The largest settled Thai community outside Thailand is to be found in Los Angeles, California. A stretch of blocks in East Hollywood is the home of a plethora of Thai dining and entertainment outlets as well as 70-80,000 ethnic Thais.

The Thai Town community has deeper roots than many other Thai communities in the Western world. Immigration to the US took off after World War 2 and during the height of the Vietnam War from 1965 to 1975 thousands of Thai professionals (especially physicians and nurses) settled in Thai Town. Some of these early migrants have since moved to other areas of LA and during the 1980s and 1990s students and working class Thais came to make up more of the Thai Town community.

At present the hub of Thai restaurants in the area provide work for many working class Thais. The concentration of these Thais in Thai Town has made US authorities identify the area as suffering from some poverty and social isolation due to language barriers and limited access to public services.

Thai Town is full of signs and billboards in the Thai language – which all advertise the entertainment and dining the area offers to the L.A. community at large. One of the most famous venues is the Palms restaurant – home of the Thai Elvis (pictured above).

In close proximity of Thai Town you also find the largest Thai temple in the USA – Wat Thai. This makes the area a focal point for not just L.A. or Californian Thais but also other North American Thais further afield. The people pf Thai Town have succeeded in establishing both a website and a TV channel for their community. Every year Thai Town is host to a large Songkran celebration - equalling or even surpassing the Songkran celebration of Wimbledon in London, UK.

Since the Thai Town community now consists of many second generation or even third generation Thais it has also adapted to its host culture to a degree that may not yet be seen among other more narrow Thai communities around the world. It seems that many Thai Town people are happy to be rid of the codes of decorum so prevalent and necessary in Thailand. Many Americanised Thais have adapted willingly to a more individualistic outlook on life. This also means that visitors should not expect the same openness or friendliness often seen in that other city of Angels, Bangkok – in Los Angeles, Thais will be polite but otherwise exude the behaviour of most big city folk by not being too friendly.

Nevertheless, it seems that Thai Town with its unique concentration of Thais is a major pull for Thai-American couples such as Geoff and Amy of internet fame.

A video of a second generation Thai-American from Thai Town: