Party Recipe: Mix Two Cultures, Serve

The Minnie-Standard neighborhood tossed together its Cambodian and Mexican roots Saturday, and the result was pure American.

The area’s second annual street party drew about 400 people for an afternoon mix of the neighborhood’s predominant cultures.

It was an only-in-America sort of affair: Cambodians chatted in Spanish, Buddhists mingled with Catholics, and children stirred lemon chicken into their refried beans.

“This gives people a chance to hear the other language, to hear different music, to taste some of the different foods,” said Phalen Lim, 22, who spent much of her childhood in the neighborhood before moving to Orange. “At least they get to see each other.”

The festival was conceived as a kind of social experiment for a troubled neighborhood of low incomes and low rents. Only a few years ago, the area was ravaged by the county’s highest crime rate, and gangsters and drug dealers worked unmolested in its alleys. The residents of Cambodian and Mexican descent kept to themselves.

Residents say the neighborhood, bordered by McFadden, Grand, Chestnut and Standard avenues, is changing for the better. The opening of a police substation has helped cut the crime rate. A city government-driven push to encourage landlords to fix up their properties has erased some of the blight.

And the Minnie Street Neighborhood Festival, begun last year, is bringing people together.

“It’s gotten much better here,” said Sandra Rios, a mother of four. “My mother used to tell me not to go in. Now I live here. It’s not nearly as bad as it used to be, with all the gangs.”

The sponsors of the event, which include Cambodian Family Inc., a social services agency, and the city of Santa Ana, raised about $2,500 for food and entertainment. Volunteers and donations provided the rest.

An army of volunteers from outside the neighborhood donated their time, including members of the Coastview Community Church and a National Guard from Ontario.

“We are trying to fill a need wherever we can,” said Kim Woods, a church volunteer. Woods spent part of the day handing out Popsicles to dozens of screaming children.

“Yo quiero! Yo quiero!” cried the kids in Spanish as they crowded around Woods’ freezer. (“I want one! I want one!”)

The revelers witnessed a pageant of dancers and singers pass across a portable stage. Leaders of Buddhist, Catholic and Muslim faiths blessed the occasion. Every announcement was issued forth in Cambodian, English and Spanish.

On the stage, the cultures changed with the blink of an eye.

In short order, a young Latina entertained the crowd with a lively imitation of the late Mexican American icon, Selena, with two Cambodian youngsters singing backup; a brother and sister performed a Mexican quebradita rodeo dance, and three 11-year-olds tossed rose petals as they ducked and pranced to the Cambodian strains of “The Wishing Dance.”