By Vannie
A couple of years ago back in high school, I attended the National Association of Independent Schools/Student Diversity Leadership Conference in Miami. The purpose of this three to four day conference was to reinforce our racial identities through participating in “privilege” activities and brainstorming ways on how to improve diversity at our schools. Four of us represented our upper-class white school — but by some strange stroke of chance, we came to evenly distribute each race: One black, one Latina, one white, and me. We were divided into different groups; first randomly, then by race. Of course, I had no crisis figuring out where to go. In our Asian caucus, we divvied up charts taped throughout the room for us freely to scribble on stereotypes associated with the names: “Asian dating,” “Asian parents,” and one that stood out to me: “East Coast vs. West Coast Asian-Americans”.
As I was baffled on what that meant, I skipped that poster. At the end when all permanent markers dried out from our verbal rants, I saw that the majority of the comments described East Coast Asians as “ghetto” and poor, who “don’t spend our parents’ money,” while West Coast Asians were materialistic and rich, and “more Americanized”. Since I was born a NYC’er (which I guess automatically makes me a hardcore East Coast Asian-American), I replayed visually the few times I visited Los Angeles and San Francisco; I remembered noticing that many Asian girls on the street did carry Gucci and Prada purses, and the boys were mostly nicely dressed with gelled hair.
But is there really a sub-culture I’m not aware of? If there is, is it due to oh, maybe the siren-inducing obsession with celebrity in plastic Hollywood? I know these are stereotypes, but all stem from some truth. I mean, I can safely assume that there are more Japanese in Los Angeles than New York. Right? What do you think?
About Vannie: I’m a 20-year old Taiwanese-American female residing in New York City. I like to call myself an AAA (Aspiring Asian-American Activist.)
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10 Comments to “East Coast Asians versus West Coast Asians”
eggrollstan wrote:
Eeep…. I'm a Southern Asian.
Posted on 29-Jun-09 at 8:46 pm | Permalink
Kevin Lee wrote:
Good question. As a “west coast asian” who went to boarding school on the east coast, I say there is no difference (at least none that I've seen), but from my experience west coast asians are less “Americanized” simply because there is a greater cultural influence on the west coast. Sure there's a Chinatown in New York, but in California, Asian culture is EVERYWHERE, simply because those who emigrate from Asia tend to settle in California/West Coast.
Posted on 29-Jun-09 at 9:35 pm | Permalink
Amanda Zhang wrote:
As a Chinese American who grew up in the Northeast and then later moved to the Pacific Northwest in her preteen years… I would have to that in my personal experience, Asian Americans on the West Coast seem to be more diverse than the ones on the East Coast. East Coast Asians, regardless of economic status, seem to share common values such as family, education, and discipline. Most seem to have some connection with their roots. On the West Coast, there are Asian Americans who have close roots to their Asian culture – to the point of hanging out with mostly Asians of the same nationality – and then there are Asian Americans who are really Americanized and don't speak the language at all. The latter group tends to also be wealthier, but not all wealthy Asians are Americanized.
But even without race playing into the personalities of people on both coasts, there's still a cultural difference. West Coast people tend to be more open, laid-back, and isolated and East Coast people tend to be more aggressive, ambitious, and worldly. And even along the coasts there are cultural differences. In Seattle, a lot of people dress very casually but, say, in Southern California, people are very conscientious of the way they dress.
Posted on 29-Jun-09 at 11:06 pm | Permalink
jeffat8asians wrote:
I'd say that there definitely is a difference between East Coast Asians and West Coast Asians. I think two previous posts on 8Asians are really relevant here:
John's California Asian American Culture Shock
Ernie's We Eating TV: San Francisco's Anti-Foodie Foodie Show
The comments on John's post are also pretty revealing. I grew up in a heavily Asian-American neighborhood in the Bay Area, and when I went to college on the East Coast, I similarly found the Asian American's on the East Coast to be pretty strange. They didn't “hang” in the same way. The Asian-American kids from Hawaii felt the same way as I did.
To be fair, I would have to say that Asian-American's from the West Coast are pretty diverse. Some are from mostly white neighborhoods, and others from working class multicultural neighborhoods, Ernie describes this second environment pretty well in his post, and I grew up in a similar kind of area. I used to think that the typical Asian-American is a guy like Homie Gus or Big Jon. In fact, during undergrad, I felt that I had a lot more in common with African-American students than with many East Coast Asians there. It's kind of the opposite of the stereotype for West Coast Asians that Vannie mentions, but as I said, the environs people grow up in are diverse. There are a fair number of rich materialistic Asian-Americans on the West Coast, and the handbag thing does ring true for some Asian-Americans and Asians too. I really like NDTitanLady's video on Stereotypical Asians
Vannie's question: Is there are different subculture for West Coast Asians? I'd say yes, and probably not just one, but a number, depending where you grow up. Even here in Silicon Valley, I can see that the Asian-American kids growing up in heavily Asian Cupertino are different from the Asian-American kids I see in my own neighborhood of North East San Jose. Where I live, the Asian-American kids have a much heavier Urban influence, just like Ernie and I did when growing up. After living on the East Coast and coming back again, it's weird to see my own kids grow up in that similar kind of environment.
I'd also have to agree with Kevin that in a lot of places in California, Asian culture is heavily represented and understood. Most everyone of all ethnic groups knows what to do with their shoes when they come into our house, as an example.
Posted on 29-Jun-09 at 11:57 pm | Permalink
johnklin wrote:
@ jeffat8asians – thanks for the reference to my original post and your comments – I thought they were quite insightful.
@Amanda Zhang – I thought your observations were generally pretty spot on. I first noticed the difference of West Coast vs. East Coast Taiwanese Americans when I went on the Love Boat. The West Coast Asians seemed to know each other (i.e. UC Berkeley, UCLA, etc…), seemed to be more social and outgoing,and most of all, “louder.” I think East Coasters (and not just Asians), tend to be a bit more “elitist.”
Posted on 30-Jun-09 at 2:39 am | Permalink
pinoyboy wrote:
I'm Midwestern Asian, am I relevant?
Posted on 30-Jun-09 at 5:16 am | Permalink
jeffat8asians wrote:
You definitely are relevent. To a lot of West Coast Asians, anyone east of the West Coast is an East Coast Asian! I say that only half facetiously.
Posted on 30-Jun-09 at 8:46 am | Permalink
timat8asians wrote:
I grew up on the East Coast, but have lived for the last 19 years on the West Coast. On the East Coast I grew up in a neighborhood with few Asians, and we drove to Chinatown once a month. On the West Coast (in Silicon Valley) you can't go a mile without seeing lots of Asians. So at least the experience is very different, and that of course creates differences in the people. I can't help thinking I would have been a lot more self-confident if I grew up on the West Coast, instead of wondering why I was so different from everyone else on the East Coast. I think you'd have this same issue anywhere else in the country other than the West Coast.
Posted on 30-Jun-09 at 9:38 am | Permalink
William B. Li wrote:
I think the differences you mentioned apply to the upper class Asians on the West Coast. Ive been in NY my whole life and noticed that Asians tend to hang out only with Asians over here. I am also guessing there are a lot more Asians in California and we are more accepted out there.
Posted on 03-Jul-09 at 9:33 pm | Permalink
tf1 wrote:
I grew up and still live on the west coast. I do notice that people in general are very different here versus the east coast. One thing that I notice is that my friends of Asian descent on the west coast is that we have multi cultural backgrounds (most of us Asian and White). Another thing is that a lot of us are of 3rd or 4th generation (I'm 4th) and we seem to be open to different cultures and don't hang out exclusively with Asians. My friends and I have grown up in areas where it was either predominantly White or an equal mix of White and Asian, which I think is a common thing here on the west coast and not so prevalent on the east- of course there are pockets in Koreatown here in L.A. and Chinatown in S.F.. I think that the Asians on the west are very integrated for the most part and I can imagine that it is not the case on the east coast.
I can also see where growing up in an area where Asians are commonplace is quite different than where it is a rarity. I can see that if you grew up on the east coast, you would find a need to be close to people you identify with- My best friend is Caucasian and from Upstate NY and whenever I am there I feel like everyone looks at me as the family's adopted son and I am not even 100% Asian. So I would say that I wouldn't be surprised if there is a clear difference between west and east coast Asians.
I agree with Amanda- I have lived in Portland, Honolulu and Los Angeles and the Asians in the NW are definitely more casual than the ones in Hawaii and Los Angeles where finding an Asian without a Louis, Gucci or Prada is like finding a needle in a haystack. I did receive my first Louis Vuitton wallet at 16 and I'm a guy!
Posted on 13-Jul-09 at 11:21 am | Permalink
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