{"id":6056,"date":"2025-06-22T19:25:12","date_gmt":"2025-06-22T19:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/6056\/"},"modified":"2025-06-22T19:25:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-22T19:25:12","slug":"persians-gather-in-l-a-restaurant-to-find-solace-as-war-spreads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/6056\/","title":{"rendered":"Persians gather in L.A. restaurant to find solace as war spreads"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Late last week, before the U.S. strikes on Iranian<\/a> nuclear targets, Shaheen Samadi sat inside the minimalist dining room of Azizam restaurant in Silver Lake, sipping ceylon tea with cardamom, a drink that reminds him of the tea he grew up drinking.<\/p>\n

Born in Connecticut to parents who immigrated to the United States after the Iranian Revolution in 1979, Samadi moved to L.A. in hopes of connecting with its Persian diaspora community \u2014 the largest in the world outside Iran. Samadi, who describes himself as \u201cyour friendly neighborhood Persian rapper,\u201d has long criticized the Iranian regime in his music. All last week, he has felt terrified and angry as Israel and Iran traded deadly attacks.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, the entire Iranian diaspora community is in this weird phase of fight or flight and crippling anxiety,\u201d said Samadi, sitting near the Azizam counter as servers walked back and forth with plates of barbari bread and khoresht. \u201cWe like to see [the Iranian regime] getting killed. What we do not like is the casualties that come with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Azizam \u2014 which Times restaurant critic Bill Addison recently named one of the 101 best restaurants in California<\/a> \u2014 began hosting complimentary tea and backgammon on its cozy Sunset Boulevard-facing patio in hopes of providing Iranians with a safe space to relax and come together. As Samadi explained, \u201cmost people, their bodies are filled with blood \u2014 with us Persians, it\u2019s tea.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether you are full, half or a fraction, you are still Iranian,\u201d read the restaurant\u2019s Instagram post<\/a> Wednesday. \u201cAzizam was born to celebrate that and our doors are open to all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Local Iranians all week have been finding solace in restaurants like Azizam and neighborhoods such as L.A.\u2019s Tehrangeles, which are providing much-needed spaces to commune with their culture. While many of them fear for their families and friends in Iran, they also have hope that, as Iranian Americans, they can bridge a decades-long divide.<\/p>\n

Sal Mousavi, who visited Azizam for the first time Thursday, said that many of the menu items \u201cremind me of home\u201d and that the event helped him \u201cfocus on something else other than what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

Dice is rolled during a game of backgammon at Azizam. <\/p>\n

\"Aubtin <\/p>\n

Aubtin Heydari said family members were visiting Iran last week and drove 48 hours to safety in Armenia. (Alex Golshani\/For The Times) <\/p>\n

Like many Iranian Americans in L.A., Samadi doesn\u2019t condone the leadership of Iran, which his parents fled the country to escape. But he said that Persians in the United States still remain divided over the escalating conflict between Iran and Israel, and now the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hate to say it, but it doesn\u2019t feel like a community,\u201d Samadi said of the Persian diaspora in L.A. \u201cWe\u2019re not united. We all have very strong opinions about things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since June 13, Israel has launched airstrikes on Iran that have killed at least 657 people<\/a>. Iran immediately retaliated with airstrikes that have killed at least 24 people in Israel, including one that hit a hospital<\/a> in southern Israel on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The United States entered the conflict Saturday with strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities<\/a>, authorized by President Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany Iranians, especially those who are living here in L.A. and are living in diaspora, are deeply dissatisfied with the current regime,\u201d said Peyman Malaz, chief operating officer of the PARS Equality Center in Sherman Oaks, a nonprofit that supports Persian immigrants. \u201cBut of course, war is war \u2026 So what we are hearing from the community is feelings of fear and anxiety, and also uncertainty.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cJust seeing the names of all the neighborhoods that I grew up in \u2026 being bombed. It\u2019s just so surreal. It feels like a dream \u2014 more like a nightmare.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u2014 Adrian, a visitor at Azizam<\/p>\n

Adrian, who declined to give his last name, immigrated to L.A. from Tehran in 2011. He came to Azizam, which he described as a restaurant that serves the \u201cPersian dishes that only your mom makes at home,\u201d for backgammon and an albaloo or sour cherry spritz.<\/p>\n

\"a <\/p>\n

\u201cIn times like these, I want less intellectual debates and more connection with my community,\u201d said Laila Massoudnia. <\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

Tea and backgammon at Azizam. (Alex Golshani\/For The Times) <\/p>\n

\u201cMy mind is very preoccupied, I can barely sleep at night,\u201d said Adrian, who has family living in Tehran. \u201cJust seeing the names of all the neighborhoods that I grew up in \u2026 all these places, they\u2019re being bombed. It\u2019s just so surreal. It feels like a dream \u2014 more like a nightmare.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile in Tehrangeles<\/a> \u2014 the Persian neighborhood in Westwood that became a hub in the \u201980s for immigrants fleeing the Iranian Revolution \u2014 shop owners report feelings of fear among their Persian customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are very worried right now,\u201d said Ali Perkdas, the owner of Super Sun Market, a Persian grocery store that opened its doors more than 20 years ago. \u201c[The Iranian government] cut the internet, so they cannot reach their family or friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

Laila Massoudnia, who recently moved to L.A. from the Bay Area, said that she was struck by the welcoming, supportive communities she found.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf anything, with all the events that have happened in the past week, I\u2019ve seen so much of a united front here, regardless of whatever background we come with,\u201d Massoudnia said. \u201cI didn\u2019t grow up in a community with a lot of Iranians in America, and so just to have that means the world. It doesn\u2019t make me feel alone. And I know a lot of Iranians, internally and externally, are feeling very, very isolated and alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Guests <\/p>\n

\u201cWhether you are full, half or a fraction, you are still Iranian,\u201d Azizam said in an Instagram post. <\/p>\n

(Alex Golshani\/For The Times)<\/p>\n

Many Iranian Americans are hoping for a peaceful resolution abroad. Massoudnia emphasized that Iranians \u2014 a group of people she described as \u201call about love\u201d \u2014 have the same concerns as practically any other American, even in times of war.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one wants to be born in the pathway of missiles and bombs,\u201d Massoudnia said. \u201cThese are people with aspirations, with dreams, with hopes, who wake up every day, go to work every day … want their kids to go to university and become educated \u2026 They have the same exact struggles as every single thought that\u2019s ever passed any American or any other person\u2019s mind.\u201d<\/p>\n