My Life Changing Adventure In Monterrey Park

Before Asian Studies, I had no clue what kind of persecution and struggle it was for Asian people to immigrate to the United States from their homeland. The pain and the suffering, the oppression, and the exclusion all describe the history of Asia America. When they arrived to the United States, they become labeled as Asians. These Asians come from Japan, China, Korea, Laos, Thailand, and many other diverse countries in the Eastern hemisphere. These people wanted to escape from their impoverished lives as the West continued to infiltrate their motherland. They saw America as the promise land filled with opportunity to succeed in life. Yet due to the discrimination placed from society and continual unfair treatment by the government, the history of Asian American was being defined and written every day they were in America, waiting to be deported because of the complexion of their skin. Many started from the bottom but by determination they eventually became successful.

From the beginning to Asian Studies till now, we have been learning about the surrounding area of our College which is Monterrey Park, California. Monterrey Park is located near Los Angeles, California. Monterrey Park along with many cities nearby with a growing Asian American population, making up 66.9% of its resident population. 47.7% of its residents are of Chinese descent, the largest concentration of Chinese Americans of any municipality in the United States. Monterrey finally became its own city and by 1920, the white and Spanish-surname settlers were joined by Asian residents who began farming potatoes and flowers and developing nurseries in the Monterey Highlands area. They improved the Monterey Pass Trail with a road to aid in shipping their produce to Los Angeles. Monterey Park was also referred to as "Little Taipei" or affectionately, "The Chinese Beverly Hills" by a local Chinese-language newspaper, "Asian Week. Many Asian residents of Chinatown began to open up their businesses in Monterrey Park. Whenever I visit the city of Monterrey Park I see many Asian businesses booming with customers of different ethnic groups. I have done some researched and interviews on some businesses owned by Asian residents and some Asian employees. For my research of Monterrey Park, I visited businesses. I chose to make my paper more personal because I believe hearing people of different Asian groups are more interesting and life changing. I have had in depth interviews with a few people that have immigrated from Asia. The first place I was very interested on going was Marie Callendar’s restaurant located in Monterrey Park. Marie Callender’s was established in 1948 and is one of the longest operating chains of full-service dining restaurants in the United States. Based in Monterey Park, California its restaurants are casual dining that specialize in pies and operating mainly in the western United States. My family and I have be going to Marie Callender’s since I was a small child and since I could remember there was a certain employee I would always remember. She would always be out waitress and my family has never been disappointed by her service. I scheduled an interview with manager Mary Chow. Her and her family immigrated to the United States from China in 1974 when she was only 5 years old. Her family first moved into a small apartment located in China Town, Los Angeles. Her father had a low paying job as a gardener and her mother stood home to make sure Mary could still connect with her Chinese roots. When Mary was 9 her parents moved to Monterrey Park. After graduating from Mark Keppel High School, Mary took a few classes at East Los Angeles College. Mary’s parents had plans for her to become a Heart surgeon or Psychologist but she wanted to begin working and she became particularly interested in the food industry. “My parents were upset with my decision to now follow up in school but I didn’t