Chinatown, Las Vegas

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The Chinatown of Las Vegas, Nevada (Chinese: 拉斯維加斯中國城 (pinyin: Lāsīwéijiāsī Zhōngguóchéng) is a series of large shopping centers with ethnic Chinese and other pan-Asian businesses on Spring Mountain Road, with the original called Chinatown Plaza. The strip mall was conceived by Taiwanese American developer James Chih-Cheng Chen, and opened in 1995. Nevada Governor Kenny Guinn officially designated the area as Chinatown in October 1999 and it is growing fast as the Asian population in Las Vegas continues to expand. The Chinatown area has gained in such immense popularity and also received national attention in a great 2004 article by The Wall Street Journal; check below for the article and author.

Spring Mountain Road was once a run-down corridor with strip clubs, but Chinatown Plaza and other adjacent power centers has emerged as a fine example of immigrants first taking an old neighborhood given up for dead by the previous residents and then reviving it with major investments as a bustling center of ethnic minority commerce.

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[edit] Generally

As a whole, Las Vegas's Chinatown is located west of the Las Vegas Strip, not far from the Treasure Island and The Venetian casinos. Also included in Chinatown are a number of Filipino, Korean, Thai, and Vietnamese American businesses as it serves a pan-Asian community. The Chinatown also serves the local population and tourists as well and, in the area where Las Vegas was lacking, according to the article from the Wall Street Journal, was especially conceived as an area to offer value authentic Chinese cuisine for inbound Chinese-speaking tourists coming from Southern California and East Asia.

Indeed, as an alternative to the typical waist-expanding buffets or tedious prime rib specials typically found in Las Vegas, Chinatown is generally the only place within Las Vegas to get truly authentic Chinese and various Asian ethnic cuisines, such as a platter of mouthwatering and scrumptious Hong Kong-style roast duck or succulent won ton noodles, a wonderful bowl of healthy Vietnamese pho noodle soup, fresh Japanese sushi, or a refreshing cup of cold Taiwanese boba tea on a scorching desert day. The very popular 99 Ranch Market - where live fresh seafood or bottles of authentic oyster sauce, and other imported Asian-branded foodstuffs could now be had - had been recognized by the Las Vegas Review Journal.

The aesthetic of the Las Vegas Chinatown bears a strong resemblance to the suburban "Chinatowns" found in Southern California and Silicon Valley, in the form of sprawl with large parking lots.

For example, it is unlike Chinatown, San Francisco (undisputedly still the largest and oldest in the United States) or of Chinatown, Los Angeles. Additionally, Las Vegas's Chinatown does not share a history of gambling halls, opium dens, tong warfare, or restaurants serving unauthentic MSG-laden Chinese American cuisine (such as chop suey, chow mein, sweet and sour pork, General Tso's chicken, and so on). In contrast to most urban U.S. Chinatown ghettos - where the quintessential old-world, unsanitary image of Chinatown prevails - including those of displays of scrumptious roast ducks on windows, outdoor vegetable and fruit stands, immigrant old-timers hanging about, as well as Chinese-spanking locals and stupefied tourists bumping each other on overcrowded and filthy sidewalks, and so on. This area of Las Vegas is modeled upon the Los Angeles suburbs of Monterey Park, California and San Gabriel, California, both anchored by shopping centers and supermarkets (99 Ranch Market and Shun Fat Supermarket) and likely so. Before the conception of Chinatown Plaza and nearby malls, some Las Vegas residences even had to head on a 200 mile or so road trip to the "suburban Chinatown" of Monterey Park to purchase authentic Asian groceries, so to cater to the Chinese-speaking locals and tourists, entrepreneur James Chen definitely founded an ingenious niche in Las Vegas. In several cases, some businesses are extensions of prominent Southern California businesses, including Asian supermarket chains, restaurants, bakery, travel agents, etc.

It is generally unlike the older Chinatowns throughout the country; the Las Vegas Chinatown takes the form of strip malls. The suburban-style 99 Ranch Market chain is the key anchor to the area, with other Southern California-based chain businesses such as the Sam Woo Restaurant (serving Cantonese cuisine), 168 Shanghai Restaurant (serving Shanghai and Taiwanese cuisine), Harbor Palace Seafood Restaurant (serving Cantonese cuisine and dim sum), and Kim Tar Restaurant (serving Teochew cuisine). There is also a Mainland Chinese noodle and dumpling restaurant serving Shanghai-style noodles, juicy fried dumplings, crispy spring onion pizza, and tofu. Cantonese seafood restaurants also add to the vibrant mix. One can also find a delicious Vietnamese sandwich called banh mi.

[edit] Shopping centers

[edit] Chinatown Plaza

Located on Spring Mountain Road between Valley View Boulevard and Arville Street, Chinatown Plaza (中國城, Mandarin: zhong guo cheng) is home to several types of restaurants comprises of 85,000 square foot of bustling immigrant commerce, with restaurants offering regional Mainland Chinese and Hong Kong cuisine as well as other Asian cuisine (Filipino, Japanese, and Vietnamese). The assortment of businesses also includes a book store (selling Chinese language publications), a ginseng shop, a travel agent, a VCD store, a bakery, and an optometrist all providing goods and services run by and for the immigrants.

The entrance of the parking lot of Chinatown Plaza is marked by a beautifully crafted traditional Chinese arch (called in Mandarin Chinese paifang), which is visible on the Spring Mountain Road corridor and provides for a photo opportunity. As another unique photo opportunity, there is even a statue depicting the major Chinese epic the Journey to the West of Xuan Zang and the Monkey God at the front of the mall as these are figures in classical Ming Dynasty-era Chinese literature.

[edit] Pacific Asian Plaza

There were attempts to duplicate the success of Chinatown Plaza. Opened in 2001, the 90,000 square foot Pacific Asian Plaza features grand Japanese accents. Shun Fat Supermarket, locally called SF Supermarket, is the prime anchor of this special complex.

[edit] Others

Other shopping centers developed adjacently in recent years by other developers include:

  • Great China Plaza - opened in 1999
  • The Center at Spring Mountain - developed by non-Asian (gwai lo) developers and opened in 2002, extended this year to include more businesses. This shopping center includes a branch of the Lollicup tea beverage franchise, a Taiwanese American company originally from Southern California.

These Las Vegas shopping centers contain quite unique and interesting architecture which combines traditional Chinese motifs and red gateways with modern-style strip malls found in American suburbia and parked well away from the touristified casino areas. However, Chinatown Plaza remains the main cultural center of Chinatown as many special events and popular restaurants are located there. Chinatown is not a residential district as many others and very few live in the immediate surroundings. Nevertheless, they reflect the booming Asian origin population in Las Vegas.

[edit] Events

During the Chinese New Year, the Chinatown Plaza also hosts Las Vegas's special annual Asian food festival with exuberant lion and dragon dance performances (performed by a local Shaolin group) and heart-pulsing Japanese taiko drum performances as well as daring martial arts demonstrations. There are also stalls offering goods and services from the Chinese culture. The Miss Chinatown Las Vegas pageant is held in Chinatown Plaza, where the winner will represent Chinatown. They are definitely of one of the kind in Nevada. Admission is at the low price of $3 per person.

Similarly, Pacific Asian Plaza is the venue for the Chinese autumnal Moon Festival.

To promote cultural diversity and understanding, field trips to Chinatown Plaza often brings students from local elementary schools and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas eager to learn about the vibrant Chinese culture, especially as the population throughout the Las Vegas Valley grows much larger and more diverser than ever before.

[edit] Asian demographics of Las Vegas

At first, "Chinatown" was conceived for the purpose of serving Chinese-speaking tourists and businesses visiting Las Vegas from the Southern California area and Asia. At present, the population of Asian Americans in Las Vegas is 22,879 and comprise 4.8% of the total population as of the 2000 Census. Almost half of Las Vegas's Chinese American population - numbering at 2,784 residents - are from Taiwan. Some are also from mainland China and Southeast Asia. There are significant numbers of ethnic Chinese in the city of Las Vegas as well as in the Las Vegas suburbs of Spring Valley, Nevada and Paradise, Nevada. Filipinos remain the largest Asian ethnic group of the Las Vegas area, that is, the city itself and surrounding suburbs.

In comparison with the early 1990s when the Chinese origin population was minuscule, Las Vegas now has Chinese-language newspapers and a Chinese American Chamber of Commerce. The Las Vegas Chinese Daily News has its offices in Chinatown. Other newspapers, such as right-wing World Journal and leftist International Daily News, come from the Los Angeles area (specifically from Monterey Park).

[edit] Transportation

Chinatown, Las Vegas is adjacent to advantageous transportation links.

[edit] Go by charter bus

Several Chinese American bus lines provide affordable connections from Chinatown, Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley in Los Angeles to Las Vegas various casinos and Chinatown as the final destination. There is no direct connection from the San Francisco Bay Area to Las Vegas. However, travel from Chinatown, San Francisco and/or Chinatown, Oakland to Monterey Park and then from Monterey Park, California to Chinatown, Las Vegas is still possible, but this will require boarding different buses and pay separate fares. Monterey Park (destination is in front of 99 Ranch Market) is the way station and night stopover for Chinese restaurants and lodging at Best Western Monterey Park Inn. Transit companies include Bravo Travel and USAsia (further details and fare information at http://www.gotobus.com).

[edit] Go by car

For motorists traveling on either direction on Interstate 15, offramp signs leading to Chinatown will point to the right way. Take the Exit 39 on Spring Mountain Road.

[edit] Go by taxi

For those not driving to or within Las Vegas, Chinatown is accessible by taxi.

[edit] Go by intercity bus

Chinatown is also served by Las Vegas city bus called Citizens Area Transit - from Las Vegas Strip, take CAT route 203 - a route for Spring Mountain Road - and step off at bus stop 104 for Chinatown Plaza just past Valley View Boulevard, or bus stop 103 for Pacific Asian Plaza past Decatur Boulevard (a route map is available http://www.rtcsouthernnevada.com/cat/routes/203/map.htm).

[edit] Go by shuttle

A few casinos - including the MGM Grand, The Mirage, and New York, New York - offer free shuttle service to and from Chinatown as well!

[edit] External links

[edit] Further reading

For Asians in U.S., Mini-Chinatowns Sprout in Suburbia, Barry Newman, The Wall Street Journal, April 28, 2004 (article on development of Las Vegas's Chinatown).

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