There was no telling how many people would show up Tuesday morning to discuss, one last time, how much of Koreatown should be surrendered to the Bangladeshi community.
At the previous meeting in this yearlong border skirmish, L.A. City Councilman Tom LaBonge had asked each side to bring three representatives.
"The Koreans cheated," he said. "They brought seven. But the Bangladeshis cheated more. They brought 37."
And so it has gone since Oct. 23, 2008, when the Bangladeshis filed a petition with the city clerk's office asking for a Little Bangladesh designation. Initially, they wanted the sprawling area between 3rd Street on the north, Wilshire Boulevard on the south, and Vermont and Western avenues on the east and west.
As you may imagine, the neighborhood's Koreans snapped to attention. LaBonge staffer Nikki Ezhari recalls their unanimous and immediate reaction:
"That's Koreatown."
Technically, there is no official "Koreatown" designation, a problem the Korean community quickly addressed by filing its own petition early this year. Since then, the two sides have been negotiating a compromise.
In Los Angeles, where it goes without saying that we've got a little of everything, I'm not sure we need Little Bangladesh signs any more than we needed Thai Town, Little Armenia, Little Tokyo, Little Ethiopia or Historic Filipinotown signs. It's not as if those populations are confined to any one place.
There is, of course, the commercial aspect: Shop and dine in Koreatown. Don't miss Little Bangladesh. Really, though, this rivalry seemed powered more by ethnic pride than money, two distinct groups staking out their islands in the great melting pot.
The staging area Tuesday was the Ralphs parking lot at 3rd Street and Vermont Avenue. Early on, it was clear the Bangladeshis would win the numbers game again. A dozen had already assembled and more were arriving.
Chang Lee, chairman of the Korean American Federation, was the lone representative on his side, unless you count a reporter from the Korea Daily. Lee said there was finally an agreement in principle on the table, so he didn't need an army behind him.
LaBonge's plan was to walk the entire group west, so there could be no doubt about the precise boundaries of Little Bangladesh. The councilman, who never stops celebrating Los Angeles, said a few words about the diverse people who make the city such a grand experiment. Then, like a football coach leading the charge, he walked the assemblage across Vermont, with the Bangladeshi representation having grown to 16.
