PEOPLE POWERING MALL'S GROWTH, OUTLOOK EAGLE ROCK PLAZA REINVENTED AS HUB FOR FILIPINO-AMERICANS.

Byline: EUGENE TONG Staff Writer

EAGLE ROCK -- Lourdes Saroopdas was shopping at Eagle Rock Plaza recently when a kiosk hawking music and movies from her native Philippines caught her eye.

``When I came (to the United States) in 1986, I didn't think it would be like this,'' said Saroopdas, 60, as a clerk at Pinoy Blockbuster rang up her purchase. ``It's gorgeous. Everything you want from the Philippines is already here. It feels good.''

The 457,000-square-foot shopping center -- sold by the Westfield Group in May to Santa Monica-based Centro Watt for $57 million -- has been reinvented as a thriving commercial hub for local Filipino-Americans.

A full-service supermarket -- Seafood City -- opened just over a month ago and offers live seafood and ethnic specialties such as ube, a purple yam. It anchors the mall with mainstream retailers Macy's and Target.

Of the more than 220,000 residents in Eagle Rock and Glendale, at least 20,000 are Filipino-Americans, according to the 2000 Census and local estimates. That rivals Panorama City and old Historic Filipinotown northwest of downtown Los Angeles.

Filipino-Americans have resided in L.A. since the 1920s in the downtown enclave -- a corner of the city nonwhites could rent at the time. But subsequent waves arriving since the 1960s -- many of them English-speaking professionals trained in nursing or managerial work -- have chosen to settle in the suburbs.

The growing size and economic clout of Filipino-Americans has revived a sleepy mall developed in the 1970s that never quite fit the image of an eclectic Mayberry some locals saw in their neighborhood. The mall had languished since the late 1990s when anchor Montgomery Ward was shuttered.

``This is a good place,'' said Edwin Barruela, 45, of Arleta as he relaxed at the mall with his co-workers next to a stall draped with the Philippines flag. ``It brings all the community together. It's like it's busy.''

Filipino-Americans nationwide commanded $15 billion in buying power, with a median income of $46,698, according to the 2000 Census. And an annual survey of minority buying power by the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia found spending by Asian-Americans nationwide reached $427 billion. The survey, released in September, found that about 33 percent of that total -- or $140.5 billion -- was spent in California.

Mitchell Brown, vice president of marketing for Centro Watt, said Westfield laid the groundwork for the shopping center's transformation more than a year ago when it began recruiting tenants catering to Filipino-Americans.

While the Australia-based mall operator spruced up Westfield Topanga with high-end retailers such as Neiman Marcus and Armani Exchange, for this plaza it signed a remittance center, restaurants and fashion outlets straight from Manila -- and Seafood City, part of a chain of 13 Filipino-owned grocery stores.

``How people try to tweak their investment portfolio, that's how people work with shopping centers,'' Brown said. ``You try to stay up to date with the market.

``We've seen a little better than 30 percent increase in the traffic since Seafood City opened. That says to us we're on the right track.''

Goldilocks Bakeshop, a chain catering to Filipinos with specialty breads, meat pies and sweets, opened a store at the mall last year, its third in L.A. It now shares floor space with Jollibee, a Philippines-based fast-food chain, and Chowking, a Filipino take on Chinese food.

``We saw an opportunity we couldn't pass up,'' said Tim Lacsamana, marketing coordinator for Goldilocks of Southern California. ``It's kind of in the middle of everything. It would just help us service the Filipinos that would have to drive miles to get to Panorama (City) or L.A.''

Ruby de Vera, president of the Filipino-American Business Association of Glendale, said the local community has prospered and is becoming more engaged in civic life. Recently, the city of Glendale appointed Filipino-American Grace Walker to its Commission on the Status of Women.

``The community is more empowered,'' de Vera said. ``They're more involved politically. The first wave, we were all about keeping our jobs and making it work.''

As for the mall's future, Brown said it'll be determined by the needs of the community -- Filipino or otherwise.

``You'll see the merchandise mix change to be more reflective of the market you see today.''

eugene.tong(at)dailynews.com

[phone]

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Clerk Anna Marie Enriquez helps customer Jeanette Balacuit shop for Filipino DVDs at Pinoy Blockbuster in the Eagle Rock Plaza in Eagle Rock.

(2 -- color) Wennie Tranquilino buys a phone card at Phone Card Outlet to call the Philippines at the Eagle Rock Plaza in Eagle Rock.

(3 -- 4 -- color) People enter Seafood City, above, at the Eagle Rock Plaza in Eagle Rock, Friday. At right, Giovanni Ibale and Daniel Alfanoso eat lunch at Jollibee at the Eagle Rock Plaza.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer