Nearby, another shopper sat on a bench reading the Philippine News. On a recent day at the mall, Gerry Carlos filled his cart at Seafood City with groceries. One of Seafood City’s challenges, however, was to ensure that the market’s fish was packaged well enough to mask any unpleasant odors. “It was an experiment that really worked out well for us,” he said. The store is the chain’s first in a mainstream mall, said senior vice president Jose Hontiveros. The neighborhood’s concentration of Filipinos is what attracted Seafood City, which has 13 grocery stores in California, to open a 21,000-square-foot supermarket at Eagle Rock Plaza. The Los Angeles City Council ultimately approved a compromise - a sign on the boulevard, not far from the mall, denoting the Philippine Village Community Center. The homeowners argued that the designation would unnecessarily single out one ethnic group and would detract from the neighborhood. In 2002, Filipino community leaders sought to designate a 1.3-mile stretch of Eagle Rock Boulevard as Philippine Village, but a group of local homeowners opposed the plan and a contentious debate ensued. “The Filipino population is gaining more in economic status, so they are able to move into bigger homes, build their businesses in communities that aren’t so urban,” said Jonathan Lorenzo, administrator of the Filipino American Library.īut there have been some growing pains. Community leaders say there are thousands more Filipinos in the surrounding areas of Highland Park, Mount Washington and Glassell Park. Of Eagle Rock’s roughly 30,000 residents, more than 6,000 are Filipino, according to Claritas, a San Diego-based demographic and marketing company. Despite escalating home prices, the revitalized neighborhood has remained economically and ethnically diverse, a mix of Latinos, Asians and whites. Indeed, Eagle Rock has become an increasingly popular place to live and shop, with the opening of trendy new boutiques, galleries and restaurants along Colorado and Eagle Rock boulevards.
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