Anaheim’s Little Arabia is finally getting its freeway signs

Next exit: Little Arabia.

Over the years, Arab American activists and merchants have pushed for freeway signs to give motorists directions to an officially designated ethnic enclave of their own.

During a ceremony held Thursday in Little Arabia, that aspiration inched closer to reality.

After a series of speakers, the city of Anaheim unveiled a life-sized replica of the long-awaited signs that are set to be installed by Caltrans on the 5 and 91 freeways within the next two weeks.

“This is not just an installation of a sign,” said Rashad Al-Dabbagh, executive director of the Arab American Civic Council. “It’s a powerful symbol of recognition, pride and the representation that we have fought so hard to achieve.”

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The freeway signs are arriving more than two years after the Anaheim City Council voted to officially designate Little Arabia along a one-mile stretch of Brookhurst Street between Lincoln Avenue and Ball Road.

Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh Aitken called the unveiling on Thursday an “absolute milestone moment” for the city and its Arab American community.

“In just a few days, we’ll see the actual Little Arabia freeway signs go up,” Aitken said. “We know it cannot happen fast enough.”

Arab American merchants first began revitalizing Brookhurst Street in the 1980s by opening new Middle Eastern restaurants, markets and bakeries.

In 2004, a summit organized by Nahla Kayali, founder and executive director of Access California Services, advocated for Little Arabia’s official designation as one of its key goals in Anaheim.

“It goes back 20 years,” Kayali told TimesOC. “It’s a great moment for our community. We are a thread of the fabric of the United States and we’ve been recognized here in Anaheim.”

To get there, a new generation of Arab Americans took to social media over the past decade to elevate Little Arabia’s profile while continuing to make the case to often reluctant city officials that designation would benefit all of Anaheim.

Al-Dabbagh, one of the new generation of activists, pointed to one of the freeway signs standing at the ceremony and noted it as the vision that motivated him.

“As we looked around, we saw Little Italy, Chinatown, Koreatown, Little Armenia, Little Saigon and Little Ethiopia, all wonderful destinations that represent the rich diversity of Southern California,” he said. “But a space to honor the Arab American community’s contributions, its heritage, its culture, its businesses, was still missing.”

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In January, the Anaheim City Council voted to work with Caltrans on getting the freeway signs for its only officially designated cultural district installed before the end of the year.

By July, more than 100 decorative Little Arabia banners were added to poles along the thoroughfare.

A study of the wider 3.5 mile Brookhurst Street corridor gave a number of recommendations that hint at Little Arabia’s possible future, including public art and the widening its boundaries to encompass long-established businesses and nonprofits.

Until then, the cultural district continues to grow with an eclectic mix of new businesses, including clothing boutiques, jewelry stores and a halal cart.

The in-coming freeway signs are one recommendation from the report that is just around the corner and will point people to all that Little Arabia has to offer.

Nora Hawari, co-owner of Kareem’s Mediterranean, called the signs “emotional” for the family restaurant that her parents first opened in Anaheim in 1996.

“We’re so happy that it’s finally happening,” she said. “With inflation, the last four years have been hard on small businesses. We’re hoping that it’ll drive business, but also give people who haven’t heard of Little Arabia some direction of where we are.”