Southern California Chinatowns
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There are at least seven Chinatowns in Southern California (Traditional Chinese: 南加利福尼亞的中國社巢, pinyin: Nán Jiālìfúníyà de Zhōng Guó shè cháo). One lies within the Los Angeles city limits, the others sit in the San Gabriel Valley. Unlike the official Chinatown in downtown Los Angeles, these communities are not really called "Chinatown" by the Chinese community there, but generally by the name of city or street in which the businesses and residences are established, for example, Monterey Park or Rowland Heights. See also Little Taipei.
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[edit] Los Angeles
- Main article: Chinatown, Los Angeles, California
The only Southern California Chinatown properly called Chinatown is located in the city of Los Angeles. It is the city's second Chinatown location; the first (demolished in the early 20th century) was on the site of what is now Union Station.
[edit] Rise of suburban "Chinatowns" in Southern California
There are at least five touristless suburban "Chinatowns" east of the old Chinatown, all contained within the San Gabriel Valley. While they contain prominent Chinese-language signage, these communities do not feature the Chinese-style gateways found in Chinatown. They have become renowned for their varieties of Chinese cuisine. They are unlike the Chinatown, Los Angeles or San Francisco Chinatown, the latter of which is undoubtedly still the largest in North America. Indeed, these "Chinatowns" tend to be suburban-style strip malls and shopping centers, and the amounts of them are fairly indicative of major Chinese diaspora population residing in the region. This has served as models for similar development in Chinatown, Las Vegas and Houston. Garvey Avenue in Monterey Park, Valley Boulevard in San Gabriel, and Colima Road in Rowland Heights are familiar landmarks to Chinese.
Wealthy 49er Taiwanese from Republic of China and some Hong Kong people first came to San Gabriel Valley region around late 1970s to early 1980s. Then the poorer Vietnamese Chinese (also called Hoa) refugees came after persecution by the communist government. Some Vietnamese Chinese began to fill an economic niche by opening and operating what Taiwanese and Hong Kong Chinese in general shunned, such as the supermarket trades, due to several potential risk factors involved. The Vietnamese Chinese came also to dominate other trades namely lower-end retail: Vietnamese restaurants, beauty salons, car repair, etc. in the San Gabriel Valley. This is why such businesses are dominant there.
What most have in common is they are generally anchored by various chains including 99 Ranch Market, Hong Kong Supermarket, Shun Fat Supermarket, Sam Woo Restaurant, Lollicup, Tapioca Express, and Quickly. Several business from Chinatown, Los Angeles have branches in the San Gabriel area. Another of the rapidly growing business ventures is Phoenix Food Boutique chain, which offers traditional Chinese cuisine as well as unique pastries and beverages. It originally started in Chinatown, Los Angeles in 1965 but in the 1990s and 2000s it expanded to the multiple Chinese communities in Alhambra, Arcadia, Rowland Heights, and South Pasadena. Many Chinese banks operate in these areas too, where major assets overseas are held. Banks include Cathay Bank, HSBC, and Bank of East Asia.
Talking about Chinese immigrant commerce in the region, Monterey Park served as the venue for the Larry Mantle program on the NPR radio affiliate KPCC. Monterey Park's effect on tourism in Chinatown, Los Angeles was featured on the "Life and Times" show on the Los Angeles PBS affiliate KCET.
The history of Chinese is not as deeply embedded or dominant in the Los Angeles area as other urban areas such as San Francisco or Vancouver (also widely esteemed as "Hongcouver"), but San Gabriel is the main hub. In the addition, San Gabriel Valley has also emerged as the main cultural center, as it is a media center for the Chinese diaspora population as well. Many Los Angeles editions of international Chinese language newspapers are based in the region, such as the World Journal (Monterey Park), International Daily News (Monterey Park), Sing Tao (Alhambra), the Epoch Times (San Gabriel), the China Press (Alhambra), and the Zhong Guo Daily (El Monte). Those and other various publications were each geared towards a specific reader - for example the World Journal is aimed at '49er Taiwanese and Mainland Chinese immigrants, Sing Tao is more directed for Hong Kong and Chinese Vietnamese immigrants, and the International Daily News for the anti-Kuomintang "native" Taiwanese. These newspapers are sold outside various Asian supermarkets and newsstands throughout Southern California. In addition, KAZN and KMNY, Mandarin language radio stations, operate out of Pasadena.
[edit] Monterey Park
With efforts spearheaded by immigrant realtor and developer Frederic Hsieh, he purchased land in Monterey Park and resold them at inflated prices to other immigrant developers who developed new Chinese-oriented shopping centers or purchased existing ones. Beginning in the 1970s, well-educated and affluent immigrants from Taiwan began settling in the west San Gabriel Valley, primarily in the city of Monterey Park, in what would become the new "Chinatown" in Greater Los Angeles. In the 1980s, second-generation Chinese Americans tended to move out of the old Chinatown and into the San Gabriel Valley suburbs, joining the new immigrants from Taiwan and Mainland China. While there has been immigration directly to the old urban Chinatown, Monterey Park remains the top choice for Chinese immigrants. The city is now regarded as a starting point for new Chinese immigrants. It was dubbed the "first suburban Chinatown" by the Los Angeles Times. Developers continually built more shopping centers, storefronts, and homes throughout the 1980s and resumed in the 1990s, but by the 2000s, the construction boom in the city was slowed greatly. By this time, businesses operating in Downtown Chinatown began setting up shop in Monterey Park.
Incidentally, in the mid-1980s, many Taiwanese Americans also began to move out of Monterey Park due to perceived overcrowding and high property values but Mainland Chinese and ethnic Chinese from Vietnam remained. Despite this movement, the city remains well-known for its great competing number of the Cantonese seafood restaurants, Hong Kong coffee shops, and various regional Mainland Chinese cuisines. Today, immigrants from Mainland China form the largest group in the city.
The first satellite Chinatown of Monterey Park is composed of Atlantic Boulevard, Garvey Avenue, and Garfield Boulevard.
[edit] Alhambra
During the late 1980s, after a moratorium against the building of new shopping centers took effect in Monterey Park, many Chinese immigrant developers turned north to Alhambra. Its vibrant satellite ad hoc "Chinatown" includes many Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants and other businesses that occupy a mixture of old storefronts and later-built strip malls along Valley Boulevard. There are many local and international Hong Kong and Taiwan banks operate here, such as the Bank of East Asia, Wing Lung Bank, and so on. A Vons market on Valley Boulevard was closed in 2006 due to lease expiration and will later replaced by a new Chinese supermarket. The strip mall already has some businesses owned and operated by ethnic Chinese from Vietnam.
[edit] San Gabriel and Rosemead
San Gabriel contains numerous Asian shopping centers and strip malls, also on Valley Boulevard and other businesses along San Gabriel Boulevard. While new pan-Chinese developments in Monterey Park nearly came to a halt in the 1990s, newer shopping centers were being constructed in San Gabriel at a rapid pace. The long sprawling thoroughfare comprises of two- to three-story mini-malls as well as some large Asian supermarkets in the region. Among the oldest shopping centers is San Gabriel Square (anchored by 99 Ranch Market), which has become the centerpiece for a new Chinatown. The awe-inspiring shopping center - the center piece for new "Chinatown" of sorts - was partly a result of the Proposition 13 from California, which lowered the property tax statewide and then had the effect on the losing of potential city revenue, and hence the development of this massive mall was approved. Another grand shopping center opened in 2004 and is anchored by Hilton Hotel, and the popular Japanese noodle restaurant chain Ajisen Ramen opened its U.S. location there. San Gabriel Superstore also is landmark strip mall, with indoor bazaars, restaurants and shops. San Gabriel is diverse with eateries offering Vietnamese pho, Mainland Chinese noodle and dumplings, Taiwanese drinks, and Hong Kong cafe specialties.
The new "Chinatown" strip has now expanded into the graffiti-marked city of Rosemead, albeit on a smaller scale and predominantly Vietnamese, already with the U.S. branch of the Richmond, British Columbia-based Sea Harbour Seafood Restaurant. March 2005 marked the opening of the Rosemead Supermarket, which replaced a defunct Ralph's Market, to cater to the Vietnamese Chinese tastes.
The new San Gabriel "Chinatown" served as the setting for the thriller novel The Jasmine Trade, authored by Los Angeles Times reporter Denise Hamilton.
[edit] Arcadia and Temple City
A newer Taiwanese commercial district is located south of Huntington Drive, on Baldwin Avenue in upscale Arcadia. The Din Tai Fung restaurant, which has its offices based in the Chung Hsiao district of Taipei, Taiwan, is particularly popular in Arcadia. More and more Chinese businesses are opening in Arcadia as well, essentially reducing the cultural influence that Monterey Park had in the early 1980s.
In recent decades many Taiwanese families have established businesses along Las Tunas Drive in Temple City. A large portion of these businesses are wedding shops, selling products such as bridal gowns and photography, nicknamed "Bridal Row." The stores are largely storefont operations along a classic 1950s- or 1960s-era suburban downtown, with most parking in the rear.
[edit] Rowland Heights
Rowland Heights' Chinese retail corridor is on Colima Road and Nogales Avenue and is intermixed with a Korean community. Taiwanese and Mainland Chinese immigrant businesses, namely the eateries, are gradually occupying the strip malls across the Puente Hills Malls.
Hong Kong Plaza contains numerous restaurants. In addition, the highly popular Diamond Plaza, formerly anchored by 99 Ranch Market, is located north of Colima Road corridor on Fullerton Road, and remains popular spot for younger Taiwanese people, with varied restaurants (offering Cantonese dim sum and seafood, Mainland Chinese noodle and dumplings, Thai, and Vietnamese food) and boutiques. Diamond Plaza is also a center for Chinese American nightlife, including bookstores, cafes, and bubble tea shops. Business in this area is especially conducted through Mandarin Chinese.
Nearby in Hacienda Heights, Hsi Lai Temple - a Buddhist temple - was built in 1988, though the proposed development was opposed by local whites. By the time the temple's construction had been finished, white people began to leave the community and as a result are no longer dominant. Unlike the Rowland Heights, Hacienda Heights has just a small scattering of Chinese businesses, including a strip mall with a 99 Ranch Market. Rowland Heights remains the Chinese cultural center. Besides Rowland Heights and Hacienda Heights, areas with high percent of Chinese reside in Walnut, California, Diamond Bar, California, and Chino Hills, California. Many Chinese companies operate in City of Industry, California.
[edit] Irvine
An upper-middle class city with a rising population of Asians. It is one of the few cities to have two 99 Ranch Markets.
[edit] References
- Timothy P. Fong, The First Suburban Chinatown: The Remaking of Monterey Park (Temple University Press) ISBN 1-56639-262-4
