Little Persia

Little Persia?

I was walking on East 30th Street, between Fifth Avenue and Madison Avenue. These are some Persian carpet stores. There's a Persian restaurant called Ravagh (http://www.ravaghrestaurant.com). So I asked the owner: "Is this street called Little Persia?"

He said no, but he thought it was a great idea and it would help business. He'd write to the mayor! (Hey, I'm supposed to report these things! I can't make them up!)

There is one citation for a "Little Persia" on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. A "Little Persia" exists on Westwood Boulevard in Los Angeles. There's no reason why New York can't have one. Or more than one.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/monkshould/Brooklyn.htm
The split personality of Valerie Frankel's A Body to Die For (Pocket, 1995) is evident from the very first sentence, which finds Wanda Mallory on the Brookly Heights "Promenade," staring at and thinking about Manhattan. (...):

...[s]mack in the middle of Atlantic Avenue's Little Persia (where to go to find Arab grocers and Koran reading rooms), the center loomed largely between a curio shop and a spice store.