Koreans Orange County

Vice President Dan Quayle, stumping for money and votes in Republican-rich Orange County, joined local GOP leaders Tuesday in an aggressive appeal to the area's rapidly growing Southeast Asian community. Quayle and Republican gubernatorial candidate Sen. Pete Wilson launched the opening of the 1990 Asian American Republican Headquarters in Westminster's Little Saigon neighborhood, home of the largest Vietnamese population in the United States.

Expect some sentimental and delicate singing before the live cannons and bells blow away you and the neighbors around the Village Green Park in Garden Grove on Saturday. The noisy part will come when the Garden Grove Symphony puts the finishing touches on its annual "Summer Symphony in the Park" concert with Tchaikovsky's rousing, patriotic "1812" Overture. Nobody these days dreams of playing this music without real cannons blasting and big bells clanging.

The sweet sounds of Korean folk music, the close harmony of barbershop quartet singing, the blasting noise of cannons and bells . . . What else could this be but an outdoor concert by the Garden Grove Symphony, offering a free program here Saturday in Village Green Park? The program will include Korean soprano Duk Soon Nam, the barbershop Orange Empire Chorus and live cannons and bells for Tchaikovsky's perennial "1812" Overture (what else?).

It's a city already well-known for its rainbow of citizens. In one of its oldest neighborhoods, Korean businesses have moved in and some longtime residents feel displaced, like strangers in their hometowns. The setting, though, is not a New York City borough. It's Garden Grove, and in an effort to head off racial clashes that have occurred in other areas, residents have started getting together to discuss their differences.

Orange County will be represented in September's ambitious and wide-ranging Los Angeles Festival by several artists, including a Latino muralist, Korean contemporary painters and Laotian craftsmen, organizers announced Thursday. Some local artists will take part as members of large music or dance ensembles or extensive group art exhibits, festival officials said in explanation of why a precise breakdown by county of participants was unavailable.

There's no question that Valencia High School seniors Jason Bae and Richard Tibbie have come a long way in their quest to become one of the more effective guard combinations in the Orange League. A long way. Tibbie, a point guard with a slender build, a slashing style of play and a 20-point scoring average, was born in the Philippines. He moved to the United States five years ago. Bae, a muscular, long-range shooter with a 16-point average, was born in South Korea.

On the eve of a national "smokeout," a Korean tobacco company was handing out cigarettes Wednesday at a Korean community center in Orange County, promising that a portion of any donations would go toward building elderly housing in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. An Orange County health official immediately assailed the promotional tactic Wednesday, accusing the government-run Korea Tobacco and Ginseng Corp.

Faced with organized opposition from the Asian business community and the threat of a lawsuit, city officials decided Monday to reconsider a proposal to make all businesses display signs in English. The controversial ordinance, which civil libertarians and minority groups called unconstitutional, was to be part of a major overhaul of the city's billboard code. But Korean businesses maintained that they scoured the city and found only nine signs that contained no English.

Commercial signs in Garden Grove's heavily Korean and Vietnamese commercial districts may soon have to include English lettering and translation. An amendment to the Municipal Code making those requirements was approved by the city Planning Commission Thursday night on a 6-0 vote. If approved by the City Council, the provisions could affect many signs in the city's large and growing Asian business districts. The council is expected to consider the new sign regulations before the end of the year.