Angeles, "Los Angeles is the Damascus of America." ⁽¹¹⁾ As an aside, it is well within the realm of possibility that Sephardim, albeit  Anusim were in California as early as the 18th century. In an article I wrote, A Matter of Conjecture, there is a quote from Bancroft's California Pastoral, page 370, which states," For a long time there was a prejudice against pork, the people even refusing to use lard in their cooking, confiding themselves to beef fat. Pigs were only fit to make soap of, they thought. Neither did they care to eat bear or sheep flesh (although the Torah permits the eating of sheep-Deut. 45:4); beef alone suited them." Is this another clue to whether or not the early Californians were secret Jews?

 Another instance where Sephardim  (Anusim) were involved was when in 1967 during an archaeological dig carried on at he ruined Royal Chapel site on the site of the Santa Barbara Presidio, a student from the University of California, Santa Barbara, one Janet Karen, a Jewish girl by the way, who while digging in the area of the corner of the chapel sanctuary discovered a complete chicken skeleton from where it had been resting for nearly 200 years.  Being Jewish Janet remembered a rite known as kapparah^,(12) a rite that was performed usually before construction of a dwe-lling.  Question : Were the founding fathers of California in fact Anusim? Names such as Carillo, a prominent Jewish family in Toledo, Spain, Ortega ^(13), another prominent Jewish family from Burgos, and even Fr. Junipero Serra, who founded the Royal Presidio Chapel of Santa Barbara in 1782 was a native of Petra, Mallorca, was of Jewish descent."

Meanwhile the Labatts returned east; those remaining blended in with the rest of the Jewish community. The real emphasis of the Sephardic community wasn't felt until the beginning of the 20th century, the predominant influx  coming from the Ottoman Empire.  They came from Salonica, Egypt, Constantinople ⁽¹⁴⁾ and other points of the Middle East. Not only did these Sephardim have a different culture from their Ashkenazi brethren, but this remained (to an extent) the same within their own culture, primarily because of the distance that separated them from one area to the next. This also caused them to be disorganized, which in turn resulted in the lack of proper religious and educational facilities.

There was an urgent need for a central community direction.  Because of their cultural dif-ferences and customs, the Sephardim did not mix with their Askenazic counterparts. Their food, customs and even their language was totally from the Ashkenazic Yiddish.

The first known Jew to arrive in 20th century Los Angeles was Mordecai Zatoun, a veteran of the Franco-Prussian War of 1871, a native of Algeria. He was an entrepreneur at the Louisiana Purchase Centennial Exposition at St. Louis, Missouri in 1904. ⁽¹⁵⁾ "Papa" as he was affectionately known, along with his daughter Rose arrived in Los Angeles during the closing months of 1904, probably in October or early November. ⁽¹⁶⁾ They were followed by brothers Louis and David Bramy. David married Rose Zeitoun on March 6, 1906 ⁽¹⁷⁾ and their son Roger, delivered by a Dr. LaFoux was the first known Sephardi to be born in Los Angeles on February 14, 1907.

 At the time of their marriage the Bramys resided at 316 West 7^th Street. ⁽¹⁸⁾ Subsequently  the Bramys moved to San Francisco being one of the first 20th century Sephardic immigrant families  to reside there.

 Another early Sephardic arrival was Jacob (Jack) Caraco whose name appeared (along with 900 other supporters) on the honor roll of the first Jewish Federation dated 1912. Those 900 contri-butors to the first campaign of what is now the Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles were drawn from a total Jewish population of 10,000 persons.

 Names like Baruch, Cohen and Levy appeared in the book as well as a listing of a "Portuguese Jewish Colony" which was probably the Avat Shalom Congregation founded in 1912.

Following the arrival of the Zeitouns, Bramys and Caracos, other families - future members of the Los Angeles Sephardic Community began arriving from all points east. Young immigrants such as Marco Tarica, Morris Soriano, Joseph M. Mayo, Jack Notrica, Isadore M. Hattem, Isaac Raphael, Ovadia Haim,