The New Face Of LA
01/17/2008
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I've been having a hard time getting across the idea that the Hispanic surge of immigration into Los Angeles is so 20th Century. It's just too expensive now, so the Mexicans are heading to places like Kentucky. Here in LA, the new guys in town are ... well, it's hard to describe exactly who they are since we don't have any generic terms for them: they're East European / West Asian and ready to deal. One way to get an idea is too look at this picture of the two men in Britney Spears's life these days, boyfriend / paparazzi Adnan Ghalib (in white shirt) and vaguely-defined hanger-on Sam Lufti (in blue shirt), riding an outdoor escalator on Ventura Blvd. with Britney, who is wearing what appears to be her wedding dress.

Apparently, Adnan was born in Afghanistan, while Sam was born in LA. I have no idea what each one's ethnicity is, but they are pretty representative of who you see on Ventura Blvd.

In LA, the New People aren't generally generic Muslims — I seldom see women in burkhas or similar. Instead, they are often from exotic mercantile minorities in Muslim lands so they are culturally prepared to hit the ground hustling.

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