Chinatown (Los Angeles)

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Gateway to Los Angeles Chinatown.

Chinatown is a district of the US metropolis of Los Angeles . Today's Chinatown in Los Angeles is a neighborhood developed in the 1930s that replaced the original Old Chinatown . As such, it is the first Chinese neighborhood in the United States of America to be designed , built, and inhabited by Sino-Americans themselves. Chinatown is becoming increasingly gentrified, but it is still over half populated with people of Chinese origin.

location

Chinatown plan.

Chinatown is surrounded by Elysian Park to the north, Lincoln Heights to the east, Downtown Los Angeles to the south and southwest. To the north and northwest is Echo Park . Chinatown's boundaries to the north are Beaudry Avenue, Stadium Way, and North Broadway; the Los Angeles River to the east and Cesar Chavez Avenue to the southwest.

population

The 2000 US census found that Chinatown had 29,610 residents. Estimates by the Los Angeles Department of City Planning for 2008 assume a population of 28,839. 70.6% of the residents said they were of Asian descent, 23.5% of Latin American descent. The most common country of origin was China with 56.5% , followed by Mexico (17.1%). 6,960 (72.4%) of the residents have immigrated to the USA. 55.3% of the immigrants come from China and 12.4% from Mexico. The median income in 2008 was $ 22,754.

America's Chinatowns have been subject to increasing gentrification since the 1990s . In addition to the Chinese population originally living here, a mixed and wealthy population is now settling here. The Chinatown in Los Angeles is no exception, even if Chinese and Sino-Americans are not yet the minority here , as in the Chinatowns of Boston , New York or Philadelphia .

history

Old Chinatown

Colored photo of Old Chinatown taken between 1898 and 1905 .

The first reports about Chinese in the Los Angeles area were published in 1850, the first settlements followed in 1857. Today's Chinatown was created after a relocation from the Chinatown, which was built between 1870 and 1930. This area, now known as Old Chinatown , was on what is now Union Station . Only the Chinese American Museum remains from this period. Roman Polanski's film Chinatown depicts this older Chinatown.

In 1871 there was a pogrom in Chinatown . In 1870 there were 172 Chinese people in this older Chinatown, 90% of whom were male - the majority of the Chinese living here came from southern China. Most of the women had been brought here from China to work as prostitutes . The crime in this quarter was due to the activity of three gangs of Tong coined. The background was the argument between two of the gangs over a young woman. On October 24, 1871, members of the Tongs fought in a shooting, in which the police officer Jesus Bilerain was injured in the shoulder and a white saloon owner rushing to his aid was killed. By the evening a mob consisting of around 500 whites and Mexicans had formed and attacked Chinatown, lynched several Chinese and looted Chinese houses and shops. A total of 19 Chinese were killed. 49 of those involved in the pogrom were charged, seven of them were convicted.

Despite the pogrom, the influx of Chinese continued until it was stopped by the Chinese Exclusion Act 1882 until World War II . Chinatown grew to have a population of around 3,000. Chinese grocery stores quickly formed, and eventually restaurants. The traders of Chinese herbs, who were also able to develop customers outside the Chinese community, were of particular importance. In addition, gambling was of great importance.

New Chinatown and China City

Postcard of New Chinatown before 1945.

In the 1930s, Old Chinatown's population was urged to leave the Union Station area. Some settled in mixed neighborhoods like East Adams. At the same time there were two other developments, the construction of China City immediately north of Union Station and the creation of New Chinatown a few hundred meters away. China City was an artificial replica of a Chinese city by Christine Sterling based on the Mexican folklore representation in Olvera Street , which was also created by Sterling. The film set for the film Die gute Erde from 1937 was used to build China City . This was supposed to give an authentic impression of a Chinese village, but it couldn't do without stereotyping. This foundation was destroyed by fire in 1939, after which Chinatown Plaza in Chinatown (then New Chinatown ) was developed.

The entrance gate to the Main Plaza of Chinatown at night. An example of the marriage of traditional Chinese architecture with 1938 modern American neon aesthetics.

In New Chinatown businessmen settled from the former Chinatown. Today's Chinatown developed from New Chinatown. The country was in what was then Little Italy of Los Angeles. The Chinese community established the Los Angeles Chinatown Project Association for relocation , to purchase property in the new area and establish a new community, while also attracting tourists . This Chinatown was the first such district that was planned, built and operated by Chinese people. The architects Erle Webster and Adrian Wilson commissioned by the company were not only based on traditional Chinese architecture , but also combined it with modern American aesthetics .

Chinatown since the 1960s

Chinese immigration to the United States until the 1960s was concentrated in the urban ethnic enclaves of the big city Chinatowns . That changed with the liberalization of immigration laws. After that, from 1965 in Los Angeles County, the Chinese settlement began to move to the suburbs of the San Gabriel Valley . In addition, increasing gentrification is displacing the traditionally more working-class Chinese population of Chinatown and has resulted in a significantly more mixed population of Chinatown.

culture and education

Museums and galleries

  • The Chinese American Museum is not located in Chinatown, but close to the Los Angeles Plaza Historic District of downtown Los Angeles in close proximity to Union Station. It is housed in the Garner Building , the last existing building in Los Angeles' original Chinatown. Established in 1984, the museum is the first in Southern California to be dedicated to the history of the Sino-Americans.
  • Chung King Road in Chinatown is home to numerous art galleries with different focuses. Relatively cheap rents for gallery space made Chinatown attractive for art galleries. The business premises on Chung King Road were originally designed to display Chinese antiques and curiosities.

Restaurants

For high-class Chinese cuisine, restaurant critics no longer recommend restaurants in Chinatown, but in the suburbs in the San Gabriel Valley , for example in Alhambra , Rosemead or Arcadia . This is a result of a development of Chinese restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley that began with the opening of the first authentic Chinese restaurant in Monterey Park around 1975 but has been clearly noticeable since the 1990s. Today there are still numerous Chinese restaurants serving dishes such as dim sum , but the culinary focus has shifted. Chinatown is now considered a location for high-class gastronomy with pan-Asian cuisine, Thai restaurants, or with the cuisine of Louisiana .

schools

Chinatown has an elementary school (Castelar Street Elementary) and an intermediate school (Endeavor College Preparatory Charter ). The Ramon C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts at 450 North Grand Avenue is a high school immediately south of the border with Chinatown.

Library

The City of Los Angeles Public Library has a branch in Chinatown at 639 N. Hill Street.

Recurring events

  • The Chinese New Year is celebrated annually with a procession, the Golden Dragon Parade , in Chinatown. The 120th Dragon Parade was held in 2019, making the parade the oldest of its kind in the United States. It is also the largest Chinese New Year procession. The New Years Parade attracts tens of thousands of spectators and is considered the premier cultural event for Asian Americans in Southern California .
  • The Chinatown Summer Nights take place on the second Saturday of June, July and August in the central plaza . It is a food and music festival hosted by the Chinatown Business Improvement District and broadcaster KCRW-FM .

traffic

Chinatown Station on the Gold Line .

Chinatown has the Chinatown Station that of East Los Angeles to Azusa leading Goldline own station of the subway and commuter train system of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority . The station opened in 2003.

Web links

Commons : Chinatown, Los Angeles  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Chinatown in the Los Angeles Times Mapping LA project .
  2. ↑ Alana Semuels, The End of the American Chinatown , The Atlantic, February 4, 2019.
  3. ↑ a b Scott Garner, Neighborhood Spotlight: Chinatown again rolls with the punches, capitalizing on change , Los Angeles Times April 14, 2017th
  4. ↑ ChinatownLA.com .
  5. ^ A b c Juan Davis, Was the New Chinatown a Neighborhood or a Media Campaign? , KCET dated August 31, 2010.
  6. ^ A b Colin Marshall, A Los Angeles Primer: Chinatown , KCET, July 30, 2013.
  7. ^ A b Juan Devis, First Wave: From Canton to LA , KCET, August 10, 2010.
  8. ↑ James Roman, Chronicles of Old Los Angeles , Museyon, New York City 2015, ISBN 978-1-940842-00-4 , p. 34.
  9. ↑ James Roman, Chronicles of Old Los Angeles , pp. 34 ff.
  10. ↑ James Roman, Chronicles of Old Los Angeles , p. 39.
  11. ↑ James Roman, Chronicles of Old Los Angeles , p. 40.
  12. ↑ a b c Elina Shatkin, Iconic Neighborhood Restaurants: Chinatown , KCET, September 21, 2015.
  13. ↑ a b Photos China City, Recreating a Small Chinese Village KCET, June 30, 2010.
  14. ↑ a b Liu Yinmeng, Exhibition showcases LA's old Chinatown structures , China Daily October 9 2,018th
  15. ↑ Liz Ohanesian, Chinatown: The Story of an LA Icon , DiscoverLA.org, February 20, 2019.
  16. ↑ Jan Lin / Melody Chiong How Chinese Entrepreneurs Transformed the San Gabriel Valley KCET, May 20, 2016.
  17. ↑ Frances Huynh, The Gentrification of Los Angeles Chinatown: How Do We Talk About It? Medium History from January 19, 2018.
  18. ^ Homepage of the Chinese American Museum .
  19. ↑ Liz Ohanesian, Inside the World of Chinatown's Galleries , KCET , Jan. 28, 2016.
  20. ↑ Patric Kuh, The 9 Best Chinese Restaurants in LA , Los Angeles Magazine, February 9, 2017.
  21. ↑ Clarissa Wei, How Valley Boulevard's Restaurants Built LA's New Chinatown , LA Weekly, May 11, 2015.
  22. ↑ Jonathan Gold, Chinatown emerging as LA's hottest restaurant destination , Los Angeles Times, January 16, 2015.
  23. ^ Schools in and around Chinatown in the Los Angeles Times Mapping LA project .
  24. ↑ Chinatown Brench Library on the homepage of the Los Angeles Public Library .
  25. ↑ Wen Jinping, 120th Golden Dragon Parade held in LA , Global Times, February 14, 2019.
  26. ↑ Annual Golden Dragon Parade for Chinese New Year held in LA Chinatown , Xinhua on February 10, 2019.
  27. ↑ Eddie Lin, Here's Your Eating Itinerary for Saturday's Chinatown Summer Nights , Los Angeles Magazine, June 26, 2015.
  28. ↑ Homepage of the Chinatown Summer Nights
  29. ^ Sari Heifetz Stricke, Summer nights in Chinatown fill with music, food, fun , Los Angeles Times, July 27, 2012.
  30. ↑ Gold Line of the Metro .
  31. ↑ Joy L. Woodson, Ringing in a New Era in Old Chinatown , Los Angeles Times , Aug. 13, 2003.

Coordinates: 34 ° 4 ′  N , 118 ° 14 ′  W