Chinatowns in North America
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article surveys individual Chinatowns in North America.
- For the purposes of this article North America is defined as Canada and the United States.
- For information on Chinatowns in Mexico and Central America, please refer to Chinatowns in Latin America.
- For a broad analysis of the development and character of Chinatowns in the region, see Chinatown patterns in North America.
- The common features of Chinatowns and social problems common to Chinatown are covered in the main Chinatown article.
In general, there are three types of Chinatowns in North America: frontier and rural Chinatowns, urban Chinatowns, and suburban Chinatowns. The first two types of Chinatowns were typically pioneered by early Chinese immigrants in the 19th to the mid-20th centuries. Suburban quasi-"Chinatowns" - altogether replacing the functions of their original counterparts - were developed due to the arrival of later waves of new ethnic Chinese immigrants as well as the in flow of investments, mostly during the 1970s and 1980s.
[edit] Chinatowns in Canada
[edit] Alberta
[edit] Edmonton
There are actually two Edmonton Chinatowns: The newer Chinatown North dominated by Hong Kong Chinese emigrees and the older Chinatown South.
[edit] Calgary
The Chinatown in Calgary (see Chinatown, Calgary) is the largest in Alberta and one of the largest in Canada. It stretches east-west from 1 St SE to 2 St SW and north-south from Bow River to 4 Av SW. This Chinatown consists of a large shopping centre called Dragon City Mall and a Calgary Chinese Cultural Centre located at 1 St SW. Another neighbourhood with a distinctly Asian cultural flair is forming along the Centre Street corridor to the north of downtown and the Bow River. Nearly all of this is post-1980s, as Calgary's original Chinatown was little more than a handful of Chinese and Western restaurants in the same area, without the historic Chinese-ethnic residential-commercial quality of true historic Chinatowns like those in Vancouver and Victoria.
There are also a number of other areas in Calgary's suburbs that have an especially high Asian population.
[edit] British Columbia
[edit] Vancouver
Vancouver's Chinatown is the largest in British Columbia and Canada, and the third largest in North America, after San Francisco's and New York City's. Dating back to the late 19th century, the main centre of the older Chinatown is Pender and Main Streets in downtown Vancouver, which is also, along with Victoria's, one of the oldest surviving Chinatowns in North America, and has been the setting for a variety of modern Canadian literature.
Vancouver's Chinatown contains numerous galleries, shops, restaurants, and markets, in addition to the Chinese Cultural Centre and the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Garden and park; the garden is the first and one of the largest Ming era-style Chinese gardens outside China.
The moniker "Hongcouver" developed during the influx of Hong Kongers in the 1980s but it is rarely used now.
During the early 1990s, the cultural centre and destination point for Chinese Canadians had shifted away from the old Chinatown in downtown Vancouver moving southward into the suburbs of the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, particularly Golden Village in Richmond. In addition to Richmond, there were some other Chinese immigrant communities developing in Burnaby and Coquitlam. The malls of the Metrotown district of South Burnaby are heavily Asian oriented, and comprise yet another suburban quasi-Chinatown, though less so than Golden Village.
Currently there is new momentum near at Vancouver's old Chinatown consistent with the condominium boom seen in most of downtown.International Village, which is an outgrowth of the Expo Lands development, includes an Asian mega mall and numerous upscale developments that are intended to rejuvenate downtown's Chinatown.
[edit] Richmond
The Golden Village neighbourhood of Richmond, a suburb of Vancouver, is the exception to North American Chinatown trends described above. Unlike the Mandarin-dominated or the pan-Chinese new "Chinatowns" in the U.S., Richmond is practically a "Hong Kong Town" and hence, it does tend to be more or less Hong Kong-centric in terms of its offerings. In local English usage, it is not referred to as Chinatown, which refers only to downtown Vancouver's historic Chinatown district.[citation needed]
The Richmond area is 10 kilometres south of Chinatown in downtown Vancouver near Highway 99 and Westminster Highway; the main corridor of the comparatively new Chinese retail is No. 3 Road. It is quite possibly the largest suburban Chinatown in North America[citation needed], complete with numerous malls, very large grocery stores, and an endless number of restaurants and small businesses. The gleaming Aberdeen Centre and Yaohan Centre are prominent malls for Chinese retail. Also, with a myriad of Cantonese seafood eateries, many top Hong Kong chefs have been lured to restaurants in the Golden Village.
As of 2006, two-thirds of Richmond's population was of Chinese descent — which was approximately 100,000 people [1]. Many affluent Hong Kong Chinese especially chose to come to the Vancouver area to escape the perceived implications of the handover of sovereignty of Hong Kong in 1997 from Britain to communist Mainland China.
[edit] Victoria
A very small Chinatown can be found in the provincial capital of Victoria, although as with most North American Chinatowns it is mostly touted as a tourist attraction. It is centred on Fisgard Street and is, along with the much larger one in downtown Vancouver, one of the oldest surviving historic Chinatowns in North America. There are about two dozen Chinese-oriented businesses in this area.
Despite its small size, it was once the largest Chinatown on the West Coast of North America and played an important part in local history, and companies based here were the contractors for railway labour on the CPR and CNR. During the 20th Century, the second floor of the building on the southwest corner of Government and Fisgard Streets was the International Headquarters of the Chinese Communist Party.
[edit] Other Chinatowns in British Columbia
- New Westminster's Chinatown
- New Westminster Museum and Archives Chinatown Project
- Lillooet's Chinatown - the BC Interior's first Chinatown
- Barkerville's Chinatown - although ostensibly about Barkerville per se, content here is all Chinese-related.
- Map of Barkerville, explaining location and circumstances of Chinatown
- Yale's Chinatown - the first Chinatown on the BC Mainland
- Yale's On Lee House - a surviving structure of Yale's Chinatown
- Cumberland's Chinatown - once the second-largest on the West Coast of North America (c.1910)
- Cumberland's Chinese Strikebreakers, from Digital Collections "King Coal" series
- Picture of Cumberland's Chinatown, 1910
[edit] Manitoba
The Chinatown in Winnipeg was formed in 1909. It is on King Street between James and Higgins Avenues, and was officially designated in 1968. Some 20,000 Chinese live in the Winnipeg area.
[edit] Ontario
Toronto
Toronto's largest Chinatown is centered on Spadina Avenue and Dundas Street. To the east of the Don River is Toronto Chinatown East, at the corner of Broadview Avenue and Gerrard Street. With a population of over 400,000 Chinese, Toronto has the largest concentration of "chinatowns" in North America when considering all five major chinatowns in the metropolitan region. Toronto's Chinatown and Chinese communities are highly represented by Hong Kong immigrants and families. In the last decade, mostly after the 1997 Hong Kong handover, the influx of immigrants from mainland China has surpassed the flow of immigration from Hong Kong. However, most Chinese businesses and restaurants are still conducted in Cantonese. The pan-Chinese diasporas are generally segregated, with the Vietnamese Chinese, who generally arrived as impoverished refugees, residing in old Chinatown and suburban Mississauga in western Toronto. The wealthy Hong Kong Chinese tend to be concentrated in upscale Markham and Richmond Hill in the northern part of Greater Toronto. The Mainland Chinese have concentrated in the historic Chinatown in Toronto.
In addition to the Chinatown around Dundas and Spadina and the East Chinatown on Gerrard, there are multiple other Chinatowns throughout Toronto's suburbs, especially those in Agincourt and Milliken: Stretching west from Brimley along Sheppard Avenue to blocks west of Kennedy and north from Sheppard to Steeles. Mississauga, Richmond Hill along Bayview/Hwy 7 to Leslie/Hwy 7 and north from Hwy 7 to roughly 16th avenue.
To the north of the city of Toronto, Markham and Richmond Hill, Ontario are noted for their large concentration of Chinese strip malls; in 2001, 30 percent of Markham's population, or 62,355 people, was of Chinese descent. Mentionable Chinese malls in Markham and Richmond Hill include Pacific Mall (largest Chinese mall in North America with over 300 stores), Market Village, Metro Square, and First Markham Place, Times Square, Commerce Gate, Chalmers Gate and Golden Gate Plaza. On February 14, 2007, Splendid China Tower Mall had opened. It's at the corner of Kennedy Rd and Steel Ave, which it's the border of Scarborough and Markham and it marks the entrance of another expansion of the Chinese cultural-commercial presence in North America.
There have been a number of businesses, namely restaurants that have flourished in the large Chinese communities.
Toronto's new Chinese suburbs include businesses from several regions of China, but they also are dominated by businesses set up by Hong Kong companies as well as immigrants from Hong Kong and their families. Also, the old Chinatown of Toronto on Spadina Avenue has become noticeably Vietnamese in character. Vietnamese have also become part of the new Asian areas on the Jane and Finch corridor and in Missisauga.
Ottawa
Ottawa's "Chinatown" is actually named the Asian Village and it is located in the Centretown area, on Somerset Street West near Bronson Avenue. It is a community mixes with ethnic markets, shops, services and especially an assortment of ethnic Chinese and ethnic Vietnamese eateries. [2]
Windsor
An informal but sizable Chinatown is found in Windsor, Ontario, in close proximity to the Ambassador Bridge on Wyandotte Street West, between Ranking Avenue and Partingten Avenue, within walking distance from the University of Windsor. This street has several businesses, ranging from Chinese groceries, restaurants, bakeries, among others - mostly established by the Vietnamese Chinese migrants. This Chinatown is also frequented by people from Michigan and Ohio since Metro Detroit lacks a formal "Chinatown", although there is a growing Chinese retail strip in the Detroit suburb of Madison Heights, Michigan, also filled with various businesses owned by Vietnamese Chinese.
Hamilton
A Chinatown is bounded by Canon Street from James Street to Bay Street North and Vine Street from James Street to Bay Street North.
Kitchener
A Chinatown is located along King Street in the southern portion of downtown.
[edit] Quebec
Montreal
Montreal's small, but well-frequented Chinatown is on rue De La Gauchetière and around rue Saint-Urbain and boulevard Saint-Laurent, between boulevard René-Lévesque and rue Viger (Place-d'Armes metro station), just a stone's throw away from the touristy Old Montreal (Vieux-Montreal). It was originally formed in the 1890s and has been the centrepiece for Chinese residing in the Montreal area.
The Chinatown is known as Quartier chinois in French. Hong Kong Chinese especially have settled in the area. Over the years, Vietnamese Chinese have set up shops and restaurants in the area as well. As with other Chinatowns the world over, the majority of the trade in the district are specialized in Chinese gastronomy, but there are also other diners specializing in Vietnamese cuisine. There are also Chinese bakeries offering Chinese pastries.
A newer Chinese commercial centre of suburban Montreal is on Boulevard Taschereau in Brossard, where Chinese Canadian make up a fairly sizable portion of the population. Began in the late 1980s, Hong Kong Chinese immigrant arrived prior to the 1997 Communist Chinese takeover of British Hong Kong. Sadly, Brossard experienced a drop in its population of Chinese origin and many strip mall businesses have been abandoned as some Hong Kongers returned to meet their uncertain fate in the Communist-rule era of Hong Kong.
Chinese businesses in Quebec enjoy one of the only exceptions to that province's notorious language laws. When l'office de la langue francaise ordered restaurants and other businesses to replace their Chinese signs with signs where the French text is at least twice as large as Chinese, and without any English, Chinese businessmen protested that this was unlucky and bad for business. They were granted exemptions from the province's strict sign laws on cultural grounds.
Quebec City
There was once a Chinatown on Cote d'Abraham in Quebec City, but Autoroute Dufferin-Montmorency cuts through what was once its location. Historically, it paled in size in contrast to its somewhat larger counterpart in Montreal. Some restaurants and a few Chinese residents remain. Most have moved to Montreal or Toronto.
[edit] Saskatchewan
Regina
Regina's Chinatown is found on 11th Avenue between Broad Street and Winnipeg Street. It features red bilingual street signs (in contrast to the standard English-only blue signs) and a few Asian groceries.
Saskatoons
In Saskatoon, the Chinatown can be found in the Riversdale district of that city.
[edit] Chinatowns in the United States
[edit] Arizona
A Chinatown-themed shopping center built to traditional Chinese architecture was opened in 1997 near the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. The Chinese-American supermarket chain 99 Ranch Market operates a branch there. The shopping complex has attracted few tenants due to high rents. However, throughout Phoenix, there are many pockets of Chinese communities and areas nearby contain many Chinese supermarkets and restaurants.
[edit] California
Given its relative proximity to East Asia and Southeast Asia, California has the largest number of historic and contemporary Chinatowns in North America. The state boasts of the largest number of Chinatowns of all types, including the most well-known and largest Chinatown in San Francisco, the first all-Chinese rural town of Locke to be built by Chinese immigrants, and the first "Suburban Chinatown" that includes the cities of Monterey Park, Alhambra, San Gabriel and neighboring areas.
Many early Chinese immigrants were processed at Angel Island (now a California state park) in the San Francisco Bay area, which is equivalent to New York's Ellis Island for European immigrants.
[edit] Northern California
[edit] San Francisco
One of the largest, most notorious, most prominent and most highly-visited in North America is the San Francisco Chinatown, which is predominantly Cantonese-speaking, though many immigrants from Mainland China (mostly hailing from Guangdong province) are also fluent in Mandarin. Its main entrance is at Grant Avenue at Bush Street, but the center of Chinese commercial activities is on Stockton Avenue, whereas the section mostly oriented towards tourists is on Grant Avenue. While downtown Chinatown is the Chinese cultural center, smaller neighborhoods in the Richmond (Geary Avenue, Clement Street) and Sunset (Noriega Street, Irving Street west of 19th Avenue) districts have developed in recent years, coexisting with ethnic Russian and Korean businesses.
Founded around 1850, Chinatown was destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and was later rebuilt and re-realized, using a Chinese-style architecture that has been criticized as garish and touristy. According to Sunset Magazine, Chinatown receives millions of the tourist annually, making the community, along with Alcatraz and Golden Gate Bridge, one of the prime attractions and highlights of the city of San Francisco as well as the centerpiece of Chinese-American history. With its Chinatown as the landmark, the city of San Francisco itself has one of the largest and predominant concentrations of Chinese-American population centers, representing 20% of total population as of the 2000 Census, even more than New York City in terms of proportional numbers according to anthropologist Bernard Wong. However, many ethnic Chinese - whether American-born Chinese or newer immigrant from the Hong Kong, Mainland China, Vietnam - do not reside today in Chinatown but throughout the city of San Francisco as well as the surrounding Oakland and San Jose areas, but Chinatown remains the historical anchor. Chinatown has also remained the symbolic center as city politicians amd candidates have made it a de rigueur stop during election campaigns. Historically and today, Chinese in America refer to San Francisco in Cantonese Chinese as Die Foul (大城, da bu in Mandarin Chinese) or the Big City.
Besides the main thoroughfare of Grant Avenue and various side streets, Chinatown has several side alleys, including Ross Alley. Contained within this alley is a mix of touristy stores, tiny barber shop (once patronized by famous singer Frank Sinatra) as well as a fortune cookie factory. Ross Alley used to have brothels, but they no longer exist.
Also within the confines of Chinatown is the Woh Hei Yuen Recreation Center and Park on Powell Street. Many Chinese-speaking old-timers are frequent patrons this park because their lodgings – generally intended for low-income persons - tend to be tiny and cramped. Many elderly people gather to play mahjong, Chinese poker, perform tai chi exercises in the morning, read a Chinese-language newspaper, or simply to lounge around.
San Francisco Chinatown hosts the largest Chinese New Year parade in North America, with corporate sponsors such as Bank of America and the award-winning and widely praised dragon dance team from the San Francisco Police Department, comprised solely of Chinese-American SFPD officers (the only such team in existence in the United States). In its founding, it received the grant from the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, otherwise known as the Chinese Six Companiees. As Chinatown and many Chinese-Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area have historical or current roots in province of Guangdong, China (particularly Taishan County) and in Hong Kong, these dances mostly are performed in the southern Chinese style.
The first Chinese-American police chief in the United States, Fred Lau, of the SFPD, grew up in San Francisco Chinatown. The current SFPD Chief of Police, Heather Fong, was also born and raised in Chinatown. At the start of her police career, Fong was a key investigator of the notorious 1977 Golden Dragon massacre in San Francisco Chinatown.
San Francisco Chinatown has been shown in numerous movies and television shows, and can boast a number of firsts, including the invention of chop suey, being the site of printing currency for the then-newly emerged Republic of China, and the first Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association. During the civil rights movement of the 1960s, San Francisco's Chinatown was also at the center for Chinese-American activism and radical politics, some of which was militant, as well as major gang activity with the emergence of the notorious Wah Ching in North America. Currently, the historic Chinatown shows some signs of decline.
After President Richard M. Nixon's historic 1972 visit to the People's Republic of China, the arrival of new Chinese immigrants to the San Francisco area helped diversify and introduce new Chinese cuisine from many regions throughout mainland China in its Chinatown — the restaurants previously served mainly Cantonese and unauthentic Chinese-American fare. However, the Chinese seafood restaurants with the best prices is said not to be in Chinatown itself but in the Richmond District and other Bay Area suburbs. In some cases these seafood restaurants are part of Hong Kong-based restaurant chains.
Today, as with most Chinatowns in or near congested urban centers, parking problems still continue to plague Chinatown which has implications on the economy of the enclave. Due to the aging infrastructure which pre-dated the advent of the motor vehicle, it has been said nothing could be done by the municipal government of San Francisco to alleviate such problems. Many principal ethnic Chinese residents and frequenters of Chinatown are elderly and do not speak much English and in terms of transportation have very limited mobility and remain in Chinatown for shopping and social services through the local associations.
The comparatively new Chinese cultural and commercial enclave of Richmond community (where Chinese development occurred during much of the 1980s and 1990s) provides a shopping and dining alternative as Chinese-Americans continually gravitate to the area instead, as it offers more authentic stores and Chinese restaurants, while the original Chinatown of San Francisco still remains dependent on gwei lo visitors for survival just as it has been since the 1920s.
[edit] Oakland
Oakland's Chinatown is frequently referred to as "Oakland Chinatown" in order to distinguish it from nearby San Francisco's Chinatown. Originally formed in the 1860s, the Chinatown of Oakland = centering upon 8th Street and Webster Street - shares a long history as its counterpart in the city of San Francisco as Oakland's community remains one of the focal point of Chinese American heritage in the San Francisco Bay Area. However, the major difference with San Francisco's Chinatown is that Oakland's version is not as touristy as its local economt is tends not to rely on tourism as much so bok gwai are rather rare. But the local government of Oakland has since promoted it as such as it is considered one the top sources of sales tax revenue for the city. The Chinatown does not have an ornamental entrance arch (paifang) but the streets of the community are adorned with road signs in English with Chinese rendering.
Today, while it remains a Cantonese-speaking enclave "Chinatown" is not exclusively Chinese anymore, but a vibrant pan-Asian neighborhood which reflects Oakland's rich diversity of Asian community of Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Filipino, Japanese, Cambodian, Laotian, Mien, Thai, and others. In a matter of 12 city blocks, one can expect to find in this Chinatown a collection of groceries, restaurants, stores (offering products such as ginseng and herbs, jewelry, and so on), clinics, the Oakland Asian Cultural Center (9th Street), and habitations for elderly immigrants, as well as a local branch of the Oakland Public Library filled with Asian materials and collections. In addition to the standard Chinese New Year festivities, the Oakland Chinatown Streetfest (as held by the Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce) is also held yearly in August and it features Chinese lion dances, parades, music, cooking demonstrations and contests, food festival, and various activities.
Oakland's Chinatown faces much competition from the suburban Chinese shopping centers scattered throughout the Bay Area.
[edit] San Jose/Silicon Valley
While the city of San Jose proper did have several Chinatowns in the past, they are all extinct today. Other examples of "Chinatowns" in the suburbs in California are suburban Fremont, Milpitas and Cupertino in the south San Francisco Bay Area. These three cities are located in Silicon Valley, where large numbers of Taiwanese Americans and Mainland Chinese nationals (many of whom are on U.S. work visas) are employed in the high-tech industry and where large number of Taiwanese high-tech firms are headquartered. Foster City also has a large Taiwanese American population. Cupertino remains the cultural center.
There are many Chinese shopping centers scattered around the Silicon Valley, which may have a social and economic impact on the old Chinatown in San Francisco. Silicon Valley tends to be mostly Taiwanese-dominated, whereas the Chinatowns of San Francisco and Oakland tend to be more heavily Cantonese-speaking. Some of the most notable of such centers are Cupertino Village in Cupertino, Milpitas Square in Milpitas, and Little Taipei in Fremont.
[edit] Sacramento
Sacramento has a relatively small urban Chinatown. The city consists mostly of Vietnamese American businesses. There are also other Asian strip malls such as Pacific Rim Plaza and a major Asian supermarket. Sacramento has a long Chinese influence dating back to the California gold rush period. However, in the past decade, Sacramento has seen a booming ethnic Vietnamese population with a large migration from other parts of California.
Just beyond the Sacramento and Stockton areas, the small town of Locke, California is an example of an early rural "Chinatown" completely built by Chinese immigrants in 1915. It would be referred to by Chinese as "Ah so! You lookee but no touchee at Lockee!". Comprising of only three streets in town (Main Street, River Road, and Key Street), it was a thriving community with various merchants and associations ass its economy based mostly on the agriculture. Very few ethnic Chinese live there these days. The Dai Loy Museum - dai loy(大來) literally renders as "big come" in Cantonese - as well as one Chinese restaurant offering a mixture of traditional Cantonese and Americanized Chinese food are features in Locke. In the early 1980s, a 30-minute documentary from the University of California, Berkeley called American Chinatown, which documented the last surviving immigrant old-timers as well as battles with land developers and the touristification of the community.
[edit] Fresno and Central Valley
Work is underway to revitalize Fresno's once-moribund Chinatown, founded in 1885 at F Street in the San Joaquin Valley city. It is undergoing a massive beautification project. However, currently the area is not exclusively Chinese. One of the major problems is that there are fewer Chinese businesses there. But the area already holds an annual Chinese New Year celebration.
The town of Hanford, California - about 30 miles distance from Fresno - features a ramshackled "Chinatown" from the 19th century era, mostly contained within a small street block known as China Alley. Many early immigrants arrived from the Sam Yup region (or Sanyi in modern pinyin) in the province of Guangdong, China. Many of its multigeneration American-born Chinese descendants of original settlers have since moved on. Chinatown had its early share of opium dens and brothels. In modern times, all that still stands of China Alley is a Taoist temple (a monument officially recognized by the National Register of Historic Places) and a special museum.
[edit] Southern California
[edit] Artesia
The city of Artesia has an emerging and much smaller Taiwanese commercial district in South Street and Pioneer Boulevard.
[edit] Inland Empire
Several cities of the Inland Empire region once had standing Chinatowns, including the former farming communities of San Bernardino, Riverside, and Redlands.
San Bernardino's Chinatown, pioneered in the late 1870s, occupied Third Street between Arrowhead and Mountain View. During its peak in the 1890s, the community flourished with several Chinese habitations and community trades, such as shops. By the 1920s, Chinatown experienced decline and the last remnants of Chinatown fell into obscurity in 1959.
The Chinatown in Redlands was on what is now Oriental Avenue and Texas Street. It is no longer extant.
The Chinatown of Riverside was established in 1885. The remaining Chinese American survivor of Riverside's Chinatown died off in 1974. He attempted to preserve Chinatown, but his efforts were in vain because the last remnant of Riverside's Chinatown was razed in 1978. As with many early Chinatowns in the small and medium-sized towns of California, the once vibrant Chinese American history has faded into obscurity.
[edit] Los Angeles
In the city of Los Angeles proper, the old inner-city Chinatown was built during the late 1930s–the second Chinatown to be constructed in Los Angeles. Formerly a "Little Italy," it is presently located on Broadway Avenue and Spring Street near Dodger Stadium in downtown Los Angeles with still several restaurants, grocers, and tourist-oriented trinket shops. A statue honoring the Kuomintang founder Dr. Sun Yat-sen adorns the more touristy area in the northeast section. Many ethnic Chinese from Vietnam and Cambodia (whom can speak Cantonese and Chaozhou dialects of Chinese) also own and operate bazaars in Chinatown, which are popular destinations, essentially selling low-quality merchandise at terribly low prices —with products as varied as cheap woodsilk towels, sandal wood soaps, apparel, and toys—that undercut long established American-born Chinese families who have had deep roots in Chinatown since the establishment of the original community. In terms of Chinese cuisine restaurants, the range of restaurants include several Cantonese seafood restaurants and delis as well as several handful of other eateries offering strictly Americanized Chinese food. Eateries offering Vietnamese cuisine are also very common throughout Chinatown. Chinatown is home to several family and regional associations and general service organizations for old-timer immigrants (called in Cantonese lo wal cue) as well as ones founded by and for the new immigrants from Southeast Asia. The enclave contains Buddhist temples, Chinese Christian church (with services conducted in Cantonese), and even a temple devoted to the Chinese Goddess of the Sea.
New "Chinatowns" for the Chinese immigrants (as opposed to L.A. tourists) have been developed in the Los Angeles suburbs of Monterey Park and San Gabriel (see below for the sections entitled San Gabriel Valley and Orange County).
[edit] Orange County
Irvine
The upscale southern Orange County city of Irvine, located several miles south of Disneyland, contains yet another suburban-style but much smaller Taiwanese-dominant commercial and cultural center with several strip malls containing mostly businesses operated by and geared to the Mandarin-speaking immigrant community. It is on Culver Drive. 99 Ranch Market and Sam Woo Restaurant are the most frequented businesses in the area.
One of the primary reason for major Taiwanese settlement in Irvine is simply that the top-rated University High School and University of California, Irvine (UCI) are major draws for several affluent Taiwanese immigrant parents. Incidentally, Asian Americans form the majority of UCI's undergraduate student population. Indeed, Irvine's Chinese American population has grown significantly over the years. Pao Fa Temple, one of the largest Buddhist temples and monasteries in the Western Hemisphere, has been opened.
Westminster
A suburban enclave in Orange County where ethnic Chinese from Vietnam congregate is called Little Saigon and it is located on Bolsa Avenue in Westminster, California witch has served as an alternative to Chinatown, Los Angeles with its numerous supermarkets and stores. In the 1980s, it was originally envisioned by developers as a new "Chinatown" or "Asiatown" (in order to be more inclusive and profitable), but the name "Chinatown" would have been unfair to its much larger predominant and politically influential ethnic Vietnamese population, so it has been designated a "Little Saigon" instead. The Vietnam-born ethnic Chinese developers originally founded it and entrepreneurs own shops and eateries there. Many of the ethnic Chinese residing in Little Saigon are especially of Teochew stock, although many also conduct business in Cantonese Chinese. The funding for the development of Little Saigon's strip malls and shopping centers especially came from Chinese investors in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Indonesia. Some strip malls in the area have Chinese influences, including a strip mall with a wooden paifang leading to its parking lot as well another plaza containing a court of statues of Confucius and his disciples handcrafted in and imported from Mainland China.
[edit] San Diego
San Diego had a historic Chinatown founded in the 1870s, formerly around Market Street and Third Avenue, that has faded over time. In 1987, due to its historic and cultural value and efforts at preservation, the city council of San Diego officially designated the area as the Asian Pacific Thematic Historic District, which tends to overlaps with the burgeoning, gentrified Gaslamp Quarter (the center of the San Diego's trendy nightlife scene). The annal San Diego Chinese New Year Food and Cultural Faire is presented in this particular district.
While there is no bustling traditional Chinatown à la the counterparts in Los Angeles or San Francisco, another closest equivalent that the San Diego area has to an Asian enclave - with a fair cultural diversity of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean influences - would be found about 10 miles away from the city center to the north on Clairemont Mesa Boulevard and Convoy Street in the suburban Clairemont Mesa neighborhood, with an indoor mall anchored by 99 Ranch Market and Sam Woo Restaurant and nearby, although incontinguos, pan-Asian strip malls and restaurants. Also featured are Mitsuwa market. This area serves as a cultural point for Chinese Americans living in the San Diego area and for those San Diego residents and visitors needing a fix of fairly decent Chinese food, other Asian ethnic cuisines such as Vietnamese pho and Japanese sushi, or catching up on news in Chinese-language newspapers, particularly the Los Angeles edition of World Journal.
[edit] San Gabriel Valley
See Southern California Chinatowns
In the Greater Los Angeles area, there are several suburban "Chinatowns" throughout the San Gabriel Valley region. These are not really referred to as "Chinatowns" per se, but generally by the city's name. This region has receive significant attention by the media and scholars as the cities therein contain the sole Asian majority populations - comprising largely of a foreign-born ethnic Chinese population from various countries - in the continental United States.
In a sense, the old Chinatown of Los Angeles has ceased to be the economic and cultural node for the local Chinese American community within the Los Angeles area, with a diversity of Chinese immigrants from Taiwan, Mainland China, and Vietnam. There are also smaller, but still substantial, numbers of Chinese immigrants hailing from Hong Kong as well as ethnic Chinese from Indonesia, Myanmar, and South Korea. In addition, the region has also been considered by food critics—for example, of the Los Angeles Times and The Atlantic Monthly—as having some of the best Chinese cuisines in the nation due to the large variety of competing Chinese restaurants (whereas there are very few authentic Chinese restaurants in the more well-known Los Angeles Westside).
The region also features the large Hsi Lai Temple in Hacienda Heights, among the largest Buddhist temples. As a result of the large Chinese diaspora living in the region, the Kee Wah Bakery chain of Hong Kong and Taiwan operates its prime U.S. locations mostly in the Greater Los Angeles' San Gabriel Valley area.
[edit] Monterey Park
The suburban city of Monterey Park, nicknamed "Little Taipei", was among the first satellite Chinatowns to be developed. It was settled in the late 1970s and once contained a large Mandarin-speaking Taiwanese population, but due to the in-migration of established Taiwanese immigrants to other suburbs in the late 1980s and early 1990s, their numbers have dwindled and the Cantonese-speakers have gradually become predominant and significant in the city. With its growing population, Monterey Park also received media attention in a 1985 article in Forbes magazine.
Since the mid-1980s and on, Monterey Park has experienced continual immigration of working-class mainland Chinese and Vietnamese Chinese. In this city and adjacent areas, the number of Taiwanese-owned businesses actually began to decline and there are several Chinese Vietnamese-owned businesses, such as restaurants and supermarkets. Countless Chinese-owned businesses owned by the pan-Chinese diaspora (Hong Kong Chinese, Mainland Chinese, Vietnamese Chinese, and Indonesian Chinese) occupy nearly the main thoroughfares of the city, namely Atlantic Boulevard (a collection of strip malls) and eastward on Garvey Avenue, mostly featuring classic 1950s-era storefronts with common parking areas found in the rear. There are many popular competing large Hong Kong seafood restaurants found within the city, such as NYC Seafood. The branch of New Concept, a upscale dim sum chain of 28 restaurants based in China, operates in Monterey Park. Today, Chinese business throughout Monterey Park is now generally conducted in Cantonese, with some exceptions where it may conducted in Mandarin.
[edit] Alhambra
To the north of Monterey Park, the satellite Chinatown in the city of Alhambra has rapidly grown during the 1980s. With an Asian descent population of 47.2%, the area on Valley Boulevard is lined with numerous Chinese-owned banks, restaurants, bakeries, cafés, and other assortments of Chinese retail and boutiques. The municipalities of Alhambra and San Gabriel also jointly hosts the annual San Gabriel Valley Lunar New Year Parade and Festival (the fourth largest celebration in the U.S., after those in the old Chinatowns of San Francisco, Manhattan, and Los Angeles). The LA edition of the major Hong Kong news paper Sing Tao Daily used to be based in Alhambra, as was cooking sauce manufacturer Lee Kum Kee, before their relocations to a new facilities near Chinese-dominated Rowland Heights, California to the east.
[edit] San Gabriel
The adjoining neighboring city of San Gabriel, with 48.9% population of Asian descent, has a mix pan-Chinese community in the area, while the "Chinatown" in the city of Los Angeles remains tiny, touristy, and Cantonese-speaking. The area also on Valley Boulevard started off as an area serving Chinese Vietnamese refugees but it has grown to include a mix of trendy and utilitarian businesses owned by Taiwanese, Mainland Chinese, Hong Kong Chinese, and ethnic Vietnamese immigrants. It is among the largest suburban "Chinatown" business districts in California and a large shopping complex anchored by 99 Ranch Market is among the highly popular landmarks in the area (a panoramic pic of this retail center is viewable on www.milpitasquare.com/San Gabriel Square at Dusk.htm). The city serves somewhat as a buffer zone or convergence, since residentially, a significant number of wealthy Taiwanese immigrants reside in the upscale community of San Marino (bordering north of San Gabriel) and the blue-collar Chinese Vietnamese live in working-class Rosemead (located south and east of San Gabriel).
[edit] Arcadia
The city of Arcadia has an emerging Taiwanese commercial district south on Huntington Drive, on Baldwin Avenue. The area already contains several supermarkets. The only U.S. branch of the Taipei-based dumpling restaurant Din Tai Fung operates in the Los Angeles area, specifically in Arcadia.
[edit] Rowland Heights
Another so-called suburban "Chinatown," so to speak, includes the Taiwanese-driven Rowland Heights (approximately 20 miles east of the Los Angeles Chinatown) with its fragmented smattering of shopping centers, concentrated on Colima Road (approximately between Fullerton Road and Nogales Avenue). After the mass exodus of Mandarin-speaking Taiwanese Americans from Monterey Park in the late 1980s and 1990s, the Los Angeles edition of the Chinese-language paper World Journal dubbed Rowland Heights the "new Little Taipei." There are also several large Taiwanese origin populations living in nearby hillside residential communities, although many Mainland Chinese, Korean Chinese, and ethnic Korean immigrants reside there as well. Rowland Heights serves as the main business district. The Chinese strip malls are mixed with separate strip malls containing Korean American businesses. Just off the main Colima Road corridor in Rowland Heights, the neon-lit and highly packed Diamond Plaza is an especially vibrant two-story strip mall containing businesses - restaurants, tea places, bakeries, pool hall, and boutiques - geared towards both immigrants from Taiwan as well as American-born Chinese. Additionally, more and more Asian businesses are occupying other strip malls in Rowland Heights and adjacent Hacienda Heights, California formerly filled with chain and independent stores that catered to the general population but have since gone out of business, making this a hybrid "Chinatown"/Koreatown".
Outside these main suburban Chinatown areas, there are also many isolated pockets of authentic Chinese strip-malls, restaurants, and supermarkets scattered in parts of the San Gabriel Valley, which cater solely to the local Chinese immigrant community.
[edit] San Luis Obispo
There is a nearly-forgotten "Chinatown" from the middle 1870s on Chorro Street and Palm Street in the Central Coast town of San Luis Obispo. An early Chinese store was owned by early Chinese immigrant pioneer and influential community leader Ah Louis. It is now considered a historic relic. Also, many Chinese artifacts of the community have since been discovered during excavations. Railroad Square features a statue that honors the Chinese immigrant laborers who worked on the railroads in the vicinity of San Luis Obispo.
[edit] Georgia
In the Atlanta area, fledging new pan-Asian shopping centers are on Buford Highway in the suburb of Doraville. While the city of Atlanta proper does not have a traditional "Chinatown" or "Koreatown" as such, this area has become unique. The area started as Korean immigrant neighborhood, but refugees from Southeast Asia began arriving and established Chinese and Vietnamese immigrants started moving away from traditional coastal immigrant urban centers, such as California. Additionally, many Chinese immigrants from Taiwan were especially drawn in large numbers to Atlanta when the Taiwan-based television manufacture Sampo established a branch in the Atlanta area in the 1970s, thus creating a significant demand for Chinese foods and services.
However, with a mix of ethnic Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese populations, the official name is the International Village. While the area is pan-Asian in general, it is also pan-Chinese in itself with many businesses and shopping centers invested, owned, or staffed by Taiwanese and by overseas Chinese immigrants from various countries (namely Vietnam, Indonesian, and Thailand). The variety of strip malls sport Asian names, bringing the area a unique multicultural character and experience. it is also generally unlike Chinatown, San Francisco, undeniably still THE largest traditional Chinatown anywhere in North America, as strip malls remain scattered apart.
In the 1970s and 1980s, just prior to the incoming of the Asian immigrants, local employer General Motors laid-off thousands of workers in the area and light manufacturing began shuttering, thus resulting in blight. For several years, several shopping centers and strip malls - mostly of the 1950s and 1960s era - were abandoned and neglected by previous owners. New capital by Asian investors have helped greatly contribute to the revitalization of the area. The area has grown a great deal, now the international Chinese-language newspaper World Journal maintains a regional Atlanta office in Doraville. Interestingly, as with Bellaire Boulevard in Houston, Texas, the area on Buford Highway has the highest concentrations of Asian businesses and it is definitely one of a kind in southeastern Dixie.
[edit] Hawaii
The official and historic Chinatown of Honolulu, on North Hotel Street and Maunakea Street, contains traditional ethnic Chinese businesses. Chinatown was started by early Zhongshanese-speaking settlers in the 1890s and, as with other Chinatowns in the United States, it was noted for its unsanitary conditions. In the 1940s, it degenerated into a red-light district.
Today, it is also diverse with Pan-Asian and Pacific Islander businesses and the ethnic Chinese from Vietnam are largely demographically represented in Honolulu's Chinatown. Businesses include markets, bakeries, Chinese porcelain shop, and shops specializing with gingseng herbal remedies). In Chinatown, there are also bazaars and street peddlers in the Kekaulike Mall (located on Kekaulike Street) bringing it unique bustling ambiance to the community. The variety of restaurants serving Hong Kong-style dim sum and others in Vietnamese beef noodle soup are frequent in Chinatown. The history of Chinese revolutionary Dr. Sun Yat-sen - himself hailing from the Zhongshan region of Guangdong province of Mainland China - is tied to Hawaii, having receiving his Western education there. There is a monument in his honor in Honolulu's Chinatown. Vibrant Chinatown maintains its historic atmosphere but concurrently it is also undergoing gentrification. The commerce and cultural activity in the community is conducted by ethnic Chinese who immigrated from Vietnam. Most wealthy Chinese reside in Hawaii Kai, Hawaii.
[edit] Illinois
The Chinatown in Chicago has a traditional urban Chinatown occupying the area along Wentworth Avenue at Cermak Road south of downtown. This area has historically been dominated by commerce, though in recent years, residential developments have greatly increased the number of people living in the area. With restaurants, markets, shops, associations, and community services, this original Chinatown particularly attracts Chinese emigres hailing from China. The annual Chinese New Year and Chinese Double Ten Day Parade are held in Chinatown.
Chicagoans also refer to a Southeast Asian community on Argyle Street in the north side as the "New Chinatown", or alternately, as "Little Chinatown". But at this point, this "new" chinatown still pales in size and scope to the more traditional chinatown. This so-called "Chinatown" is actually frequented by the minority ethnic Chinese who were born in Vietnam and Cambodia.
[edit] Louisiana
The first original Chinatown of New Orleans existed on Tulane Avenue and South Rampart Street in the Faubourg Ste. Marie quarter from the 1870s until the 1930s and most of the original Chinatown buildings were razed in the late 1950s. A newer, synthetic "Chinatown" was developed in 2003 on Behrman Highway in suburban Terrytown.
[edit] Maryland
There existed a "Chinatown" on Park Ave. in Baltimore, Maryland, which was dominated by laundries and restaurant, but there are very few remainings of the community these days as there are many abandoned buildings.
Also, an extension of Washington, D.C.'s Chinatown exists in Rockville, Maryland, near Maryland Route 355 (Rockville Pike) with Taiwanese businesses.
[edit] Massachusetts
The sole established Chinatown of New England is in Boston, on Beach Street and Washington Street near South Station. There are many Chinese, Japanese, Cambodian and Vietnamese restaurants and markets. In the pre-Chinatown era, the area was settled in succession by Irish, Jewish, Italian and Syrian immigrants as each group replaced another. The Syrians were later succeeded by Chinese immigrants, and Chinatown was established in 1890. From 1960s-1980s, Boston's Chinatown was located near the Combat Zone, which served as Boston's red light district, but sandwiched between the dual expansions of Chinatown from the East and Emerson College from the West, the Combat Zone has shrunk to almost nothing. Currently, Boston's Chinatown is experiencing a threat from gentrification policies as large luxury residential towers are built in and surrounding an area that was overwhelmingly three, four, and five-story small apartment buildings intermixed with retail and light-industrial spaces.
In recent years, a newer magnet for Chinese commercial enterprises and residents (whereas calling it a "Chinatown" may still be premature) in the Greater Boston area has been rapidly emerging approximately 10 miles to the south on Hancock Street in suburban Quincy, due to the rapid influx of Mainland Chinese immigrants from the province of Fujian (many of whom are speaking the local Fujianese dialect of Chinese in addition to regular Mandarin Chinese) as well as a large growing Vietnam-born Chinese population. There are already several large Asian supermarket enterprises such as the major Kam Man Foods - located in President's Plaza - and Super 88 supermarket chains, and other businesses and social services that are giving the old Chinatown in downtown Boston a run for its money. Several businesses operating in Boston's Chinatown now have extensions in Quincy, as many are increasingly priced out of original Chinatown due to high rents there. Local businesses that once catered to gwai lo residents also now have services and signage in Chinese.
[edit] Michigan
Detroit's Chinatown was located on Cass Avenue and Peterboro Avenue before its destruction in the 1950s due to urban renewal. The last remaining Chinese food restaurant in Chinatown finally shut its doors in the 1990s. However, to this day, there are still road sign indicating "Chinatown", although nothing else actually remains of the community.
In the meantime, a new suburban "Chinatown", founded by later waves of immigrants, mixed with Taiwanese and Vietnamese businesses and housed in several strip malls, has emerged on John R Road and Dequindre Road in the predominantly WASP suburb of Madison Heights. The Chinese business district is now sprawling at least 3 miles in length. Some examples of retailers on the John R corridor are China Merchandise, Saigon Market, and Oriental Market.
[edit] Missouri
An original Chinatown, also called "Hop Alley", was in the city of St. Louis, Missouri before it was eventually replaced by Busch Stadium in the 1960s. During its prime, it had a plethora of hand laundries, but later Chinese restaurants became the primary economic source. By that time, attempts at establishing another Chinatown largely met with failure. This partly attributed to the fact that American-born Chinese descendants of the original settlers were fanning out throughout St. Louis and taking on mainstream careers than to slave away in their families' businesses.
Since the early 1980s, something short of a new "Chinatown" or basic Chinese businnes district has been taking shape in the St. Louis suburb of University City, Missouri on Olive Boulevard, approximately between 81st Street and McKnight Road. The business district of University City was once rundown but later waves of immigrants have come in and revitalize the area with a large number of Chinese and pan-Asian restaurants, grocers, bakeries and immigrant-run health services. However, it is not as comparable or extensive as the other Midwest Chinatown, Chinatown, Chicago. There have been some conflict over the proposed name of "Chinatown." In 2002, it was met with stiff opposition by some African - American residents and was also rejected by the city planning commission and, so instead, the name "U-City Olive Link" has been given to reflect and represent the cultural diversity of area. Some good Chinese restaurants include Lulu's Seafood Restaurant (which offers great dim sum brunch) and Won Ton King. Now steamy dim sum and a refreshing boba beverage are not difficult to find in the St. Louis area as such foods are available in the U-City Olive Link.
Although Olive Boulevard in University City is considered the main business center of Chinese Americans these days, the actual Chinese diaspora population tends to be spread throughout St. Louis area. Other Chinese immigrants with fairly substantial demographic representation in St. Louis include Vietnamese Chinese and Korean Chinese.
[edit] Nevada
The only Chinatown in Las Vegas was initially just a large shopping center called "Chinatown Plaza." It is the so-called "first master-planned Chinatown in America" with the Chinese American supermarket chain 99 Ranch Market serving as its anchor. The plaza location is west of the Las Vegas Strip and Interstate 15 at 4255 Spring Mountain Road, just outside the casino areas in what is a typical American neighborhood. However, as the Chinese American community continues to grow in Las Vegas (Vegas is itself the fastest-growing city in the U.S.), many adjacent shopping centers have been developed while others are still in the planning and development stages. The area has become more competitive as the large Shun Fat Supermarket mega-store opened its doors in the Japanese-styled Pacific Asian Plaza in Chinatown in the early 21st century. Still, Chinatown Plaza is considered the nucleus of the growth.
First built in early 1995, the infrastructure of Chinatown closely resembles many of the suburban Chinese business districts—that is, massive shopping centers and mini-malls with huge parking lots—found in the Chinese suburbs of California. Chinatown was generally made possible by the expansions of popular and successful Chinese retail and eatery enterprises already operating in the various Chinese-dominant communities in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles, with varied businesses such as Sam Woo BBQ Restaurant, Kim Tar Seafoog Restaurant, Harbor Palace Seafood Restaurant, Diamond Bakery, and America Asia Travel Center. However, it also has had the distinction of being officially designated a "Chinatown" by the city of Las Vegas with parking areas allotted for buses as well. (The Chinatown has its designated own exit off-ramp sign on Interstate 15.) Furthermore, the Chinese American population tends to be somewhat more dispersed throughout Las Vegas than in Southern California. Chinatown assuredly puts Chinatown, Manhattan to shame.
[edit] New Jersey
The Chinese population is fast-growing in New Jersey. There is now a booming new Chinatown with several authentic Chinese restaurants, banks and Asian supermarkets cropping up in suburban Edison, New Jersey on Route 27. An annual Chinese New Year event also takes place in this area. Over the past few years, many a Mainland Chinese immigrant professional have been moving away from the overcrowded New York City area (particularly Flushing, Queens and the rather clumsy and unwieldy Chinatown in Manhattan) and relocating to Edison, which is considered one of the most ethnically diverse suburban communities in New Jersey.
[edit] New York
New York City in particular contains a strong mainland Chinese presence. The Chinese that settle in New York City are often undocumented immigrants from the Fujian province of China. Although the Min-nan dialect (Hokkien) that they speak is similar to that spoken by the Taiwanese (Hoklo), there is relatively little social interaction between Fujianese and Taiwanese and indeed between the Fujianese and professionals and students from Mainland China. Although they would ordinarily have very little chance of gaining legal status, a large number of Fujianese benefited from the Chinese Student Protection Act of 1993 which granted permanent residence to PRC nationals in the United States as of 1990 regardless of whether they were students or not. Furthermore, the Cantonese-speaking population has also perceived the Fujianese as bringing crime and other social problems to Chinatown.
Chinese from Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam—especially ethnic Lao, Khmer, and ethnic Vietnamese—also settled New York as Vietnam War refugees. Many Chinese New Yorkers also include people whose parents or grandparents were from or born in Latin America. The most important Chinese Latin American populations are Chinese Puerto Ricans who are natural-born Americans of Chinese descent, Chinese-Cubans who fled from the Fidel Castro regime, and Chinese Peruvians who immigrated during the Velasco era and in the aftermath of a major Peruvian earthquake. Large numbers of Japanese, Koreans, Thais, Malaysians, Indonesians, Filipinos, and Pacific Islanders (mostly Hawaiians, Guamanians, and Samoans) also settled New York's Chinatowns.[citation needed]
[edit] Manhattan
The old Chinatown of New York City is centered around Canal Street in Manhattan, but at least two other satellite Chinatowns have cropped up on Roosevelt Avenue and Main Street in Flushing, Queens, which has actually surpassed the old Manhattan Chinatown and is today the largest in the U.S.[citation needed], and in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn around 50th to 65th Streets along 8th Avenue. Some portions of Manhattan's Little Italy, largely vacated by Italian Americans as they headed to the suburbs, are being engulfed by Chinatown. Manhattan's Chinatown is further subdivided and segregated into several smaller communities such as "Little Fuzhou" or "Fuzhou Street" (on East Broadway) because of the high prevalence of Fujianese Mainland Chinese immigrants—who speak Hokkien Chinese—in the area.
[edit] Queens
New York being an exception to many things, Flushing, Queens is hardly suburban, and Manhattan Chinatown still has many Chinese markets and other businesses, as well as a large Chinese-American population, including first-generation immigrants who speak little or no English and work in garment factories in the neighborhood. As a sign of its emerging prominence, Manhattan's Chinatown has also been featured in several films and television.
On the other hand, Flushing has more Taiwanese immigrants and businesses while the working-class Manhattan Chinatown remains Cantonese and Fujianese. With a distinctive Taiwanese character, many businesses in Flushing are concentrated in many older downtown-style buildings along Roosevelt Avenue, with more shops and businesses (for example, karaoke and boba drink places) catering to younger customers than in the grimy original Chinatown. Mainland Chinese immigrants have also made there way into Flushing. There are also mixed Korean influences in the enclave as well.
[edit] Brooklyn
The new Chinatown in Sunset Park has grown from a seedy, drunken neighborhood that had been virtually abandoned by its earlier immigrant settlers into a vibrant Chinese immigrant community with numerous businesses. "Brooklyn Chinatown" now extends for 20 blocks along 8th Avenue, from 42nd to 62nd Streets. With a booming population, the area is now extending into formerly Italian American communities such as Bay Ridge and Bensonhurst. Poorer but yet entrepreneurial Chinese emigres from Mainland China were the first to set up shop in Sunset Park, but they have been joined by arrivals of overseas Chinese from Vietnam who have also establishing various businesses in the community. New York's newest Chinatown is currently growing in another section of Brooklyn, along Avenue U in the Homecrest neighborhood.
[edit] North Carolina
There are two small Chinatowns in Charlotte, North Carolina, of which one is on the corner of North Tryon Street and Sugar Creek Road (Asian Corner Mall), and the other one is on Central Avenue near Briar Creek Rd.
Central Avenue (near Briar Creek Rd.) is the original "Chinatown" consisting of "Saigon Square" and 2 other Chinese shopping plazas, which consists of "Dim Sum Restaurant" (which serves New York styled dim sum), "Eang Hong Supermarket", "Van Loi" (which serves cha shao), and at least 12 other stores. Saigon Square has various Vietnamese stores including Pho Hoa (Vietnamese noodles).
Asian Corner Mall on North Tryon Street and Sugar Creek Road is the second Chinatown, developed from the defunct Tryon Mall in 1999, with "Dragon Court Restaurant", "Hong Kong BBQ", "International Supermarket", and "New Century Market" and several other Chinese/Vietnamese stores.
[edit] Ohio
Cleveland's Chinatown (often referred to as Asiatown) is one of several ethnic communities within the city proper, along with Little Italy and Slavic Village. The neighborhood is centered around St. Clair, Superior, and Payne Avenues just east of the central business district. The area also falls into the district limits of the Quadrangle which includes several colleges and mid-rise offices and light industrial areas. Several large Asian markets have opened in recent years, with at least two more under construction in 2007. Recently, the neighborhood has become a hot spot for warehouse conversions into residential lofts.
[edit] Oklahoma
Oklahoma City's Chinatown represents a new trend in urban cities that traditionally did not have a concentrated Asian population. Today's Asia District has transformed a once blighted urban area near Oklahoma City University due north of downtown into a myriad of restaurants, Asian supermarkets, shoppes, and galleries representing the growing mosaic of Asian residents of the city. Some of these businesses, such as markets, tend to be run by Vietnamese Chinese immigrants.
The area began as a Little Saigon back in the mid-1980s due to the more than 17,000 Vietnamese refugees that inhabited the area, but was recently renamed to "Asia District" to better reflect the true colors of the neighborhood.
[edit] Oregon
There is a Chinatown, on NW 4th Ave. above W Burnside St., in the Old Town Chinatown district of Portland. It is not very active and contains no actual Chinese markets. Unfortunately, many storefronts have remained abandoned for some time and only a few Chinese restaurants remain, including a historic chop suey restaurant. The building of the Portland chapter of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association still remains in Chinatown and it is open to the public. Indeed, unlike other Chinatowns in other cities, the population of Chinatown has not been renewed by later waves of immigration.
The Portland Classical Chinese Garden, located on NW 3st Ave. and NW Everett St., is also a major feature in Chinatown. It was designed by artisans from Suzhou, China.
There have been redevelopment proposals to turn Portland's Chinatown into an exotic ethnic playground for bok gwai revelers, which will possibly further dilute the Chinese character of neighborhood.
Given the expensive rents and tourist orientation of Chinatown and following the dual Chinatown pattern as present in several major metropolitan areas of North America, the thoroughfare of SE 82nd Ave. in the gritty Montavilla neighborhood of Portland is home to the city's newer Chinese business district, already with immigrant-oriented markets, Chinese seafood restaurants, and Vietnamese noodle eateries. It has been already pick up by the media as Portland's so-called "new chinatown". However, the Montavilla area is still marred by its drug and prostitution problems.[3]
[edit] Pennsylvania
Philadelphia
There is a Chinatown centered around Cherry Street and Race Street in Philadelphia. Over the years, parts of it kept being bought out for the Pennsylvania Convention Center, and the Vine Street Expressway. For the past few years, city officials have halted the buying up of Chinatown, particularly as a result of efforts by various yet unified coalition of grassroots groups (pan-ethnic, labor groups) working together to prohibit the conquest of Chinatown by white developers. Today it's growing fast, and spreading throughout Center City. Asian restaurants, funeral homes, and grocery stores are common sites. Philadelphia's Chinatown has residents mostly of Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, and Cambodian peoples. Korean, Japanese, and Filipino are also very common. Chinatown contains a mixture of businesses and organizations owned by the pan-Chinese diaspora, as Mainland Chinese, Vietnamese Chinese, Hong Kong Chinese, and Malaysian Chinese residing in the Philadelphia area call Chinatown home.
The counties surrounding Philadelphia, especially Montgomery and Bucks counties are seeing Asian culture becoming significant. Places such as Bensalem, King of Prussia, PA, the Main Line, and dozens of other cities and townships, are well-known Asian centers outside of Philadelphia's Chinatown. Bensalem Township and King of Prussia have large populations of Indians. Both cities have various Indian supermarkets, and retail. Korean and Chinese stores such as H-Mart, and the video store Woori also continue to pop up.
Pittsburgh
An old defunct Chinatown exists on Grant Street and Boulevard of the Allies in Pittsburgh, where two restaurants still exist. Newer stores exist on Penn Avenue near 18th Street in the Strip District.
[edit] Texas
[edit] Austin
A brand new Chinatown was constructed in 2006 on Lamar Boulevard. the ribbon cut ceremony was attended by Tejas Lt. Governor David Dewhurst and Chinatown prove to be a valuable addition to Austin. Asian grocer My Thanh Supermarket is the feature anchor of this special retail complex and does hosts the variety of Chinese and Vietnamese cuisine restaurants and specialty shops. a grand Chinese=style arch (paifang will be built to mark its entrance. As of October, not every store is open yet.
(Source: http://www.chinatownaustin.com)
[edit] Houston
Yet another example of the new-Chinatown/old-Chinatown contrast is Houston, Texas, where there is an old and largely disappearing Chinatown near the Convention Center on Chartre Street and McKinney Street in Downtown Houston, and a new shopping center and strip mall-laden Chinatown on Bellaire Boulevard in the mostly suburban southwestern part of the city.
Houston's Chinatown is not as high-profile as others like it around North America. Chinatown in eastern downtown retains restaurants but no habitations. To reverse the decline of Chinatown in Downtown Houston, business leaders have attempted to lure tourists as plans have been drawn up to develop a Chinese paifang on McKniney Street as its entryway.
By the 1970s, most newcomer Chinese to Houston were initially from the Republic of Taiwan as businessmen from there came for the purposes of trading and wholesale. In the early 1980s, Bellaire Boulevard initially started off as a Taiwanese immigrant strip mall called Diho Plaza anchored by a supermarket, but it has since grown to also include countless businesses owned predominantly by ethnic Chinese enterpreneurs from Vietnam, giving it a unique "Vietnamese" distinction. Houston's new Chinatown was originally an attempt to duplicate the commercial developments of the suburban Taiwanese immigrant community of Monterey Park in the Los Angeles area. The most popular Chinese mall on Bellaire Boulevard is the indoor Hong Kong City Mall, which houses a market, karaoke, food court, boutiques, Vietnamese restaurants, and a Cantonese seafood restaurant. All these major developments on Bellaire Boulevard have overshadowed the very tiny traditional Chinatown.
[edit] Dallas
An emerging Asian/Chinese population in the Dallas area has established a number of Chinese supermarkets in the high-tech centered area, mainly in suburban Richardson and Plano, but there are no classic "Chinatowns" a la San Francisco's in the city. In Richardson, the “DFW Chinatown” strip mall (on Greenville Avenue) serves as the focal point for overseas Chinese residing in the Dallas and Fort Worth areas, but at this point, the area has not matured enough to become a fully-fledged Chinese businness district; that is, in comparison to the lengthy Chinese strip to be found on Houston's Bellaire Boulevard.
[edit] El Paso
Archaeological work has been done to uncover the long history of El Paso's Chinatown, which stood from 1881 to around the 1920s. The area is significant in which it attracted a large number Chinese workers in the American Southwest and there a Chinatown sprung up.
[edit] Washington
The large Chinatown of Seattle has been consolidated as the International District in the 1950s, which is a now concentrated pan-Asian business district enclave along with Vietnamese and other Asian-origin people within the city. In the 1980s, Vietnamese refugees and immigrants formed the nearby Little Saigon next to Chinatown. There has been some controversy over the name "International District", in which local Chinese American inhabitants do not embrace the term due to it being a perceived insult, and thus preferring "Chinatown" as a source of pride. Ethnic Chinese have protect the ban by claiming to have settled the area first and Chinese businesses being more dominant in the area. Other Asian groups have accepted the term for the sake of political correctness. This local debate gained some attention and was covered in a story on Fox News.
A similar pan-Asian area, but not necessarily considered a "satellite Chinatown" per se, has proliferated in a form of a shopping center in the Seattle suburb of Kent. The name of the shopping center is Great Wall Mall. [4]
The historic Chinatown in the capital of Olympia disappeared by the 1940s. Three Chinatowns existed in Olympia after several relocations and the third Chinatown was at Water Street and 5th Avenue.
There was also a Chinatown in the Opera Alley section of Downtown Tacoma. in 1885, as with some other Chinatowns in North Anerica, disgruntled whites raid and burned down Chinatown during the "Tacoma Method". In commemoration of this tragic event, a special remembrance garden called the Chinese Reconciiation Park has been builded a short distance away in 2003. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/garden03.shtml
Today, the Lincoln International Business District has the greatest Asian dominated business (although mostly Vietnamese in influence) in the inner city.
[edit] Washington, D.C.
The old Chinatown of Washington, D.C. is on I Street and H Street, from 5th to 7th St NW. Today, it has roughly 10 Chinese restaurants, mostly geared towards tourists. It has been part of a redevelopment movement occurring in the Downtown Washington, D.C. area. Mainstream restaurant and retail chains have mostly filled in Chinatown.
While D.C.'s original Chinatown is now in the hands of gentrifiers, the newer and dense suburban collection of Chinese retail, restaurant, and services is located about 20 miles to the north along Rockville Pike in Rockville, Maryland, where there is a large Chinese immigrant population from Taiwan as well as a collection of strip malls. Among the assortment of businesses operating in the more modern Chinese retail strip in Rockville (but not found in original and touristy Chinatown in D.C.) are Maria's Bakery & Cafe (a chain based in Hong Kong serving up Hong Kong hot milk tea) and Ten Ren. Another popular Chinese restaurant to operate in Rockville is the Taiwan-based A & J Restaurant, which offers northern Mainland Chinese noodles and dumplings and also operates in other suburban communities in the U.S. (Los Angeles and San Jose metro areas).
[edit] See also
- List of U.S. cities with large Chinese American populations
- List of Canadian cities with large Chinese populations
[edit] External links to North American Chinatowns
[edit] Canada
- CBC News - Indepth: Chinese Migrants - History of Chinese immigration in Canada
- Chinatown Vancouver Online - British Columbia, Canada
- Toronto's 6 Chinatowns Blog - photos, restaurant reviews, trinkets
- Chinatown Saskatoon-Riverside
- Raise the Hammer - a brief mention of Hamilton's Chinatown
- Sino-Vietnamese: Chinese sub-ethnic relations in Toronto's Chinatown West District - Academic paper about the Chinese Vietnamese in Toronto's Chinatown (PDF file).
- Lists of Chinatown bus lines available in United States
- Historic Chinatown desperately seeking revival about Toronto
- http://www2.ville.montreal.qc.ca/urb_demo/q-chinois/chinatown1.htm L'Urbanisme À MontrÉal - Chinatown Development Plan official Web site
[edit] United States
- http://www.sanfranciscochinatown.com/ San Francisco Chinatown Largest Chinatown in North America
- Chinese Cultural Center - A Chinatown-themed shopping center located in Phoenix, Arizona
- Deadwood, South Dakota excavations - Remains of an old Chinatown
- Homepage for Chinatown, Los Angeles, USA
- Chinatown Parade and Festival
- Chinese Cultural Center in San Francisco
- Las Vegas Chinatown Plaza
- Article: Asian-themed centers quickly dotting the desert in Las Vegas - Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
- Library of Congress: The Chinese in California, 1850-1925
- The Chinese Beverly Hills - Asian Week article on the first Chinese American suburban community of Monterey Park, California, USA (Greater Los Angeles area).
- When Newark Had A Chinatown - A project researching the hidden history of a former Chinatown of a large American city, Newark, New Jersey
- Constructing New York's Chinatown: The Urban Development of a Neighbourhood
- Where the action is - Los Angeles Times article on the suburban Chinese business district of San Gabriel, California (Greater Los Angeles area).
- Urban Legends and Folklore: SARS Infects Restaurant Workers in Asian Neighborhoods - Lists Chinatown SARS hoaxes that were distributed online.
- The Chinese in Plumas County (California) - Several examples of early rural Chinatowns in Northern California.
- Lists of Chinatown bus lines available in United States
- http://www.chinatownhi.com Honolulu's Chinatown
- http://www.chicago-chinatown.com Chicago Chinatown
- http://www.oaklandchinatownstreetfest.com Oakland Chinatown StreetFest
[edit] Further reading
- Chinatowns: Towns Within Cities in Canada, David Chuenyan Lai, 1988
- The First Suburban Chinatown: The Remaking of Monterey Park, California, Timothy P. Fong, 1994
- San Gabriel Valley Asian Influx Alters Life in Suburbia Series: Asian Impact (1 of 2 articles), Mark Arax, Los Angeles Times, 1987
