Little Arabia’s new mural says ‘welcome.’ The invitation is hard to miss

“Welcome to Little Arabia.”

Bursts of blue, green and orange splashed across the exterior face of a meat market announce the destination and, for those who slow down to appreciate, something more.

“From a distance, it just says ‘Little Arabia.’ It looks ordinary,” said Amin Nash, policy and advocacy coordinator for the Anaheim-based Arab American Civic Council. “But then the idea was to invite people to park and look at the different designs and they’ll pick out little things throughout the whole mural.”

“It reflects how Little Arabia is,” Nash said.

Nash, along with city leaders and community members, gathered in West Anaheim’s Little Arabia on Friday, April 3, to celebrate the recently finished mural at Brookhurst Street and West Orange Avenue and to kick off the start of Arab American Heritage Month.

After more than a decade of grassroots organizing, including by the civic council, the Anaheim City Council officially recognized in 2022 the Little Arabia district, which follows Brookhurst Street from Broadway to Ball Road, west of the 5 Freeway. The district is the first of its kind in the country, home to the densest enclave of Arab Americans in Orange County and more than 100 Arab and Middle East/North African businesses.

“There are so many individuals that have fought for this area for years,” Councilmember Carlos Leon said, whose district includes Little Arabia. “And this is just another step in the progress here on Brookhurst, another step in the continued representation of the community.”

‘It reflects how Little Arabia is’

The mural is the product of many collaborations: the civic council, local business owners and artists and more than 30 Magnolia High School students. It was also supported by a California Humanities grant.

Over several months, the students, led by art teacher Vanessa Fogelquist, spray-painted the artwork onto Al-Karmel Meat & Bakery. But the most rewarding part of the project, high school senior Angela Nguyen said, was getting to know Little Arabia.

“This is a community that goes under the radar for some people. Although I live around the area, I wasn’t too familiar with it,” Nguyen said.

Inside the classroom, students learned about Little Arabia and Arab American history. Outside of the classroom, they went on walking tours of the area, also visiting other cultural enclaves nearby, including Little Saigon and Los Angeles’s Little Tokyo.

“I drive by these stores every single day and for me,” Nguyen said, “going on that tour was one of the first times that I really immersed myself in this community.”

Students fed what they learned into the mural’s draft concepts. Artists Joshua Flores and Giesi Amaya integrated those ideas into the final product.

“One of the things I put in my design was the highways and roads,” Nguyen said, paying homage to Little Arabia signs installed in 2024 on the 5 and 91 freeway to recognize and point drivers to the area. Nguyen was also the mind behind the mural’s postcard style, and its setting against the Santa Ana Mountains and a California sunset.

And there are countless clues hidden in the artwork that tell a story about the people who’ve inspired it.

Within the “R,” there’s a woman leaning on a stack of books, a collection inspired by a local bookstore in Little Arabia that sells Arabic language titles.

The steam rising from the poured Arab coffee in the middle “A” spells out “karam” or generosity. It’s a message also reflected in the following letter, where scenes of food preparation (in a traditional oven) give a nod to “community labor, care and nourishment,” Nash said.

There’s plenty more. But that’s for Little Arabia’s visitors to discern.

“Come to eat new food, meet new people, learn the language and learn about the community,” Nash said. “Welcome to Little Arabia.”