Asians, Hispanics make a life for themselves in S. Phila.

This story is part of a series on the changing face of Philadelphia as reflected in the new 2010 census figures.

IN THE DEEP REACHES of South Philadelphia, monks in bright-orange robes smile as they walk past a towering orange-and-gold Cambodian Buddhist temple, its gate flanked by statues of ancient guards and golden, winged phoenixes.

Asian men, with darkened skin, hang out chatting on 7th Street, one eating chicken wings then throwing the bones to the dirt under a sidewalk tree.

In Mifflin Square Park, catty-corner from the temple, at 6th and Ritner streets, young, tattooed Cambodian immigrants hang out as children play on the swing sets.

"Now, every corner, every house, is like Asian-dominated. You don't see any other race come here," said Sam Sung, 30, who is of Cambodian descent and came to Philadelphia in the mid-1980s as a refugee.

Pointing to places around the park, he said: "You see, they got the temple. The store. The nail salon. All Asian."

The rectangular section of South Philly bounded by 5th Street, 10th Street, Mifflin Street and Oregon Avenue witnessed the largest growth in Asian population in all of South Philly from 2000 to 2010. The same residential area of two-story rowhouses also attracted the largest concentration of new Hispanic residents in South Philly, according to census data released in March.

It's a reminder that immigrants were the reason the city saw its first population rise in 60 years. And in this pocket of South Philly, it's even more evident.

The Hispanic and Asian populations each saw an increase of about 1,700 residents in this area of less than a square mile, contributing to its overall population growth of about 1,000 people.

Meanwhile, the area witnessed a decrease of about 1,700 white and 500 black residents. Whites still outnumber other groups, but Asians are a close second, and with their shops on 7th Street and increasing numbers, they may appear to dominate.

The Cambodians, Vietnamese, Indonesians and Mexicans who live in this area of South Philadelphia are just the latest wave of immigrants in an area near the Delaware River with easy access to transportation and jobs that have attracted waves upon waves of immigrants in decades past.

Many Hispanic immigrants who live in South Philly east of Broad Street come from the same part of Mexico.

"Just like most ethnic communities, people congregate where there are other people like them," said Zac Steele, a community organizer with the Latino-advocacy group Juntos, which now has its office at 8th Street and Snyder Avenue, in the heart of the South Philly Mexican community.

"Most people here are from Puebla, and many people are from the same town," Steele said.

Stores that were abandoned have now been re-opened by Hispanic and other immigrants, rejuvenating the local economy, he said.

"Most of those stores did not exist 10 years ago," Steele said. "I think small businesses recirculate capital, promoting growth. I think that's a really positive contribution that I've seen."

Elias Medina, 31, who works with his in-laws in La Esperanza Mexican Grocery Store, on 8th Street near Snyder, has a story similar to that of other immigrants who live and work in the area.

He said that he left his hometown of Puebla "because I don't have no work. Over there, we can't really afford it because we are so poor."

Medina has been living in South Philly since 1996. He and his wife, Norma Morales, have three children, ages 10, 5 and 6 months.

"I like everything," he said of Philly. "At least we have something to eat."

In his 15 years here, he has seen this area of South Philly grow from dozens of Hispanic immigrants to thousands, providing a community of friends and fútbol fans with whom to play soccer.

But, he added, "sometimes we have discrimination. 'Why you here? Why you don't go back to your country?' I don't know why the people they are like that."

Despite the huge increase in Hispanics, Southeast Asians make up the majority of this part of South Philly's foreign-born population, according to census estimates.

Thoai Nguyen, executive director of the Southeast Asian Mutual Assistance Associations Coalition, a nonprofit that serves refugees and immigrants, lives near 7th and Wolf, where his family was resettled in 1975 as refugees of the Vietnam War.

"We were the only [Vietnamese] family in that area," said Nguyen. He recalled the area around him as predominantly Jewish, with Jewish-owned businesses on 7th Street.

"We would go to 7th Street to buy clothing," Nguyen, 45, said, recalling the "tons of small mom-and-pop grocery stores.

"The Jewish businesses treated us very well," he said. "We would go to the store, and they would sell things to us for cheap. This was prior to the inundation."

About 1978 and later, "the larger wave of refugees from Southeast Asia" was resettled into South Philly around 7th Street. Not just Vietnamese, but Cambodians, Laotians, Hmong and ethnic Chinese.

"When you have a few families settle, people can rally around that," Nguyen said. "When there are too many, people see that as a threat. People just don't like change. So, really, the more vehement racism didn't crop up until the larger waves of immigration."

Most Jewish-owned businesses closed by the late 1970s, and "left that avenue pretty much empty," Nguyen said. Asian shops moved into the abandoned buildings starting in the late 1980s, with more cropping up in the '90s.

Many Cambodians came to South Philly in the 1980s as refugees from the "killing fields" period of 1975 to 1979, when an estimated 2 million to 3 million people died from starvation and disease or were executed under Khmer Rouge dictator Pol Pot.

After Cambodia began transitioning toward a democracy in 1993, Cambodians in South Philly began to sponsor relatives back home to come live here, where it was easier to find a job, providing a second wave of Cambodian immigration, said Muni Ratana, chief monk at the Preah Buddha Rangsey Temple, the largest Buddhist temple in the city, at 6th and Ritner.

Dun Yann, 29, attends prayer services at the temple. Of Cambodian descent, he was born in a Thai refugee camp after his parents escaped their home country during the killing-fields period.

His family was relocated by the U.S. government to Atlanta when he was 2. His family moved to South Philly in 2003 to be closer to relatives, and three years ago they opened the corner L&M Variety Store at 5th and Wolf.

"When I got here, it was already a lot of Asian people," Yann said.

Lifelong South Philadelphians Mike Rugal and Louis Feldsher live near Mifflin Square Park. Hanging out in the park one afternoon, listening to the Phillies game on a radio with friends, they agreed that their neighborhood has changed dramatically.

"It's like you woke up in the morning, and they [Asians] were here!" exclaimed Rugal, 48.

"It really doesn't matter to me," said Rugal, of Irish heritage. "Everyone's a friend."

Feldsher, 47, who is Jewish, added that when he grew up, it was "a lot of Jewish immigrants."

Meanwhile, some African-Americans who live here feel a bit left out. The area has changed "drastically, honey," agreed one woman, who would identify herself only as Joanne, 64.

"We're in the middle. Asians on one side. Mexicans on the other. And blacks in the middle."