Near the Alexandria Lodge Motel, where a Korean hair salon and a Bangladeshi grocery store sit next to a Latino barbershop, waves of red and green overtook the street Sunday as LA’s Bangladeshi community celebrated the neighborhood’s 15th anniversary.
Friends and strangers met on the 3rd Street corridor to celebrate Little Bangladesh’s birthday and to mark the 55th anniversary of their home country’s independence.
The caravan of cars adorned with U.S. and Bangladeshi flags rolled down the street as energetic Bangladeshi music floated over the roar of a group of motorcycles. The friend group has led the event’s signature car parade for the past several years.
Women in red and green saris and men in long tunics posed for photos with bikers and their neighbors.
“This (celebration) has happened since Little Bangladesh in LA was established,” said M. Abdul Basit, chairman of Banglar Bijoy Bohor, the group organizing the event.
Little Bangladesh in Los Angeles was officially designated in 2010, recognizing a community that began growing in the area in the late 1980s and 1990s.
The parade kicked off the event and moved into a community lunch, where volunteers handed out hundreds of free meals.
“We try to bring all other communities together as well,” parade organizer Mikayeel Khan said. “We also invite city officials and guests from different communities, like the Korean community, Spanish community, Indian community, Pakistani community.”
