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Little India: Indian, South Asian Streets, Shopping and businesses across North America.

GaramChai.com >> Main Bazaar Section >> Little India

‘Little India is an ethnic enclave containing a large population of Indian people within a society where the majority of people are not Indian’ - Wikipedia

Click on the following links for listings in Canada, Singapore, Australia, UK and other parts of the world. Following is  a listing of "Little India"s around the globe In the US:

Devon Avenue, Chicago, IL // Jackson Heights, NY // Oak Tree Road, Edison, NJ // Pioneer Boulevard, Artesia, California // El Camino Real, Santa Clara, Bay Area; California // Chatham Street, Cary, North Carolina // Newark Avenue, Jersey City, NJ // Hillcroft, Houston, Texas // Hicksville, Long Island, New York // Millbourne, PA // Little India in other Countries around the world // Articles featuring Little India in the US

Little India, Indian Street, India Bazaar, India Town are generic names for streets or locales with larger concentration of South Asian shops, bazaars, restaurants botiques and businesses. Though popularly known as ‘Little India’ or Indian Street, these locales are generally an eclectic mix of businesses and entrepreneurs from the Indian subcontinent – Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka -  and not India alone. People of Indian origin, those from Singapore, Malaysia and the African continent enjoy their ‘Little India’ identity in the western society. Named communities tend to endure as we see with Korea Town and China Town  (example: SFO’s Chinatown)  that are known for distinctly ethnic shopping experiences.

Devon Avenue, Chicago, IL: Devon Avenue, caters to the interests of the South Asian community of Chicago and surrounding region (Current census puts the Indo-Pak community around 400,000 in Chicagoland). Sections of Devon Avenue have been given secondary names in honor of the people that inhabit the respective areas. Devon Avenue also goes by the names of Gandhi Marg, Mohammed Ali Jinnah Way, and Golda Meier Blvd. Websites of interest:

  • DevonAvenue.com

  • Here, There, and Everywhere: A Guide to Off the Avenue Indian: Explore the Indian cuisine outside of Devon Avenue: While Devon Avenue may be the epicenter of Chicago’s South Asian community, it’s not the only place to find great Indian and Pakistani food in the city. While Devon serves as both a dining destination and a full-fledged outing, there are times when a good, quick meal is more than enough. Thankfully, there’s an abundance of curries, spicy vegetables, red-tinted tandoori chicken and thick doughy naan outside of that North Side neighborhood. From Hyde Park to Oak Park, from authentic to upscale, there’s no shortage of all things Indian in Chicago, both on and off of the Avenue. You may check out GaramChai.com’s Bazaar and Restaurant sections.

  • Down India Street: Devon Street in Chicago doesn't quite give one a feeling of déjà vu, a transferred memory of the bustling bazaars of Old Delhi or Ranganathan Street in Madras, but it comes close. One marked difference is the lack of roadside hawkers and peddlers with their cacophonic calls, the stray cow or dog pottering around. Maybe even a snake charmer as is the western but mythical view of India. Manmeet Singh, from New Delhi, says "Oye, yaar, you get the desi feeling here. Hindi music, hordes of people on the streets, the congestion, the chaat, the tandoori ... are so attractive." From Rediff.com

Jackson Heights, NY: Jackson Heights in Queens,  New York City is the principal shopping area for South Asians in the New York metropolitan region. Teeming with stores of every kind - saree boutiques, beauty parlors, travel agents, insurance agents, jewelry stores, restaurants, antique outlets, immigration law firms, music shops, mithaiwalallahs and more, this is the place to go. The street between Roosevelt and 37th avenues, which the local merchants’ association have considered naming ‘Little India,’ is a bustling hub of Indian merchandise that draws a large number of the city’s 180,000 Indian Americans regularly. A street in Jackson Heights was also named ‘Kalpana Chawla Way,’ a memorial to the late Indian-American astronaut Kalpana Chawla, who lost her life along with six others in the February 2003 crash of space shuttle Columbia. Websites of interest:

  • A Tour of Jackson Heights: Bollywood in Queens:  Jackson Heights is a great neighborhood for stocking up on Bollywood films and music.Start out right by seeing the feature film at the Palace Theater on 37th Road. Formerly a blue venue, the shabby exterior hides a delightful local theater devoted to Bollywood films. Truly the big screen is the best place to see the whirling all-singing, all-dancing, over-the-top drama of the Hindi movie masalas.
  • Cash and Curry:  In New York's Jackson Heights neighborhood, South Asian shopping and noshing is a naan event. Gillapi, a Bangladeshi dessert, looks like a sad, flattened waffle. But when I bit into one of the golden-hued babies at Alo Sweets & Desserts in Jackson Heights, Queens, I thought I'd been transported to nirvana. It crunched, and then oozed syrup down my wrist. I licked the sweetness off my hand, forgetting I sat at a Formica table with my husband, Callan, my friend Cybele, and Jenine Lurie, a New York City foodie guiding us on a tasting tour of this enclave known for its South Asian food, imports and atmosphere. - WashingtonPost
  • Offbeat New YorkLittle India in Jackson Heights: A Quick Tour of a South Asian Neighborhood.  Exit the Roosevelt Avenue subway station in Jackson Heights.... The first sign of something different is a "sweets shop" whose window displays row upon row of neatly stacked balls and rectangles in pastel pinks, pistachio greens, caramel browns, and coconut whites. In a few more steps it becomes clear: chaos solidifies into a bustling Little India neighborhood where more South Asian immigrants—Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi—live than anywhere else in New York City...By John Roleke.



Oak Tree Road, Edison, NJ: Indian immigrants, especially along the Eastern seaboard, are familiar with Edison, NJ, as the location of Oak Tree Road, the one-stop shopping destination for all things Indian. Between 1990 and 2000, the Indian population in Edison nearly tripled from nearly 6,000 to about 17,000. Links of interest:

Pioneer Boulevard, Artesia, California: About half an hour away from Downtown Los Angeles, right off the Imperial Freeway in Artesia is an enclave of eateries, markets, and stores known as Little India. About 20 years ago the Indo-American community came to Artesia. They found the land very affordable. Now the shops along the north and south of 183rd and 188th on Pioneer Boulevard are for the most part owned by merchants from the Indian subcontinent. Article of Interest:

  • There are many reasons for moving to Southern California. Right up at the top of my list is Little India. What is Little India? It's the second largest ethnic Indian community in the United States, just behind New York City. Little India is located on Pioneer Boulevard in Artesia, roughly between 183rd St. and 187th St. In those four blocks, you have the feeling of being in India-- or as close as possible using a suburban strip mall as a base. ….We spent all day Saturday tramping Pioneer Boulevard. (Wear good walking shoes.) We hadn't planned on staying that long, but we got hooked. Sari stores! Oh, God! I love them! When I was a teenager, I made many of my own clothes. I have a deep and abiding love for handcrafts and textiles. The clothes in these stores! So beautiful! The workmanship, the ornamentation! The variety! You have to see them. The saris, punjabis and other traditional clothes are displayed in racks, as in our familiar Western stores. They can also be displayed hanging from the ceilings and high on the walls. Most stores are packed with goods. You walk into a brilliant rainbow of color and pattern coming from all sides: Rich fabrics. Glitter and gold. Beads. Sequins. Intoxicating!” - Sandy Nathan


El Camino Real, Santa Clara, Bay Area; California: In every city in the crescent ringing the bay from Newark south to San Jose and back up through Palo Alto, Indian populations doubled, tripled or more -- in Sunnyvale they swelled by more than 500 percent -- during the 1990s, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. El Camino Real continues to reflect the needs and interests of the Indo-American community in the region. “Passing through Silicon Valley, El Camino Real is dominated by Asian businesses. But in the stretch through Sunnyvale, home of Lockheed's, and a bit on either side of it is something more than Asian for anyone from South India; it is truly "Little Madras". Cupertino may be "Little China" and Fremont "Little India", with the focus on North Indian business establishments, but when work-focussed South Indian families in the Valley decide to unwind during the weekends, it is to the "Little Madras" stretch of El Camino Real that they head — to shop and dine. "Nalli's" is not always a part of the programme, but the food stores are. The "Nilgiris" franchise might have its shelves with gaping gaps in them, but its video library is packed with Indian films, particularly South Indian ones, to suit every taste. "India Cash Carry" is much more spacious, has far better stocked shelves and freezers, a wider range of Indian kitchenware and even a row dedicated to Sri Lankan kitchen items and processed foods.” [A `Little Madras' here too .... The Hindu]

  • Bold new cuisine of India flavors the South Bay: "The volcanic growth of the South Bay's Asian Indian population during the Silicon Valley boom has meant an explosion of Indian markets and restaurants. New arrivals, many of them highly educated tech workers and their young families here on H1B visas, have brought along the rich profusion of dishes and flavor combinations from India's many regions." - San Francisco Chronicle

  • A Little India Right Here: The Valley’s Indo-American Parents Foster Culture and Spirituality: By 9 a.m. every Sunday morning, Indian women draped in saris glide up San Jose’s Park Avenue, young children in tow, slipping into a building named ‘Sandeepany.’ Sandeepany is a Sanskrit word meaning something which (or someone who) can illuminate others. Parenthood.com

Chatham Street, Cary, North Carolina:   During recent times, Chatham Square in Cary, a nondescript, open-air shopping center near the intersection of Maynard Road has been reborn as a thriving hub of South Asian commerce.Chatham Square is home to other ethnic stores. A Korean grocery and a Mexican restaurant are on the North Lake Street end. But on weekends, the crowds are predominantly South Asian.

  • Cary masala; East Chatham Street, Cary: "In 1998 and 1999 there was a big software boom and the Y2K problem, and companies here hired so many people from India," explains Reddy, who is now happily dividing his 70-hour workweeks between his various businesses. "I opened my store and I convinced other Indian friends to open other businesses. Many people who come here to the market tell me they can't find such things even in big cities like Chicago." - The Independent Weekly, Cary


Newark Avenue, Jersey City, NJ:  According to the 2000 Census, there are more than 20,000 Asian Indians in the Hudson county and nearly 13,000 in Jersey City. Newark Avenue between Kennedy Boulevard and Tonnelle Avenue -- is the center of gravity for Jersey City's vibrant Indian community. It's only a couple of blocks from the Journal Square PATH subway station. A number of grocery, video, electronics, jewelry, and clothing stores supply the needs of the immigrant community. - GET NJ Other links on Little India in Jersey City:

  • Hindu festival in Jersey City expected to draw thousands: Traditionally a nine-day festival, Navratri is celebrated in autumn in honor of the Hindu goddess Durga. The local Indian community usually holds the festival in a temple or hall, but this year organizers will be allowed to close off Newark Avenue between Kennedy Boulevard and Tonnelle Avenue for their event. - HKV.org

  • Mumbai To Midtown, Chaat Hits The Spot - In Jersey City the Little India strip on Newark Avenue is lined with places for chaats and sweets, while only one restaurant serves the rich curries; New York Times

Hillcroft, Houston, Texas:   Located between 59 and Westpark in Hillcroft, this is perhaps the latest of the Little India’s across Northern America  

  • South Asian businesses venture into Houston's suburbs: Masala from Patel Bros. A mangalsutra from Karat 22 Jewelers. A new sari from Sari Sapne. And mithai from Raja Sweets. Clustered along a short stretch of Hillcroft between Westpark and the Southwest Freeway, these four businesses were where most of Houston’s South Asians shopped for the spices, bridal ware, clothing or sweets they couldn’t find at their neighborhood Kroger or strip mall. That was 20 years ago. Today, Little India has grown, attracting Aisha’s Salon & Spa, Mythili’s Beauty Salon and Keemat Grocers, to name just a few.

    They and other businesses that have spilled over into the neighborhood have expanded, and many are following the local South Asian population to the suburbs, opening new locations beyond Hillcroft in Clear Lake, Sugar Land, Katy and Pearland. Many have even started franchising businesses that got their start in Little India. “The community is prospering and spreading all over the greater Houston area,” said Jagdip Ahluwalia, executive director of the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Houston. “Because of the way American life is, we tend to shop in our neighborhoods, and just as major stores have branches, these South Asian businesses are going every which way.” - Houston Chronicle

  • The Gandhi Blocks:Renaming Hillcroft: The same organization that campaigned successfully several years ago to place that statue of Mahatma Gandhi next to the herb garden in Hermann Park is now proposing another Houston honor for the slain spiritual leader. Abc13’s Sonia Azad reports that Houston’s India Cultural Center wants to rename the section of Hillcroft Ave. between Highway 59 and Westpark to Mahatma Gandhi Street.
    Or should that be Mahatma Gandhi Avenue?
  • Check out our listings of Indian Restaurants in Little India, Indian Bazaars and grocery shops in Hillcroft

Hicksville, Long Island, New York: Midpoint on the Long Island Expressway, and with Route 106-107 accessible from all direction,  the Indianization of this all American town, situated in the Hempstead Plains, is taking place, one samosa at a time.Indians are opening stores with an eye on the mainstream — mixing and matching items. Amit Banot is following this strategy at his specialty store, Bombay Gourmet, which has not only Indian gourmet treats like Haldirams, Roopak Spices and Kwality ice-cream, but also olives, chocolates and exotic olive oils and pasta sauces found in mainstream gourmet stores. Interesting article on Hicksville:

  • Hindville: The town of Hicksville in Long Island was an Indian stronghold before the arrival of the pilgrims. Not the desi variety, to be sure, but native American Indians. And now interestingly enough, Indians are reclaiming the town back — the desi ones, this time!- Little India (Magazine)

Millbourne, PA:  The only town in America with a majority Indian population. In the 2000 Census, almost 40 percent of the population of 943 in this unpretentious borough was Indian, the highest in any place in the nation. The next densest Indian concentrations, in Plainsboro Center, N.J., and South Yuba City, Calif., are only about a fifth to a quarter of those towns’ populations, so Millbourne’s place in Indian American lore is likely secure for a few decades yet - Link to Article


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