Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month © Carlos Marin/Getty Images

This stunning structure is the stone pavilion housing the massive Korean Bell of Friendship in Los Angeles, a city with a large Korean American population. It"s ringing in Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, which starts today. The month was chosen in recognition of the first documented arrival of Japanese immigrants, on May 7, 1843, and the completion of the transcontinental railroad by more than 20,000 Asian immigrants on May 10, 1869.