That’s how one of its founders described what appears to be the world’s newest official Filipino Town. Like other locations of its ilk, this one’s blessed with loads of Philippine businesses, markets, restaurants, fast-food outlets, coffee shops, sari-sari stores, a remittance center, and a halo-halo bar. Not to mention, of course, scads of friendly and talkative Filipinos. Unlike the others, however, it’s in the middle of the desert.
Welcome to the recently designated Filipino Town Cultural District in—you guessed it—Las Vegas, Nevada, USA! A town sometimes called Lost Wages because of its irresistible and financially exhausting draw as the earth’s most notorious center for gambling and other well-touted vices. A sparkling glitter town, globally renowned for never locking its doors or dousing its lights.
Along a roughly two-kilometer stretch of Maryland Parkway between Flamingo and Desert Inn Roads, however, lies the new (and somewhat less glitzy) Filipino Town, slated to celebrate its first anniversary in grand style next weekend.
“Yes!” says Ernie Buo, a civil engineer from Northern Mindanao who emigrated to the United States in 1998 and now serves as the Filipino district governing board’s vice president. “It’s not just a place but a movement; a spirit, a celebration of who we are. It’s a way for us to unite and inspire Filipino Americans to share each other’s achievements and empower future generations.”
Ron Sumbang, another board member and 25-year Las Vegas resident, agrees. “We are becoming part of the American culture,” he proudly proclaims. “We are trying to encompass everybody, and the best way to do that is to share.”
In fact, about 51,000 Filipinos live in Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, according to the latest US census figures. Together they comprise 5.6% of those cities’ combined populations, constituting Nevada’s largest and fastest-growing Asian community. As well as making the state one of the more prominent Filipino regions in America.
Only two US cities have previously issued formal declarations naming distinct areas as Filipino towns: Los Angeles in 2002 and New York City in 2022. Several others have less official, yet highly recognizable, Filipino enclaves, including San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, Houston, and Honolulu.
“It’s even more than a movement,” explains Bing Longakit, yet another member of the district’s nine-person board. “Because it mobilizes the Filipino community around a shared identity. It’s a singular unifying force to unite all Filipino Americans living in Las Vegas and, hopefully, the entire state.”
It’s also been a long time coming.
After floating the idea for several years, a tightknit group of Filipino leaders and local advocates organized a community meeting to address the subject in 2024. They spent the rest of that year collaborating with small business owners, residents, and local officials to make it happen. And finally, on April 15, 2025—voila! — the Clark County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved the proposal following a nine-month application process, including a series of town hall meetings and public hearings.
“Filipino Town is historic because it’s about Filipino identity wherever we are in the world,” Philippine Senator Risa Hontiveros—then in Las Vegas for several community events—said six months later at the district’s inaugural launch attended by some 400 people. “Even when we experience homesickness in America for the Philippines,” she continued, “Filipino Town creates a home away from home. Filipino Town is a physical place where our children and grandchildren can get in touch with our heritage and our values as Filipinos.”
Added Clark County Commissioner Tick Segerblom, a fourth-generation Nevadan descended from Mormon pioneers: “Today we are all Filipinos, including me.”
Indeed, a stroll through Seafood City Supermarket on South Maryland Parkway feels like a tour of almost any market in any province of the Philippines. Crowded with customers on a bustling Monday afternoon, the aisles are filled with immigrant families hustling for chicharon, rosquillos, and pilipit. Not to mention rice, pancit, and canned sardines. And, of course, sliced young coconut, longganisa, tocino, bangus, and the foul-smelling durian fruit to which most non-Filipino Americans can’t get close enough to savor.
In the bakery sits pan de sal, pan de coco, cheese rolls, and ube crinkles. And for those who thirst: Royal Tru-Orange, guyabano, or ginger honey tea with ginseng.
“I come here all the time,” says Archemedes Castillo, who emigrated to Las Vegas with her husband last year. A native of Butuan City, her immediate reaction was less than positive. “I didn’t like it,” she admits. “I missed the food and the culture, but I didn’t have a choice; I had to follow my husband.”
The opening of the new Filipino Town, however, has transformed her attitude considerably. “There are lots of Filipinos here,” she says. “I can talk to them, and I feel like I’m still in the Philippines. It makes me more comfortable; I hang out, buy groceries, and eat at Jollibee with friends.”
Jollibee—located directly next to Seafood City and Red Ribbon Bake Shop—has, in fact, become a popular meeting place for local Filipinos. On that same Monday afternoon, it was overflowing with eager immigrants—many of them families—chomping enthusiastically on burgers and fries. One of them was Efenel Barker, an expat born in Surigao City who’d arrived in town just the day before with her British husband and six-year-old daughter.
“I’m not surprised that this is here,” she said. “It makes you feel like there really is a group of people around that you can relate to; that you won’t be an alien. It’s a comfort.”
Adds Naveen Lucenara, 22, a server at the nearby halo-halo stand: “Having a Filipino town makes us more visible. Filipinos feel happy that we’re here.”
And not just Filipinos. “Filipino Town will also help the local tourist community,” insists Sam Maxion, a full-blooded Filipino born in Pittsburg, California. Also known as Slammin’ Sam, Maxion is a popular local disc jockey and founding curator of the DJ Museum in the heart of Filipino Town containing, among other things, a recreational 1980s DJ bedroom; interactive rooms with turntables, keyboards, and large DJ arcade games; archival walls of posters, magazines, and vintage DJ apparel; and a large Vinyl Hall for workshops and special events.
“Having a designated cultural area,” Maxion says, “will spark more interest in finding out what’s going on and being connected with it.”
Just down the street from the museum sits Tiabi Coffee & Waffle, a popular breakfast joint featuring Wafflewiches—the shop’s “signature waffles served sandwich style”—as well as banana peanut butter blendies, honey cream lattes, and, of course, ube lemonade.
“I think it’s great,” server Rena Hallfrisch says of the newly constituted Filipino Town. “I feel like it’s about time!”
Just 26, she’s a US citizen by birth whose American dad and Filipino mom from Cebu recently retired in the Philippines. Having spent part of her childhood there, she speaks Cebuano fluently. And today, she says, it gladdens her heart to once again take part in the culture that shaped her early years. “A lot of Filipinos come in and talk to me,” Hallfrisch says of Tiabi, an acronym for To Inspire and Be Inspired. “I love the Philippines.”
Further down the same street, past Seafood City in the opposite direction, lies a mall called The Boulevard. And among its tenants is El Mercado, a large market featuring a new Philippine wing harboring several sari-sari stores.
“It’s very hot,” is how Mannette Roxas, the proprietor of one of them, describes her new life in Nevada following several years in Southern California. “I miss the ocean. I came here because my sister convinced my husband to come.”
And yet Roxas, originally from Batangas, feels like she’s part of something big. “We want all the Filipinos to feel united,” she asserts. “We want a place where they can see and enjoy some of the things they’re missing.”
Dinah Ilich, in Vegas since 2004 and the owner of another sari-sari store, agrees. “There are lots of Filipinos here,” she brags, “and we are proud to be among them.”
And Flaviana Lindsey—whose shop sells fancy barongs, pictures, and coffee imported from the Philippines—extols the sensation of being at home even though she isn’t. “I feel like I’m in the Philippines,” she exclaims, “even though I live in America.”
All of which has found its way into a Filipino Las Vegas theme song composed by none other than Vice President Buo himself:
In the heart of the desert, a town comes alive
Where our stories meet and our dreams arrive
From Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao
We bring our smiles, our songs, our souls
Colors of history, spirits stand tall
Filipinos in Vegas answering the call
Every step tells a story we share
Every home shows love and care
One culture
One heritage
One people
One family
Here in Filipino Town Las Vegas
Here in Filipino Town Las Vegas
That shared culture is expected to find colorful expression in the official celebration of the district’s first anniversary on Saturday, April 11. An all-day affair scheduled to take place at Mission Center, a retail facility right in the middle of Filipino Town, the event will feature Philippine music, dance, a myriad of exhibitor booths, and a full-throated costumed parade.
“Filipino town Las Vegas was created to be more than a place,” board President Bernie Benito repeats in a press release announcing the event. “In just one year, we have built a space where our culture is visible, our stories are heard, and our community feels empowered and united.”
Which helped inspire a second verse to that catchy Filipino Las Vegas anthem:
Who here are Cebuanos? (Ha!)
Who here are Ilocanos? (Ha!)
Who here are Kapampangans? (Ha!)
Tagalogs? (Ha!)
From Bulacan? (Ha!)
Who here are Batanguenos? (Ha!)
Visayans? (Ha!)
Who here are Warays? (Ha!)
Bicolanos? (Ha!)
One culture
One heritage
Filipino Town Las Vegas
One culture
One heritage
Filipino town Las Vegas
One culture
One heritage
Filipino Town Las Vegas
To which there can be only one fitting rejoinder:
Amen!
Amen!
Amen!
___________
David Haldane is an award-winning American journalist and author with homes in Joshua Tree, California, and Northern Mindanao, Philippines, where he writes a weekly column for The Manila Times. His latest book is Dark Skies: Tales of Turbulence in Paradise. This piece first appeared in The Sunday Times Magazine.
