CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE The Invisible Town: A Spatial Comparison of Historic Filipinotown and its Cultural Symbols A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Master of Science in Geographic Information Science By Kenneth Banares August 2018 Copyright by Kenneth Banares 2018 ii This thesis of Kenneth Banares is approved: ___________________________________________ ____________________ Dr. Steve Graves Date ___________________________________________ ____________________ Dr. James Craine Date ___________________________________________ ____________________ Dr. Ron Davidson, Chair Date California State University, Northridge iii Acknowledgements I would like to thank the California State University, Northridge Department of Geography and Environmental Studies for allowing me to follow my passion and love for Geography. Without you, I would be nowhere. Dr. Steve Graves and Dr. James Craine, thank you for agreeing to be a part of my thesis committee. Also, I would like to give a special thanks to my chair, Dr. Ron Davidson for helping me find a thesis topic that not only interests me, but also taught me a lot about myself. To my friends and family that was there for me, your loving support and encouragement gave me the strength to go on and pursue a degree that I was born to complete. iv Dedication This thesis is dedicated to all my friends and family. Also, I dedicate this thesis to my late grandma, Carolina Panlilio Lingat. Without her, I would not have been the man I am today. No words can express how much I miss you. You were the foundation to our whole family. Love you Lola. v Table of Contents Signature Page ................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ iv Dedication ........................................................................................................................... v List of Figures .................................................................................................................. viii List of Tables ..................................................................................................................... ix Abstract ............................................................................................................................... x Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background ............................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Significance of Study ................................................................................................ 2 1.3 Research Question and Hypothesis ........................................................................... 3 1.4 Study Area ................................................................................................................. 4 Chapter 2: Literature Review ............................................................................................ 10 2.1 Religion and Language of Filipinos ........................................................................ 10 2.2 Filipino Immigration to the United States ............................................................... 11 2.3 Filipinos by the Numbers ........................................................................................ 15 2.4 History of Historic Filipinotown and Other Filipino Enclaves ............................... 17 2.5 Invisibleness of Filipino Americans ........................................................................ 21 Chapter 3: Data and Methods ............................................................................................ 25 3.1 Data ......................................................................................................................... 25 3.2 Methods/Analysis .................................................................................................... 26 3.2.1 Descriptive Statistics ........................................................................................ 27 3.2.2 Determining Symbols by Language................................................................. 27 3.2.3 Determining Symbols by Type. ....................................................................... 27 3.2.4 Chi-Square ....................................................................................................... 28 3.2.5 Kernel Density ................................................................................................. 30 Chapter 4: Results ............................................................................................................. 31 4.1 General Statistics of All Enclaves ........................................................................... 31 4.2 Cultural Symbols by the Numbers .......................................................................... 34 4.2.1 Cultural Symbols by Language ........................................................................ 35 4.2.2 Cultural Symbols by Type ............................................................................... 38 4.2.3 Cultural Symbols by Language and Type ........................................................ 43 4.3 Equality of Cultural Symbols within Ethnic Enclaves ............................................ 48 4.4 Distribution of Cultural Symbols ............................................................................ 48 4.4.1 Symbol Distribution in Historic Filipinotown ................................................. 48 4.4.2 Symbol Distribution in Chinatown .................................................................. 50 vi 4.4.3 Symbol Distribution in Koreatown .................................................................. 51 Chapter 5: Discussion ....................................................................................................... 53 5.1 Historic Filipinotown as a Failed Ethnic Enclave ............................................... 53 5.2 Limitations .......................................................................................................... 60 Chapter 6: Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 62 References ..........................................................................................................................64 Appendix A – Examples of Cultural Symbols by Language and Enclave ........................68 vii List of Figures Figure 1: Study Area – Historic Filipinotown, Chinatown, and Koreatown ...................... 6 Figure 2: Study Area #1 – Historic Filipinotown ............................................................... 7 Figure 3: Study Area #2 - Chinatown ................................................................................. 8 Figure 4: Study Area #3 - Koreatown ................................................................................. 9 Figure 5: Examples of Cultural Symbols’ Type when a Place has Multiple Signs .......... 28 Figure 6: Chi-Square Goodness of Fit Test ..................................................................... 29 Figure 7: Kernel Density Formula .................................................................................... 30 Figure 8: Cultural Symbols in Historic Filipinotown ....................................................... 32 Figure 9: Cultural Symbols in Chinatown ........................................................................ 33 Figure 10: Cultural Symbols in Koreatown ...................................................................... 34 Figure 11: Examples of Cultural Symbols in Historic Filipinotown ................................ 41 Figure 12: Examples of Cultural Symbols in Chinatown ................................................. 42 Figure 13: Examples of Cultural Symbols in Koreatown ................................................. 43 Figure 14: Promotion of Chinatown by Banners .............................................................. 46 Figure 15: Kernel Density of Historic Filipinotown‘s Cultural Symbols ......................... 49 Figure 16: Chinatown’s Street Sign .................................................................................. 50 Figure 17: Kernel Density of Chinatown’s Cultural Symbols .......................................... 51 Figure 18: Koreatown Sign ............................................................................................... 52 Figure 19: Kernel Denisty of Koreatown’s Cultural Symbols .......................................... 52 viii List of Tables Table 1: 2010 Filipino/Filipino American Population in the United States ..................... 15 Table 2: 2010 Filipino/Filipino American Population in California Counties ................. 16 Table 3: General Statistics of All Enclaves ...................................................................... 31 Table 4: Numbers and Percentages of Cultural Symbols by Language ............................ 35 Table 5: Numbers and Percentages of Cultural Symbols by Type ................................... 39 Table 6: Numbers and Perenctages of Cultural Symbols by Language and Type (All Enclaves) ........................................................................................................................... 44 Table 7: Numbers