But at the same time, many of the problems New York experienced assimilating its migrant communities in the early twentieth century, Los Angeles experienced during the late twentieth century. International migrants to LA contributed economically via their labor and entrepreneurialism, and their cultural contributions helped to make LA a more dynamic and globally-connected city than it had been before. In a fashion similar to New York of the early-twentieth century, Los Angeles in the late-twentieth century experienced a sudden burst of international immigration (mostly from Latin America and Asia) that served to redefine the city. But ultimately the immigrants to New York and their American children were responsible for much of the growth of that city through the twentieth century and to this day. As New York was transformed into a global city by its migrant populations, the journey was by no means smooth. Its image is imprinted onto our collective memory as an essential point in the narrative of the American Dream, wherein ‘penniless migrants from Europe pulled themselves up from their bootstraps and made better lives for themselves in the New World.’ But real life early-twentieth century New York was certainly no utopia, its hardships famously represented in the public consciousness via films like The Godfather movie series and books like Jacob Riis’s How the Other Half Lives.
The popular perception of the early twentieth century New York City immigrant “melting pot” is one familiar to many Americans.
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