Chinatown, Los Angeles
Chinatown, Los Angeles, California was originally located less than a mile from its current location. There are now other satellite Chinese communities that are not officially classified as "Chinatown" per se, but are well known, such as Monterey Park and San Gabriel.
Between 1852, when the first Chinese immigrants were reported to be in Los Angeles, to 1890 a distinct community of over 3,000 persons of Chinese origin flourished. This original Chinatown was located between El Pueblo Plaza and Old Arcadia Street, stretching eastward across Alameda Street.
Reaching its heyday from 1890 to 1910, Chinatown grew to approximately 15 streets and alleys containing 200 buildings. It was large enough to boast a Chinese Opera theatre, three temples, its own newspaper, and a telephone exchange. Discriminatory laws prohibiting most Chinese from citizenship and property ownership and Exclusion Acts curtailing immigration unfortunately inhibited future growth for the district.
From the early 1910s Chinatown began to decline. Symptoms of a corrupt Los Angeles discolored the public's view of Chinatown; gambling houses, opium dens, and a fierce tong warfare severely reduced business in the area. As tenants and lessees rather than outright owners, the residents of Old Chinatown were threatened with impending redevelopment and as a result the owners neglected upkeep on their buildings. Eventually, the entire area was sold and resold, as entrepreneurs and town developers fought over usage of the area. After 30 years of continual decay, a Supreme Court ruling approved condemnation of the entire area to allow for the construction of the new major rail terminal, Union Station.
Seven years passed before an acceptable relocation proposal was put into place, situating Chinatown in its present day location. During that long hiatus, the entire area of Old Chinatown was demolished, leaving many businesses without a location, and forcing some of them to close permanently.
In the late 1950s the covenants on the use and ownership of property were removed, allowing Chinese Americans to live in other neighbourhoods and gain access to new types of employment.
The main streets running through the new Chinatown are Broadway, Spring Street, and Hill Street. Chinatown is located in downtown Los Angeles between Dodger Stadium and the Los Angeles Civic Center.
The design and operational concepts for New Chinatown evolved through the collective community process, resulting in a blend of both Chinese and American architecture. The Los Angeles Chinatown saw major development, especially as a tourist attraction, throughout the 1930s. During the 1980s, many buildings were constructed for new shopping centers. Many of the older 1930s-era buildings in the northeast corner of New Chinatown (near the Pasadena Freeway) were previously abandoned and are now primarily used as art galleries by Caucasian artists. New Chinatown is served by the Gold Line of the MTA; interestingly parts of Old Chinatown where uncovered while excavating for another part of the L.A. subway.
The film Rush Hour, starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, was filmed on location in the Los Angeles Chinatown.
Violence
In 1871, 19 Chinese men and boys were murdered by a mob of 500 locals in one of the most serious incidents of racial violence that has ever occurred in America's West. This incident became known as "The Chinese Massacre".