Mexican mariachis, Chinese foot massage parlours, Persian ice cream and Korean karaoke bars: Los Angeles is more than just Hollywood, sunshine and surfing.
The city has become home to the largest groups of Japanese, Koreans, Filipinos, Armenians, Thais and Mexicans outside their respective countries, creating a diverse patchwork of businesses and places of worship.
. LOS ANGELES, United States. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson
Mariachi musician Moises Rivera, 60, waits for a gig in the Boyle Heights area, home to many Mexicans and Central Americans.
Los Angeles' population is 48.5 percent Latino, according to the 2010 Census, and more than one in three of Los Angeles’ residents was born outside the United States. In a city known for its transience, many attempt to keep their home country’s traditions alive.
. LOS ANGELES, United States. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson
Megan Moshar, 26, who is of Persian, German and Filipino descent, walks down the aisle with her new husband George Safar, 27, whose parents are from Syria, at their wedding in the Saint Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral in the city’s Byzantine-Latino quarter.
Maintaining traditions can be difficult in a city where assimilation is also prized, and that conflict often spawns interesting cultural mixes.
The newlyweds, who held their wedding service in English and Arabic, stepped out of the cathedral into an area that is largely Mexican and Salvadoran.
. LOS ANGELES, United States. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson
A man stands in a store in Chinatown.
Los Angeles is home to people from 140 countries, speaking 224 languages, and its population is 11.3 percent Asian, according to the 2010 Census.
Video
Reuters photographer Lucy Nicholson, who is based in Los Angeles but is originally from Britain, talks about her experience documenting the story.
. LOS ANGELES, United States. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson
City signs mark the ethnic quarters within Los Angeles. Little Tokyo and Chinatown have attracted Japanese and Chinese diasporas since the nineteenth century. Others, like Little Bangladesh, are newer; part of the city’s endless reinvention.
