Defined by its neatly manicured cul-de-sacs and its precisely designed villages, Irvine can't quite seem to shake the stereotype that it is just another vanilla suburb.
But beyond the ficus trees and cookie-cutter homes lies a community dotted with Buddhist temples, Korean churches, Chinese banks and Asian grocery stores. The city's Islamic center sits right next to the Chinese cultural center in a spotless office park.
One of America's definitive master-planned cities now revels in its diversity.
Irvine is more than one-third Asian American and is home to a large Iranian American community. And on Tuesday, voters here elected the city's first nonwhite mayor. Sukhee Kang, a Korean immigrant and city councilman, credits his success to knocking on 10,000 doors, building up his credibility through two City Council terms and amassing a multiethnic coalition of voters.
"I never wanted to be viewed as a Korean American or Asian American candidate," Kang said, his voice hoarse from post-election talks and interviews. "I wanted to be viewed as Sukhee Kang. Because as mayor, you serve the entire community."
Last week, Kang, 56, who immigrated to Orange County at age 24, basked in the spotlight as he became one of a few Korean American mayors in the country, fielding calls from dozens of journalists on both sides of the Pacific and seeing his photo grace the cover of the Korea Times next to President-elect Barack Obama.
"Irvine is much more than a predominantly white community," said Grace Yoo, executive director of the Los Angeles-based Korean American Coalition. "It is definitely mixed and integrated well, and I'm glad to see the elected officials are starting to reflect the entire population."
Irvine voters reelected all incumbents to the five-member council in Tuesday's hard-fought election, but as Kang's election marked a historical first, political watchers noted that he couldn't have prevailed with support from Korean Americans alone.
Unlike the power base in Orange County's Little Saigon, from which Vietnamese city, county and state politicians have emerged by targeting voting blocs in their own immigrant community, in Irvine's multicultural stew, candidates have succeeded only by courting other Asians, Persians and whites -- still the largest group of Irvine residents.
