This flag design was proposed by Ricardo Tomasz. It is designed to represent Los Angeles’ diversity, particularly in the culinary arts. The blue streams are meant to represent the optimistic sunrise that many new citizens feel upon arriving on Los Angeles’ shores. The X in black is meant to represent a final destination, while the tops are flared in order to create a similarity to chopsticks, representing the diverse nature of Los Angeles cuisine.

While the cuisines of many cultures have taken root in Los Angeles, it is the home of the Cobb Salad, invented in the Brown Derby restaurant in Hollywood, the French-Dip sandwich, originated early in the 20th Century by either Cole’s Pacific Electric Buffet or Phillippe’s—both of which still exist downtown, the ice blended coffee drink by Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and Original Tommy’s Hamburger. The strength of the city’s scene is in “ethnic” dining and it is considered to be one of the most dynamic scenes in the world in terms of range and depth. Los Angeles has an enormous variety of restaurants. In its predominantly African American neighborhoods are soul food restaurants such as Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles. According to Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Los Angeles “remains the United States’s preeminent city to eat regional Mexican food.”^[7]

Given its close proximity to Asia and constant flow of Asian immigrants, Asian food has the largest foothold in Los Angeles after Mexican cuisine. Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Thai restaurants are extremely common place. Japanese food in particular is a staple of Los Angeles’ haute cuisine scene with places like Urasawa in Beverly Hills, Nobu in Malibu and Koi in Hollywood. The city of Torrance, with its huge Asian-American population, seems to have the largest concentration of Asian restaurants while the city of Glendale, has the among highest concentration of Persian restaurants in the country. California-styled cuisine is considered to be highly influenced by Asian seafood, as well as by Mediterranean cooking. Even more prevalent than Asian food is Mexican and other Hispanic cuisines.

Why Flags Matter

Why Los Angeles Needs A New Flag

As was stated in the recent online petition:

There is no doubt that we are one of the greatest, most influential cities in the world. Wired Magazine recently named us the “#1 City of Tomorrow,” and even the New York Times admitted, “Los Angeles is enjoying a renaissance with a burgeoning art, fashion and food scene that has become irresistible to the culturally attuned.” But the one thing we’re missing, the one thing every great city deserves, is a great flag. Our current flag is neither recognizable, nor symbolic, nor representative of us, as a city or as Angelenos. Most people don’t even know it, and because they don’t know it, they don’t fly it.

Sign the online petition and click below to purchase a memento of your favorite design.