Where is tehrangeles

Farhad Mohit, who arrived at the height of the hostage crisis, was called names at school. Demonstrations by Americans against Iranians telling them to go back home were common. Iranians in the US have struggled to shake off the terrorist-fanatic image ever since. Every time new tensions arise between the two governments, the community fears the return of old prejudices.

But a generation on from the turmoil of , most Tehrangeles residents feel completely comfortable with their dual identity. Now in her thirties, Mahdis Keshavarz says she no longer feels she has to choose between being Iranian or American. Now they do. The Groundlings Theatre. The character-based sketch and improvisational Laguna Beach. If you're a lover of art and beautiful vistas, Nearby Hotels.

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Montage Beverly Hills. Inspired by Beverly Hills estates of the s More Iranians came to the U. After Iranians stormed the U. Embassy in Tehran and took Americans hostage for days, protests broke out in Los Angeles. On one side were Americans outraged by the U. Embassy takeover; on the other side were supporters of the Islamic Republic. Caught in the middle were the Iranians in Los Angeles who had hoped to leave the politics of their homeland behind. Ata Farman was one of them.

Farman, 35 at the time, recalls American protesters swarming a Persian restaurant he owned in West Los Angeles, and others leaving death threats on his phone at work. But by the s and s, hope had started to fade and Iranians in Los Angeles slowly began to realize that they would be building a new life away from their motherland. More Persian restaurants opened, along with bookstores, music shops , art galleries, immigration legal services and passport processing agencies.

Today, as the complex relationship between Iran and the U. In , the Westwood Neighborhood Council passed a motion calling on the Los Angeles City Council to remove signs written in Persian in some stores that offered assistance for travel to Iran or consular services.

Subsequently, last May, some Iranian businesses in Tehrangeles came together with other Westwood residents to vote for a new neighborhood council. Skiles, president of the Graduate Students Assn. Across the street, year-old Alex Helmi faces the same predicament. He has been selling Persian rugs from his Westwood shop for more than 30 years, but over the last decade his livelihood has rested on the economic battles played out by the U.

A embargo on Iranian goods prevented Helmi from being able to import merchandise. In , when Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal, Helmi was again caught in the middle. Despite the obstacles, many of the Iranians who helped establish Tehrangeles — now in their 70s and 80s — still cherish the community.

Many spend their days strolling the neighborhood or sipping tea at cafes while playing backgammon and recalling memories from their native country. Kambiz Ghaemmagham, 75, recently sat outside a coffee shop and talked about his younger days as an Iranian student activist in California. Ghaemmagham decided to return to Iran in to see the outcome of the revolution.

It was his last time. For more than 20 years, Ghaemmagham has organized a monthly meet-up for Iranian Americans to discuss topics related to their homeland. For younger generations, the community their elders created is a link to their Persian culture, a way to embrace their dual identities. The older Iranian generation came to America and established themselves, setting the foundation for the younger generation.