The Chinese Ethnoburb of Los Angeles.

Suburban Chinatowns are intriguing subjects for study and comparison. These ethnic suburbs have emerged to coexist or compete with the older downtown Chinatowns traditionally found in American central cities. Chinese ethnoburbs are the end result of convergent historical and urban processes. Historical shifts include the civil rights movements of the 1950s and 1960s, United States immigration policy reform, and the globalization of the world-economy. Urban level trends include Chinese upward mobility leading to migration out of traditional Chinatowns, general processes of U.S. suburbanization, and the phenomenon of white flight to the outer city. Their emergence and perpetuation since the 1960s challenges many basic assumptions regarding spatial and cultural assimilation into U.S. society, and deepens our understanding of global processes in American cities. In this paper, we examine recent growth trends in the Chinese ethnoburb of the San Gabriel Valley region of Los Angeles County, through analysis and mapping of U.S. Census data from 1960 to 2000, and consider the implications for our understanding of homeownership, the suburbs, and the future of the American city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]