An Asian enclave grows in S. Phila: Asians are now 13% of the residents in the Italian Market area
By Gaiutra Bahadur - Inquirer Staff Writer

All around Johnny Tran, cigarettes dangle from lips, and cue sticks click incessantly against trios of billiard balls - two white, one red, as in his native Vietnam.

Down the street, his wife is navigating a maze of aisles at the First Oriental Market, shopping for groceries.

But Tran is perched on a stool at the International Cafe Club - a pool hall that, for three years, has huddled in a corner of a Washington Avenue strip mall, striking a pose of keep-to-itself masculinity much like its patrons.

Football is on the tube. Miami is trouncing Virginia Tech. Through the overhead speakers, a female pop star croons softly in Vietnamese. And behind a counter, coffee drips from two rows of stainless-steel filters into glass cups lined with condensed milk.

The smoky Saturday afternoon scene, a snapshot from earlier this month, could be a postcard from any number of Little Saigons across the East Coast. Here, in South Philadelphia, it is yet one more sign of the establishment of a Southeast Asian ethnic enclave along a drag that, less than a decade ago, some residents called "Ruin Street."

According to the 2000 census, the number of Asians in the neighborhood around the Italian Market tripled, although the overall population there dipped by about 200 people. Most have origins in either Vietnam or China.

Asians now make up 13 percent of the population of the area - bounded by Broad on the west, Front on the east, Christian on the north and Wharton on the south - compared with 4 percent a decade ago. Some Mexican immigrants have also settled in the area.

That shift mirrors a trend apparent in Philadelphia and across the Northeast, with immigrants moving into vacuums created by people who left for the suburbs or the Sunbelt during the 1990s.

For Washington Avenue, the influx has meant a makeover - from a gritty outpost to a car-choked mecca of a marketplace.

Councilman Jim Kenney, a resident of the area and long an advocate for immigration, points to the change in his neighborhood as a model for revitalizing the rest of the city.

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Interesting. I wonder what other areas of the city are seeing similar shofts in their population make-up?

Check out the border of West/South West Philly in University City. 20-25 years ago an Ethiopian couple, Nagitizi and Amare (phonetically spelled) opened up Dahlak. Now, there's a large Ethiopian/West African population. They're really breathing life back into an area that was sliding down SO quickly.

That is the beauty of attracting new and diverse cultures to the city. New perspectives and opportunities always improve the area and the city!

It is a great thing to see new poeple bring their own special touches to neighborhoods.

Thinking of the African presence in West Philly, don't forget the new restaurant at 40th & Chestnut, Fatou & Fama. Haven't tried it out yet, but it's gotten good reviews.

Has anyone tried that restaurant yet?

University city is really cooking, I love that area.

Until 2002 I lived at 7th and Ritner in the Asian area of South Philly. I lived in South Philly, on that block, from 1959 to 2002.

Lunchtrucks, you mean?

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that is a great little area in S.Philly - I call it Vietnamexicalian. I have tried most of the Mexican places (La Taqueria Veracruzana is great) - can anyone recommend a good Vietnamese place? there are a lot but I don't know where to start.