Mountain View: Anchorage Community Named "Most Diverse Place" In America

Far from Samoa and the South Pacific (and even Hawaii in the North Pacific) Anchorage is still a Pacific Coast city.

Roast pig and bags of taro root -- the hallmark prized foods on islands in both the North and South Pacific -- are for sale in Mountain View, at the north end of Anchorage, Alaska. This placard is out on the street in front of a local store. It may be a surprise to some that this very northern place is the home of many Samoans and Pacific Islanders. In fact, Mountain View is the Number 1 "most diverse" community in all of America, according to the 2010 census.

"Diverse" doesn't mean that it's an all-of-a-kind place, like San Francisco's Chinatown, or Little Italy. It means that there's a mix of many kinds of people, of every race and nationality, including Caucasians. And, of course, Native Americans who have come to Anchorage from surrounding villages all over Alaska. The second and third most diverse places in America are also in Anchorage -- right next to Mountain View. They are followed by census areas in Queens, in New York City. There are up to 90 different languages spoken in Anchorage, Alaska.