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What is Tehrangeles?

Source: Wikipedia - Tehrangeles is a portmanteau deriving from the combination of Tehran, the capital of Iran, and Los Angeles. 

It is used when referring to the large number (estimates range from 500,000 to 600,000) of former Iranian nationals and their descendants residing in the Los Angeles metropolitan area; it is the largest such population outside of Iran. In common usage, it usually refers to the proportionally larger Persian-American subset of Iranian immigrants, many of whom are second generation citizens. This area is now officially recognized by the City of Los Angeles as "Persian Square". Thanks to the many efforts of residents, business owners and Councilman Paul Koretz's office.

The Persian community in the L.A. area originally centered in the Westwood neighborhood of west Los Angeles, particularly Westwood Boulevard between Pico Boulevard and the UCLA campus, often referred to as Little Persia or Persian Hills/Persian Square. It is between Beverly Hills and West Los Angeles. Immigration to the area increased several-fold due to the events surrounding the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Westwood Boulevard became known for its many Persian shops and restaurants; and the Persian expatriate community of Los Angeles entered all forms of media including magazines, newspapers, radio and television stations.

As the population grew, many Iranians have moved all over Los Angeles, with other large neighborhoods forming in the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Woodland Hills and Encino in the San Fernando Valley and Beverly Hills, California ; the city of Irvine as well throughout Orange County and Persians also made their homes in San Diego and the Palm Springs area (Coachella Valley). The Persian population of Beverly Hills may be as high as 40% of the total population. The vice mayor of Beverly Hills, Jim Delshad, is Iranian-born.

10 Reasons Why L.A. Is the Coolest City on the Planet

Check out the complete Slideshow at QG.com!

Iranian-Americans in L.A.

Source: UCLA - June 6, 2010 to August 22, 2010 -- From October 2009 through January 2010, four documentary photographers—Farhad Parsa, Arash Saedinia, Parisa Taghizadeh, and Ramin Talaie—focused their lenses on second-generation Iranian-Americans of Los Angeles, the world’s largest population of expatriate Iranians. Document: Iranian-Americans in Los Angeles—on view at the Fowler Museum from June 6–Aug. 22, 2010—offers a selection of images by each of these photographers which consider the everyday lives of their subjects. The exhibition also addresses the processes of documentation and how they relate to the photographers’ understandings of their own hyphenated Iranian identities.

The photographs capture the varied lives and interests of LA’s Iranian-American community—from toddlers at play to an acupuncturist in the office of her Los Feliz practice, from a young man break dancing to a young woman at prayer. There are also a few recognizable figures such as public intellectual Reza Aslan and comedian Maz Jobrani.

"In cultivating this collaborative project, I wanted to examine documentation as a representational process by offering four Iranian-American photographers' perspectives on who we are, stressing the importance of including multiple voices in documenting our own Los Angeles communities," says guest curator Amy Malek.

About the Photographers:

Farhad Parsa received a BFA in Photography and Film Production from the California College of Art in 2000. In 2007 he released his first photography book, Cue the Strings, filled with ten years of photographs exploring the people and events that shaped his life. Also in 2007, he began 1234 NYC, a ten-year project focusing on forty New Yorkers, including students, small business owners, and workers in creative industries.

Arash Saedinia was born in Esfahan and raised in Los Angeles. He earned a bachelor's degree in Peace and Conflict Studies and Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley, a master's degree in English at California State University, Northridge, and a law degree from Harvard University. He is an artist and educator.

Parisa Taghizadeh is a freelance photographer based in Los Angeles. She grew up in London where she completed a BA Hons degree in Fine Art and went on to work in film and television. She has worked as a photographer for arts organizations such as Artangel and the Serpentine Gallery, as well as on numerous films and documentaries including Michael Winterbottom's, In this World. Taghizadeh’s work deals with personal and cultural identity, such as in Make-Up, Iran, a long-term project dealing with women living in Iran and their relationship to make-up and its rituals. She is also working on Mother, a series of portraits of mothers without their children.

Ramin Talaie is a documentary photojournalist whose work ranges from everyday portraiture in the streets of New York to AIDS-infected and chemical-dependant prisoners in a dilapidated treatment facility in Tehran. Talaie has covered various presidential campaigns including the 2008 presidential election of Barack Obama and the 2009 contested elections in Iran, which precipitated deadly protests and demonstrations. He is the founding editor of Document Iran Images, a news and stock photo agency based in New York City.

More Information: Document: Iranian-Americans in Los Angeles has been organized by Amy Malek, UCLA Anthropology Ph.D candidate, with Susan Slyomovics, faculty advisor, under the auspices of the G.E. von Grunebaum Center for Near Eastern Studies (CNES) at UCLA and through generous funding from the UCLA Council on Research (COR), UCLA Center for Community Partnerships (CCP), the Farhang Foundation, and CNES. The exhibition will be on view in the Goldenberg Galleria.

The Fowler Museum at UCLA is one of the country’s most respected institutions devoted to exploring the arts and cultures of Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and the Americas. The Fowler is open Wednesdays through Sundays, from noon to 5 p.m.; and on Thursdays, from noon until 8 p.m. The museum is closed Mondays and Tuesdays. The Fowler Museum, part of UCLA Arts, is located in the north part of the UCLA campus. Admission is free. Parking is available for a maximum of $10 in Lot 4. For more information, the public may call 310/825-4361 or visit fowler.ucla.edu.

Related Program:
Sunday, June 6, 12–6 pm
Opening Day Programs
Document: Iranian Americans in Los Angeles
A panel of scholars will discuss issues relating to the Iranian diaspora and visual anthropology. Next, exhibition curator Amy Malek is joined by the four documentary photographers whose work is featured in the exhibition—Farhad Parsa, Arash Saedinia, Parisa Taghizadeh, and Ramin Talaie—who will discuss their experiences documenting the everyday lives of second-generation Iranian Americans in Los Angeles. A gallery tour with Malek and a reception follow. Please check fowler.ucla.edu for a detailed schedule. 

Sting And Trudie Styler Talk Rainforest And Eco-Living

Source: ecorazzi - 21 years ago, how many people were actually aware of what was and continues to go down in the Brazilian rainforest? Exactly!  Most of us had no clue about the sheer destruction caused by deforestation because it wasn’t occurring in our backyard and the media rarely educated us.

In 1989, Sting and his wife Trudie Styler first learned about this important issue and decided to take action. The couple was so moved by the plight of indigenous tribes that they established the Rainforest Foundation in an effort to raise funds to enable indigenous Kayapo Indian tribes to map and protect their territories and obtain basic human rights and legal protection from big industry.

One of the main ways that Trudie and Sting continue to achieve the financing goals for their foundation is by holding a yearly Rainforest Benefit Concert at New York City’s Carnegie Hall, which this time around featured musical performances from Lady Gaga, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Mary J. Blige, Debbie Harry, Nile Rogers, Shirley Bassey…and naturally, the former Police front man himself.

Ms. Styler recently sat down with Katie Couric and said that although they’ve managed to raise close to $30 million to date, sadly it isn’t enough to protect tribes from the destruction triggered when huge corporations like Chevron stake their claim.  Still, Trudie feels proud that she and her husband are making a concerted and consistent effort to make a tangible difference, not only by running their charity, but by taking other steps to offset their acknowledged “massive carbon footprints.”

The Next Four Years (Video)