Steve Jobs' Armenian Father from Malatya

The people that Steve Jobs called his real parents are Paul Jobs of Malatya and Clara Jobs of Izmir.

We are in Los Angeles, standing in front of the Apple Store on Third Street. A photograph of Steve Jobs hangs in the window. Candles have been lit and flowers are strewn before the door. People have written condolence messages on small, pink post-its and stuck them to the window. Two days ago Steve Jobs passed away in San Fransisco, where he was born. Those who played the largest role in Steve Jobs’ life were his adoptive parents, Paul and Clara Jobs, two Armenians who migrated to this region in California from Anatolia. You can find more information about their emigration in Steve Jobs’ autobiography. Steve referred to Clara, who was from Izmir, and Paul, from Malatya, as his real parents. The late Hrant Dink also calls Malatya his hometown.

We came as guests of the Pacifica Institute to the Anatolian Food and Culture Festival. The event was organized by local Turks in order to promote understanding of Turkish culture in the area. We stayed in an area called Orange County, which is about an hour south of Downtown Los Angeles. Los Angeles has one of the highest concentrations of Armenians from Anatolia in the world. It is said that 700,000 Armenians live there and it is clear that they have a unique influence on political and social life in the area.

Most of us know Los Angeles as the “heart of the America’s film industry” because Hollywood is here. Many of the most memorable sites of film history are here, as well as Universal Studios.

First thing yesterday, we walked around the streets of Hollywood, recalling famous actors and actresses as we passed by their stars on the sidewalk. We posed for photos next to a wax figure of Marilyn Monroe and went to Beverly Hills to see the mansions of the stars. The traffic was enough to make you miss Istanbul. We watched the sun sink below the Pacific Ocean from Sunset Boulevard.

L.A. has weathered the economic crisis better than anywhere else in America, with an average individual income of $100,000 (to put things in perspective, the average salary in America is $39,000 annually). We passed by the port of Los Angeles, the biggest in the country, and learned that Los Angeles actually makes most of its money from agriculture, although you might naturally suspect that it owes its prosperity to the success of Hollywood and Silicon Valley.

Los Angeles was founded by the Mexicans. The impact of Mexican and Hispanic culture can be felt in every aspect of life here. The second official language is Spanish and thousands of Mexicans live here without ever learning English. Some streets here are so Hispanic, in fact, that white Americans seem like tourists when they walk along them. People from the Far East also make up a heavy portion of the population. At the airport, for instance, we felt more like we were in China than in America.

In this city of seventeen million, there are nineteen million registered automobiles and virtually no pubic transportation. Most of the city (including stores and restaurants) is made up of single-story buildings. The plant life and style of the houses are likely to remind you of Bodrum. Orange County alone takes up an area as wide as Istanbul. You cannot get by without a car, and in many ways you cannot get by with one! Despite the presence of seven or eight-lane freeways, traffic still moves at a stand-still.

In defining Los Angeles, it is more appropriate to call it a region than a city. This has much to do with the fact that, despite the huge population, there is no density. We are not in a land of humans, but a land of cars.

Gas is thirty-nine cents a liter. In Turkish currency that would come out to seventy or seventy-five kuruş, which is less than a fourth of what we pay. Everywhere you look are twenty-four hour gas stations. I should make it clear that despite the low cost of gasoline, cab fare is still quite expensive, which has a lot to do with the enormous distances you have to travel.

We saw the city and returned to the hotel in the evening while those who shared the city with Steve Jobs continued to write condolences on little pink post-its and stick them to the Apple Store window.