Chinatown, Los Angeles, California "New Chinatown," Los Angeles postcard, late 1940s Chinatown in Downtown Los Angeles, California, was originally located less than a mile from its current location. There are now other flourishing satellite Chinese communities that are not officially classified as "Chinatown" per se, but are well known, such as Monterey Park, where over 60% of the population is Asian, and San Gabriel (the Asian-origin population is almost reaching 50%). Old Chinatown Between 1852 (when the first Chinese immigrants were reported to be in Los Angeles) and 1890 a distinct community of over 3,000 Chinese people flourished. This original Chinatown was located between El Pueblo Plaza and Old Arcadia Street, stretching eastward across Alameda Street. In 1871, 19 Chinese men and boys were murdered by a mob of 500 locals in one of the most serious incidents of racial violence that has ever occurred in America's West. This incident became known as "The Chinese Massacre". Reaching its heyday from 1890 to 1910, Chinatown grew to approximately 15 streets and alleys containing 200 buildings. It was large enough to boast a Chinese Opera theatre, three temples, its own newspaper, and a telephone exchange. But laws prohibiting most Chinese from citizenship and property ownership, and Exclusion Acts curtailing immigration, inhibited future growth for the district. From the early 1910s Chinatown began to decline. Symptoms of a corrupt Los Angeles discolored the public's view of Chinatown; gambling houses, opium dens, and a fierce tong warfare severely reduced business in the area. As tenants and lessees rather than outright owners, the residents of Old Chinatown were threatened with impending redevelopment and as a result the owners neglected upkeep on their buildings. Eventually, the entire area was sold and resold, as entrepreneurs and town developers fought over usage of the area. After 30 years of continual decay, a Supreme Court ruling approved condemnation of the entire area to allow for the construction of the new major rail terminal, Union Station. Seven years passed before an acceptable relocation proposal was put into place, situating Chinatown in its present day location. During that long hiatus, the entire area of Old Chinatown was demolished, leaving many businesses without a location, and forcing some of them to close permanently. In the late 1950s the covenants on the use and ownership of property were removed, allowing Chinese Americans to live in other neighborhoods and gain access to new types of employment. New Chinatown The design and operational concepts for New Chinatown evolved through the collective community process, resulting in a blend of both Chinese and American architecture. The Los Angeles Chinatown saw major development, especially as a tourist attraction, throughout the 1930s with the development of the "Central Plaza", a Hollywoodized version of Shanghai, and have names such as Bamboo Lane, Gin Ling Way and Chung King Road (named after the city of Chongqing in mainland China). Today, this section of Chinatown is less frequented by ethnic Chinese residents and dayshoppers although it is where several benevolent associations are located. Chinatown expanded beyond the area and is now bounded by nearby Mexican-dominated Olvera Street and Dodger Stadium. Many of the older buildings built in the 1930s and 1940s era in the northeast corner of New Chinatown (near the Pasadena Freeway) were previously abandoned. As part of gentrification movement, they are now primarily used as art galleries by Caucasian artists. It has also been turned into a center of nightlife for white people. There is relatively little social interaction between these artists and business owners and the Chinatown Chinese-speaking residents. New Chinatown is served by the Gold Line of L.A.'s Metro Rail; interestingly, parts of Old Chinatown where uncovered while excavating for the another part of the L.A. subway (the Red Line connection to Union Station). The Metro Rail station in Chinatown has been designed with modernized traditional Chinese architecture. The Chinatown residential area are up on the hills northwest of Alpine Park, with a public elementary school, Chinese school, hospital, and other businesses. This area is generally tucked away from the main touristy areas. Near Broadyway Ave., Central Plaza contains a statue honoring Dr. Sun Yat-sen, a Mainland Chinese revolutionary leader who is considered the "founder of modern China". During the 1980s, many buildings were constructed for new shopping centers and mini-malls, especially along Broadway Avenue. In the mid-1990s, a new shopping center containing the 99 Ranch Market was built near the old Central Plaza. However, the supermarket chain failed to catch on and closed it doors a few years later in 1997 - the market remains highly successful in several Chinese communities of the San Gabriel Valley. Metro Plaza Hotel was built in the southwest corner of Chinatown in the early 1990s but it has seen very few tenants and thus, has remained mostly vacant over the years. The large Chinese gateway is around the intersection of Broadway Avenue and Cesar E. Chavez Avenue. Streets The main streets running through the new Chinatown are Broadway Avenue, Spring Street and Hill Street. Chinatown is located directly north of downtown Los Angeles between Dodger Stadium and the Los Angeles Civic Center. Chinatown is somewhat segregated between Chinese ethnic groups in some respects. College Street, running in a northwest-southeast direction, provides a rough boundary between the older (post-1930s and 1940s) and newer businesses (post-1980s). Many largely-dying businesses belonging to the Taishanese and Cantonese Chinese are in the northwest area. In the southwest, nearly 90% of businesses are owned by first-generation Southeast Asian Chinese immigrants and refugees. New ethnic Chinese immigrants Like most Chinatowns, Taishanese (or Toisan)–a subdialect of Cantonese Chinese–was the dominant Chinese dialect of the Los Angeles Chinatown until the 1970s. Throughout the 1980s, Cantonese and especially Teochew (Pinyin: Chaozhou, Vietnamese: Trieu Chau) Chinese became more widely spoken as Chinatown experienced a rise in Vietnamese and Cambodians of ethnic Chinese origin, as well as those from Thailand. Whereas Cantonese is still predominant and remains the lingua franca of Chinatown, the use of Taishanese has diminished in Los Angeles and its usage is more common among elderly and old-generation Chinese within the area. With the boom of de facto suburban "Chinatowns" in the eastern part of the Los Angeles area, there has been very very little immigration of Taiwanese - especially those with high socioeconomic status - to this old Chinatown. The arrival of new immigrants from Southeast Asia and Mainland China to Los Angeles Chinatown gave rise to new associations such as the Southern California Teo Chew Association (serving the Teochew speakers), the Cambodia Ethnic Chinese Association (catering to Chinese Cambodian residents), and the Southern California Fukienese Association and the Foo Chow Natives Benevolent Association (both serving immigrants from the Fujian province of Mainland China). Many Vietnamese and Cambodian immigrants in the Chinatown run small curios shops and bazaars in the shopping plazas such as Saigon Plaza and Dynasty Center—both built in the 1980s—south of Broadway Avenue. Incidentally, they also own nearly 90% of Chinatown's businesses. Most old-time and dying Chinese American (those of Taishanese and Cantonese descent) businesses are located in the old Chinatown Plaza. Businesses Ai Hoa Supermarket is a Chinese Vietnamese-owned market at Hill Street and College Street and it is one major and among the older Vietnamese attraction for local dayshoppers. There are also numerous small, specialized grocery stores in Chinatown. Several restaurants in Chinatown serve mainly Cantonese cuisine but there are also various Asian cuisine restaurants such as Teochew Chinese, Vietnamese, Indonesian, and Thai, which reflects the diverse character of Chinatown. Many Chinatown-area restaurants have been featured and reviewed extensively in the Food section of the Los Angeles Times. Interestingly, very few boba cafes have opened in Chinatown but a large number are to be found in the "suburban Chinatowns" of the San Gabriel Valley. Plum Tree Inn is a restaurant serving Americanized Chinese cuisine mainly for white people. Yang Chow Restaurant, serves Mandarin and Szechuan cuisine, is famous for its "slippery shrimp" and the restaurant has a predominantly white clientele. There are also locations in white bread San Fernando Valley and Pasadena too. Some good restaurants include CBS Seafood Restaurant, Hop Woo Restaurant, Sam Woo Cafe. Little Joe's There was a now-shuttered Italian restaurant called Little Joe's Italian Restaurant in Chinatown. This is a testament of the former Italian American community that once populated the site of the current Chinatown. Actor Robert De Niro starred in the movie 15 Minutes, which was filmed at the former restaurant. As part of the revitalization movement of Chinatown, there are plans to turn the restaurant into a retail and residential hub with a large parking structure. Rush Hour The movie Rush Hour, starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, was filmed on location in the Los Angeles Chinatown. A local Chinese restaurant featured in the film, Foo Chow Restaurant, mentions the fact on its enthusiastic mural by labeling it the "best-selling movie" [sic]. The filming location was at the Central Plaza. However, there is no such elderly or any food vendor as portrayed in the movie. A picture of Foo Chow Restaurant can be found at http://www.ajackiefeast.com/jackie-ism.htm Rise of San Gabriel Valley "Chinatowns" Due to the development of Chinese American suburban communities in the east of Los Angeles in the past quarter century, the old Chinatown of Los Angeles now competes with them and heavily relies on tourism from whites and Latinos (many of whom tend to visit Chinatown from nearby Olvera Street). For example, many white customers (presumably tourists and visitors from nearby gentrified neighborhoods and the Los Angeles Westside) can be found in Chinatown's numerous restaurants whereas there are fewer whites dining in most Chinese restaurants of the San Gabriel Valley. Many more large Asian supermarkets, shopping centers and strip malls are found in these suburbs, where there tend to be more competing authentic Chinese restaurants as well. Numerous financial institutions important to trans-Pacific trade are also based in the area. The new immigrants brought health and real estate services to the San Gabriel Valley area. History Since the 1970s, many working-class Chinese and Vietnamese immigrant families have settled in the nearby heavily Latino Los Angeles populated neighborhoods of Echo Park and Lincoln Heights, both of which provide easy rapid transit access to the old Chinatown (especially for older Chinese and Vietnamese who have limited ability in English) and formerly to the once-thriving garment factories at Downtown Los Angeles. Beginning in the 1970s, well-educated and affluent immigrants from Taiwan began settling in the west San Gabriel Valley, primarily to Monterey Park. In the 1980s, the second generation Chinese Americans generally moved out of the old Chinatown and into the San Gabriel Valley suburbs, joining the new immigrants from Taiwan and Mainland China. While there has been immigration directly to the old urban Chinatown, Monterey Park remains the top choice for Chinese immigrants. The city has been regarded as a starting point for new Chinese immigrants, rather than the old Chinatown enclave in Downtown Los Angeles. In the mid-1980s, many Taiwanese Americans began to move out of Monterey Park due to perceived overcrowding and high property values. Settlement patterns Outside of Chinatown, the San Gabriel Valley communities with significantly large popopulations of Asian Americans include Monterey Park, Alhambra, California, San Gabriel, Rosemead, San Marino, Arcadia, Temple City, Rowland Heights, Diamond Bar, and Hacienda Heights. Asian Americans have reached or nearly reaching a majority of the total population and Chinese Americans account for the high percentage of Asians. Recently, the Asian American populations have surpassed the whiter populations in the traditional politically conservative right-wing areas of Arcadia and San Marino. Locations of new "Chinatowns There are least four touristless suburban Chinatowns east of the old Chinatown, and all within the San Gabriel Valley. The first satellite Chinatown of Monterey Park is composed of Atlantic Boulevard, Garvey Avenue, and Garfield Boulevard. During the late 1980s, after a building moratorium against new shopping centers was in effect in Monterey Park, many Chinese developers turn north to Alhambra. Its vibrant satellite Chinatown is on Valley Boulevard. San Gabriel's numerous Asian shopping centers and strip malls is also on Valley Boulevard. The comprises of two- to three-story mini-malls as well as some of the largest Asian supermarkets in the region. Rowland Heights satellite "Chinatown" is on Colima Road and Nogales Avenue and it is intermixed with a Korean community. Hsi Lai Temple Hacienda Heights features one of the major Buddhist temples in the United States, Hsi Lai Temple. In the early 1980s, plans for its construction were controversial as white residents opposed the plan. The Mainland Chinese-born Venerable Master Hsing Yun is based there. Superstitions In Monterey Park, San Gabriel, and adjacent cities, the city councils of the respective cities passed laws requiring some English on the retail store signs, and requiring that the trees be kept on house lots, since it was Chinese custom to use all the land on one's property, and to wall in the lot with a high wall. Los Angeles realtors and builders are now sensitive to practices which are favorable to Chinese custom, such avoiding stairways which face the front door, and other feng shui practices. Many prospective Chinese homeowners in the area have also attempted to avoid the number 4 - which in Chinese sounds similar "to die" - on street addresses and phone numbers, and preferring the number 8 for good luck and prosperity. Differences Indeed, the Chinatown in Los Angeles is still predominantly Cantonese - although the Teochew dialect is gaining a foothold in the community - and heavily working-class. The suburban "Chinatowns" are Mandarin-dominated (with some Cantonese) and represent all socioeconomic levels. For instance, Rosemead is a predominantly working-class neighborhood with a large Chinese Vietnamese refugee population who came in the aftermath of the Vietnam War. By contrast, Taiwanese Americans are concentrated in upper-class Arcadia, San Marino, and Diamond Bar, where the school districts are well-performing and increasingly Asian American student population. Chinese American parents in San Marino have actively opposed plans of redrawing the school district lines that integrate poorly performing districts, which are heavily dominated by Mexicans. External links Chinatown LA Official Website "Chinatown: crouching hamlet, hidden gem," Los Angeles Times Going All Out for Chinese - The Atlantic insightful article on the San Gabriel Valley's ethnic Chinese communities and restaurants FAVORITE ARTICLES: History of the World    History of the United States    History of Europe    Ancient History    History    Military History    World War I    Bombing of Dresden    California    US Constitution    Frank Sinatra    Boston    Marbury v. Madison This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License at http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html You may copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license. You must provide a link to http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html To view or edit this article at Wikipedia go to http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinatown,_Los_Angeles,_California