Rozita V. Lee patted her heart as she spoke about her cherished Filipino roots.

“It’s in here,” she said. “We have beautiful culture. We have beautiful people.”

The Filipino community is thriving in the Las Vegas Valley: they’re health care professionals, educators, business owners and blue-collar workers.

Clark County Filipinos might soon have an official cultural district to call their own.

If approved, “Filipino Town” would be Clark County’s second such district. Last year, commissioners designated Little Ethiopia.

Lee said it also would be the first official Filipino-centered cultural district in the nation.

“We are an integral part of the community: we spend a lot of money, we serve, we are doctors, the nurses, the teachers. We are the workers,” said Lee, who served in the White House advisory commission on Asian American and Pacific Islander communities under former President Barack Obama.

Lee, 90, is spearheading the efforts to turn Filipino Town into reality.

The proposed 1.2-mile corridor on Maryland Parkway — between Desert Inn and Flamingo roads — would be anchored by a Seafood City supermarket where the Filipino community congregates and buys ingredients that shape their delectable dishes.

About 25 Filipino-American-owned businesses are clustered along the path, some of which are within Boulevard Mall, another popular gathering spot for Filipinos.

About 15 percent of tenants of the mall, which supports the creation of the district, are Filipino businesses.

‘Our legacy’

Lee signed the lengthy application in September and pitched her vision to Clark County commissioners earlier this month during a public hearing attended by a plethora of supporters, some of whom dressed in traditional Filipino garb.

Minddie Lloyd said she had attended exciting Filipino-centered events at the Boulevard Mall where “tradition meets innovation” and that the district would help to bolster intercultural connections.

Istorya restaurant owner Walbert Castillo spoke about the Filipino diaspora, and expressed a hopeful tone about the proposed district.

“Filipino Town would be our legacy,” he said. “The Las Vegas legacy.”

Bernie Benito, a Las Vegas Filipino leader, said the community is “instrumental in the shaping of the economic, the political landscape of our city, our country and the great state of Nevada.”

Commission Chairman Tick Segerblom opened his remarks by wishing Lee a happy birthday.

Commissioner William McCurdy II spoke about “amazing vibes” he’s experienced in the neighborhood, noting he would support Filipino Town.

“I think it’s going to be awesome for the community,” he added.

Commissioner Justin Jones asked Lee how to say “yes” in Tagalog, the native tongue in the Philippines.

Audience members shouted the translation as Lee turned back to smile.

A 2019 policy approved by the Clark County Commission established the path for the creation of official cultural districts.

County staff will now coordinate to reach out to business and property owners within the proposed district, said Dan Giraldo, assistant director for Clark County’s administrative services.

The Paradise Town Advisory Board would have to approve the measure before it moves to a final vote at the commission, Giraldo said.

Filipino Town could become a reality as soon as next year.

Growing demographic

More than 200,000 Filipinos call Nevada home, according to the Las Vegas Asian Chamber of Commerce, an explosive growth from the five who were counted during the 1920 U.S. Census, according to Clark County.

Sheriff Rudy Roque Legaspi Oquendo was one of the first known Las Vegas Filipinos in the 1930s.

Las Vegas Municipal Judge Cedric Kerns in 1997 became the first and youngest Filipino-American elected to the court.

Rudy Crisostomo, who died in 2017, designed and hand-crafted early neon signs from iconic Strip casinos, such as Circus Circus, Dunes and the Luxor.

Assemblywoman Erica Mosca is the daughter of a Filipino parent.

Nevada, facing a shortage of health care professionals, began recruiting doctors and nurses from the Philippines in the 1990s.

Clark County saw a “significant number” of Filipinos moving here in the early 2000s, making it one of the nation’s most populous hubs for the populations of that demographic, according to a presentation.

That’s a significant growth from when Lee moved to Las Vegas from her native Hawaii 45 years ago.

Feeling homesick, she would go to the California Hotel, where Asian and Pacific Islander residents gathered to get a taste from home at eateries.

She mingled with different groups in the demographic and has served at Asian American and Pacific Islander-centered organizations and advisory boards.

Lee assisted then-Nevada Gov. Bob Miller, specializing in minority relations, according to her biography with the Filipino American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Nevada, where she serves as senior advisor on government affairs.

In recent years, a street in the southwest valley was named in her honor.

Lee is most passionate about civic engagement among the local Asian American communities, including Filipinos.

“You’re now a citizen of the United States. You’re not a citizen of the Philippines,” Lee said she tells the community.

“Yes, we love our Philippines, and our hometown’s there, but we love America. That’s why we came to settle here, so we can contribute,” she added.

Supermarket changes everything

Lee said Filipinos tend to be “regionalistic,” meaning that they tend to segregate themselves depending on what part of the Philippines they’re from.

“We’re intelligent people, beautiful people, handsome men, talented, but we’re not united when issues come. Why?” she asked.

That began to change when Seafood City opened the doors to its first Las Vegas Valley location in the middle of the proposed cultural district.

Joel Enriquez, president of the Filipino American Chamber of Commerce, said establishing Filipino Town would have a lasting impact, and serve as an inflection point for future businesses the chamber would try to recruit.

Lee met with representatives of more than 50 local Filipino organizations to discuss Filipino Town.

She said she considers her efforts for the district a calling from God.

“There’s a reason for everything, and there’s a season for everything,” Lee said, tapping on a table. “And this is a season for Filipinos.”

Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com.