The first Armenian Apostolic parish was established in Fresno at Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church.   Other Armenian churches established in Fresno were the First Armenian Evangelical Presbyterian Church in 1897, which was the first Armenian ethnic church of any denomination in California; it was organized after Armenians attending the Congregational Church were kicked out in 1895.  The Armenian Evangelical Pilgrim Congregational Church, established in 1902, was the second Armenian ethnic church of any denomination in California.  The Armenian Full Gospel Church of God was established in Fresno in 1912 by the Reverend Vartan Moomjian.

Some of the second- and third-generation Armenians left the Fresno community and resettled in Los Angeles.  The new wave of Armenian immigration was directed towards California and especially Los Angeles.    Thus, Los Angeles has attracted both native-born Armenians from Fresno and from the Eastern states, as well as recent immigrants from a few Middle Eastern countries and the Soviet Union.  Los Angeles is now one of the most ethnically diverse Armenian centers in the world.

The Size of the Armenian Community in Southern California

According to Archbishop Hovnan Derderian of the Armenian Church of North America in May 2007, there are some 450,000 Armenians in the Los Angeles area (compared to an estimated 550,000 Jews); and as primate of his church's Western Diocese, encompassing 14 states, he leads a flock of 800,000.  However, according to the 2000 Census, there were only 138,015 Armenian language speakers in Los Angeles County (this includes East Hollywood, the San Fernando Valley, Glendale, Pasadena, etc., where most Armenians are located).   In addition, there are many people of Armenian ancestry who do not speak Armenian today who are descendents of Armenians who immigrated to the U.S. in the 1920s and later.

The Armenians of East Hollywood tend to be Russian Armenians, with certain cultural characteristics resulting from their experience of living for 70 years under a Communist system.  Iranian Armenians tend to live in Glendale and have their own social and economic networks.  The Armenian community of Pasadena tends to be strongly of Middle Eastern origin.

The Little Armenian Community in East Hollywood

Little Armenia is defined by the Los Angeles City Council as "the area bounded on the north by Hollywood Blvd between the 101 Freeway and Vermont Ave, on the east by Vermont Avenue from Hollywood Blvd to Santa Monica Blvd, on the south by Santa Monica Blvd between Vermont Ave and the 101 Freeway and on the west by the 101 Freeway from Santa Monica Blvd to Hollywood Blvd". (Adopted on 6 October 2000.)^[1]

Its name comes from the large number of Armenian-Americans that live in the area and also from the large number of Armenian stores and businesses that had already opened in the neighborhood by the early 1990's. Prior to this time, the neighborhood was known as being a rather seedy one, known for street prostitution, cheap bars, and drug sales. All of these still exist in the area, but to a significantly lesser extent, due to the efforts of the Armenian community and the city government of Los Angeles. Also, gentrification is beginning to spill over into East Hollywood due to its proximity to Los Feliz and Silver Lake, especially in the parts closest to those areas.

St. Garabed Armenian Apostolic Church is an Armenian church that is located inside Little Armenia.  St. Garabed church is the place of prayer for the vast majority of Armenians living in Hollywood. It is located on Alexandria Avenue and it was built in 1978. The church is located front of the Rose and Alex Pilibos Armenian School.  Little Armenia's only public park is Barnsdall Art Park, which includes the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Hollyhock House and a city-run arts center built in 1919-1921. The park, located on small but scenic Olive Hill, was donated to the city of Los Angeles by oil heiress Aline Barnsdall.

One of the major event that occurs in "Little Armenia" is every year on April 24, when Armenians gather in Hollywood to take part in a protest for the recognition of Armenian Genocide.   According to the Armenians, backed by predominant historical analysis, between 1915 and 1923, Turkey killed 1.5 million Armenian civilians in a planned genocide.  Turkey maintains that some 300,000 Armenians died, but that an equal number of Turks perished, and that both sides were victims of chaotic wartime conditions, disease and famine, not a predetermined extermination.  Turks refer to the wartime slaughter by the Arabic word mukapele, which Sensoy translated during a phone interview as "mutual massacre."

Year after year, Armenian Americans have commemorated the beginning of the slaughter by demanding that modern Turkey formally acknowledge the persecutions and deaths of their ancestors as the Armenian Genocide.  Just as consistently, the Ankara government has refused.

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Armenian Cleric Visits Pasadena, Spreads Faith's Traditions (October 2007)

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Armenian Churches in Southern California

Armenia is a country with a more than two-thousand year history.  Christianity became the state religion in 301 CE, the Kingdom of Armenia being the first state to adopt Christianity.  Distinctively, the Armenian Apostolic Church accepted only the earliest Christian doctrines.  In the nineteenth century, European and American missionizing led to the formation of the Armenian Protestant Church and the Armenian Catholic Church.

There are a variety of religious traditions among Armenians in the Los Angeles area:  Apostolic, Prelacy (Dashnak, anti-Soviet), Diocese (non-Dashnak, accepted Soviet rule of Armenia), Roman Catholic, Protestant and Jehovah's Witnesses (Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of New York).

Armenian Brotherhood Bible Church History

As the Armenian Evangelical Church was born out of the Mother Church (the Armenian Orthodox Apostolic Church), likewise the Armenian Brotherhood Church was born out of the Armenian Evangelical Church.

In the beginning of the twentieth century, some of the suburbs of Cilicia as Harpert, Marash, Hasan Bay, Aintab, and Adana, had seen strong spiritual awakenings, where numerous persons repented and committed themselves to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Having the desire for a warm spiritual environment, they joined the group that sprang out of the Evangelical Church, which was having unofficial meetings and which had similar concerns. This group was being known as Brotherhood fellowship.

The Genocide did not permit this group to prosper in Cilicia. After the massacres, the remnant of the Armenian people migrated to the Middle East and settled in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt. Those who migrated to Europe, mainly settled in Greece and France.

Among those who settled in these countries, there were initiator spiritual brothers who, with the help of God, began similar meetings first at homes and later in rented halls, and finally, when the number of the constituency increased, and the monetary means allowed, they began to move into church buildings.

Among those who migrated to Aleppo, Syria, were Brothers Abraham Seferian, Minas Bozoklian and Mihran Kasardjian. They gathered people together and began to have unofficial home Bible studies. There were a mixed group of people who were born again, from the three denominations (i.e., Orthodox, Catholic and Evangelical). In time this group became larger and took more official status, and finally it was named as the Spiritual Brotherhood Church. Due this course movement spread into other countries, although in different names as Armenian Evangelical Brotherhood Church, Armenian Brotherhood Bible Church, etc.

Numerous Brotherhood Churches were established in the Middle East: Beirut, Damascus, Baghdad, Tehran, Cairo, Alexandria. In Europe: Valance, Paris, Athens. And in South America: Buenos Aires, Cordoba, Sao Paulo, and Montevideo.

The brothers who migrated to North America, established churches in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Detroit, Chicago, Fresno, Los Angeles, and Pasadena.

The founder of the Pasadena Armenian Brotherhood Bible Church was Rev. Ephlatone E. Elmajian, who after retiring in 1960's, transferred the work to Rev. Vahram Tourian.