The First Suburban Chinatown

Monterey Park, California, only eight miles east of downtown Los Angeles, was dubbed by the media as the "First Suburban Chinatown." The city was a predominantly white middle-class bedroom community in the 1970s when large numbers of Chinese immigrants transformed it into a bustling international boomtown. It is now the only city in the United States with a majority Asian American population. Timothy P. Fong examines the demographic, economic, social, and cultural changes taking place there, and the political reactions to the change.Fong, a former journalist, reports on how pervasive anti-Asian sentiment fueled a series of initiatives intended to strengthen "community control," including a movement to make English the official language. Recounting the internal strife and the beginnings of recovery, Fong explores how race and ethnicity issues are used as political organizing tools and weapons. Author note: Timothy P. Fong teaches at the University of California, Davis, and at California State University, Hayward.

Timothy P. Fong teaches at the University of California, Davis, and at California State University, Hayward.

PrefaceIntroduction: A New and Dynamic Community1. Ramona Acres to the Chinese Beverly Hills: Demographic Change2. Enter the Dragon: Economic Change3. "I Don't Feel at Home Anymore": Social and Cultural Change4. Community Fragmentation and the Slow-Growth Movement5. Controlled Growth and the Official-English Movement6. "City with a Heart"?7. The Politics of Realignment8. Theoretical Perspectives on Monterey ParkConclusion: From Marginal to MainstreamNotesSelect BibliographyIndex