to include Altayebat Market, which opened in the 1980s and Kareem’s Falafel — one of the oldest Arab restaurants in the area.

Aitken said the city will consider expanding Little Arabia to include “those important businesses as well as going down to Crescent, which includes places like some of our nonprofits like CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations).”

The council, she said, will comprehensively look at making the ethnic enclave on Brookhurst “walkable” and a place to bring family for a full day.

Significance to the Arab community

Rashad Al-Dabbagh, executive director at the Arab American Civic Council, has been organizing for the creation of Little Arabia for over two decades.

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“I remember in 2008, speaking to the mayor back then, and he was opposed to the idea,” he said. “Four mayors later, finally, we saw the approval of putting up a Little Arabia sign so it feels great.”

When Al-Dabbagh moved to California in the late 1990s, he lived in Pasadena but would make the drive at least twice a week to Anaheim to patronize the businesses.

“This is where I found community,” he said. “Sometimes you go to a restaurant or a café on a Friday night and you're with ten people, maybe two of them live in Anaheim. The rest came from somewhere else. So it brings the community together. ”

In addition to the multitude of Middle Eastern restaurants and cafés, he added, that the enclave provides a gateway for new immigrants and refugees. Most support centers and nonprofit organizations like Access California are located in the area which help address issues like mental health access to immigration support.

With the street signs, Al-Dabbagh said, it “means that we are now included, we are seen, and we feel welcome despite the spike in recent hate incidents and hate crimes against Arabs and Muslims.”