Spanish a Major Selling Point

The Ukrainian American pawnbroker, Cambodian American restaurateur, African American barber and Armenian American jeweler on Van Nuys Boulevard in Pacoima have at least one thing in common--they all speak Spanish.

Not by choice, they say, but by necessity.

“You have to around here,” said Ukrainian-born Mike Starikov, 41, at Crest Loan & Jewelry Co. as he buzzes a customer through the security gates of his brother’s store near the San Fernando Gardens housing project. “I’d say 90% of the clientele speaks Spanish only.”

Down the street, at L.A. Donut Cafe, owners Rathna Chi and his wife, Ling, sit at a table on a slow business day. He rattles off some Spanish to prove his linguistic skill.

“If you don’t speak Spanish, [many customers] don’t understand anything,” said Chi, who immigrated to the U.S. from Cambodia in 1981. He nodded toward Ling. “My wife doesn’t know much English, but she knows a lot of Spanish.”

The couple and their children not only try to accommodate local residents by learning their language, but they also appeal to their appetites by serving Mexican food.

“My mom’s been making tamales for years,” said Heang Chi, 16, leaning against a counter filled with maple bars and cinnamon rolls.

In front of the StylesVille Barber Shop, which his African American family has owned since 1956, Gregory Faucett talked about communication.

“Spanish is the main thing ‘round and it’s cool to learn their language,” he said, adding that his Spanish is not very good. “A lot of people on both ends, blacks included, they don’t learn, don’t try. Them and us. But if you want to be a businessman here, you’re going to have to learn at least some of it.”

Many praise Faucett for reaching out to the community, among them Los Angeles City Council President Alex Padilla, who grew up in Pacoima, the product of Spanish-speaking parents.

“It certainly makes good business sense in this area,” Padilla said. “I would venture to say that most people are trying to learn English. But it comes with necessity and the reality that there are many places in Los Angeles, like Pacoima, where you can live and shop without any difficulty at all without knowing English.”

The 2000 census backs that up. Three census tracts along Van Nuys Boulevard are at least 90% Latino.

At Crest Loan, Starikov is playing with his 2-month-old Rottweiler, Sleepy, when customer George Garcia from El Salvador walks in. Starikov, who grew up in the Black Sea port of Odessa, speaks to him in Spanish.

Although Garcia speaks respectable English, he defends the thousands who come here but don’t pick it up.

“Many of them just don’t have the time to learn,” said Garcia, who came to California 22 years ago. “They are just so busy working and taking care of their wives and kids.”

But others are not so understanding. At another pawnshop, a Brooklyn-born Puerto Rican customer from Sylmar takes a hard line against the non-English speakers.

“Some of these people have been here 20 years, don’t know 10 English words and still have this big old accent,” Yazmin Linares said. “They just don’t try. Why should they? There is no incentive to learn English. Everything they need in Pacoima is in Spanish.”

At the Pacoima Pawn Center and Jewelry, Harout Artinian, who grew up in Armenia, said 99% of his business is with Spanish speakers.

“My Spanish is getting better every day, but not by choice,” he said. “If I demand [they speak] English, they turn around and walk out. It happens.”

Artinian, who rates his Spanish as “decent,” praised his customers as “polite, hard-working and good people.”

Just about the only time he speaks English at work is with his employees. But they often revert to their native Armenian.

“I spent a good deal of my life learning English, knowing I would need it to succeed, but now I don’t even get a chance to use it at work,” Artinian said.