The journey of South Philadelphia residents-turned-entreprenaurs started with a dark, tumultuous history: Lao and Cambodian refugees escaping conflict and genocide from the Secret War in Laos and Khmer Rouge regime, respectively. Displaced from their homes, they bounced around refugee camps, sometimes in different countries, until finally resettling in America, in the city of Philadelphia. With culture shock, diasporic disparities and language barriers, cultivating a new meaning for home proved to be difficult as the new immigrants routinely faced prejudice and discrimination while dealing with physical and mental effects of war and trauma. FDR Park became their green space sanctuary, familiar and inviting to these refugees who were missing their Southeast Asian jungle homeland. The community called it “Spectrum” due to its proximity to the then Spectrum Arena (at the Sports Complex) and is a name still used by the older generation to this day.

It started with a Lao lady making papaya salad out of her blue van, her husband nearby on the grill under a tree, cooking chicken wings stretched out on skewer sticks. By the early 90’s, a small handful of Cambodian and Lao vendors began popping up with their own delicious dishes and word spread of a place in the Park to enjoy traditional street barbecues, spicy tropical salads, and colored dessert drinks. With very little money and no formal advertising, FDR Park became a destination for local Southeast Asian residents to bring family and friends to eat ethnic specialty foods not found in restaurants and shop for culturally specific goods. On any given day in the summer you could see grandmas and babies picnicking on traditional woven outdoor mats, young men demonstrating their acrobatic skills in kick volleyball, and the South Philly tradition of young and old drivers learning their way around a car in the loop.

Maintaining a secret market was not easy, as intimidation, resistance, and the pushing out of immigrants continued. Vendors faced harassment from police over legality of their businesses, clashed with Park officials about customer parking and traffic, while also receiving threats and complaints from neighbors and park-goers about the physical space their communities were taking up. With the help of Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia, who’ve been advocating for their community in the last 40 years, the vendors (many whom are CAGP clients) sought support to fight and keep selling and in 2021 Vendors Association of FDR Park was established. Through ongoing relationship building amongst community leaders and empathetic understanding of immigrant and refugee needs, park and city agencies came to an agreement that allowed the Market to continue in harmony with other park visitors. With the new FDR Park plans, the Southeast Asian Market finally gets a new home.