List of Chinatowns in the United States
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This is a list of Chinatowns in the United States. Arizona * Jerome - There was a small Chinatown in the 1870s * Phoenix - Chinese immigrants working as railroad workers established the first Chinatown in downtown Phoenix at First and Adams Street in the present location of US Airways Arena. All building have been torn down except for the Sun Mercantile Building. * Prescott - Granite Street, between Goodwin and Gurley Street was the location of a Chinatown and more than 200 Chinese during late 19th and early 20th century. The area was razed in 1934 in order to make room for new construction. * Tucson - A Chinatown began to form in Tucson after the railroad arrived in 1880. Tucson's Chinese population was very small and never exceeded 2% of the cities population. It's remaining and partly abandoned structures were demolished in 1968. However, in 1968 researchers discovered a complex called the "Ying On compound" still contained a group of working class elderly Chinese men. California As the first part of North America to see immigration by Chinese people, many towns in California have historic Chinatowns, some of them surviving today, while various rural communities were Chinatowns in and of themselves. * Bakersfield - Historical Chinatown located on 19th, 20th, and 21st Streets, and on L and M Streets. * Calico Ghost Town had its own Chinatown. * Chinatown, Amador County, California - former settlement in Amador County *Chinatown, Mono County, California - community in Mono County *Chinese Camp - Highway 49, old gold mining town of early Chinese residents and shops near Yosemite National Park * Eureka - ordered demolished after tong war in 1886 *Fiddletown - historic mining community which was populated by up to 5000 Chinese. The Chinese medicine store Chew Kee Store operates today as a museum * Fresno - defunct, but there are efforts to revitalize it * Hanford - China Alley, between Green Street and White Street (Chinese buildings still standing, but not particularly culturally active) * Los Angeles - Broadway, Spring Street. * Marysville * Nevada City - defunct, but a cemetery remains ** North San Juan ** Truckee - defunct, only one building remains * Newcastle - historic Chinatown * Oakland - Broadway, 7th Street, Harrison Avenue, 10th Street * Oroville * Riverside - Brockton and Tequesquite (historic site - National Register of Historic Places) **Richmond's Pacific East Mall anchors the adjacent EL Cerrito area known as "Little Taipei". * Sacramento - 3rd, 5th, J, and I Streets ** Isleton - includes the preserved historic Bing Kung Tong Building ** Locke - rural town including Locke Historic District - National Register of Historic Places ** Walnut Grove * Salinas - defunct, soledad Street, Bing Kong Tong Chinese Free Masons building remains but the area is nowadays a decrepit skid row * San Diego - historic Market and K Streets, 2nd and 5th Avenues near the Gaslamp Quarter, re-themed as the Asian Pacific Thematic Historic District * San Francisco (See Chinatown, San Francisco.) * San Gabriel Valley (including Monterey Park, San Gabriel, Alhambra, Rowland Heights, Temple City) * San Jose - defunct "Chinatown" on Market Street and San Fernando Street (Source: http://marketstreet.stanford.edu/), though a historical sign exists on the Fairmont Hotel that says the Chinatown was burned down by arson on May 4, 1887. This was immediately followed by a prosperous Chinatown, named "Heinlenville" after the landlord, bounded by Sixth, Seventh, Jackson, and Taylor Street, on the edge of what is now Japantown. It was an active and thriving Chinese community that was eclipsed only by San Francisco in terns of population. It began to dissolve in the 1930s as the Heinlen family went bankrupt, buildings decayed, new generations migrated to other parts of the valley such as Saratoga and Cupertino, and the city began seizing parcels of Chinatown to use as a construction yard . It is now a fenced off, decomposing concrete lot, occupied on the south by a small area for parking in Japantown. *San Luis Obispo - Palm Street, a collection of closed restaurants and the historic Ah Louis store remain. *Stockton - Washington Street and Chung Wah Lane, vastly diminished since the 1960s but several Chinese facilities are still fairly active on two blocks (including a Chinese restaurant in operation since the 1890s) * Weaverville - a gold mining-era town that had a Chinatown but burned down in 1906. The remaining Taoist joss house is on the National Register of Historic Places Colorado * Denver - along Federal Blvd. and Alameda Avenue District of Columbia * Washington - Florida * Miami - NE 167th Street and 163rd Street, between NE 6th Avenue and NE 19th Avenue * Orlando - State Route 50, on both sides of I-4 (mix of Chinese and Vietnamese) * Tampa - Intersection of Waters and Armenia Aves., ~1 mile radius Georgia * Buford Highway - Atlanta/Chamblee/Doraville Hawaii *Honolulu - Beretania Street, Maunakea Street Idaho *Boise - founded in 1901 and lasted until 1970s, formerly on 8th Street and Front Street Illinois * Chicago - Along Wentworth at Cermak. Indiana Carmel, Indiana has seen a substantial growth in ethinic Chinese population. Talks of building a Chinatown is in the works. Maryland * Baltimore - Park Avenue, between Saratoga and Mulberry Streets. Massachusetts * Boston - Kneeland Street * North Quincy Michigan * Detroit (historic): Detroit's first Chinatown, the historic "Old Chinatown," was originally located on Third Avenue between Michigan and Bagley. Increasing in size and population between the 1920s and 1950s, "Old Chinatown" was eventually condemned for a "slum clearance" project that ultimately resulted in the construction of the John C. Lodge Freeway in 1959. In the early 1960s, residents and business owners of the Chinese American community relocated to the Cass Corridor, where "New Chinatown" was unveiled as Detroit's new ethnic and commercial district. Throughout the 1970s and 80s, high crime and unemployment rates rocked the city, leading many residents of "New Chinatown" to fear for their safety. Both the shooting of Tommie Lee at Bow Wah's Restaurant in 1976 and the killing of Vincent Chin in 1982 lead many Chinese Americans who lived in the city to move their families and businesses to the surrounding suburbs. Today, the Association of Chinese Americans' Detroit Drop-in Service Center still operates at Peterboro and Cass, providing social and welfare services to a small community of elderly Chinese immigrants who live nearby. The hallmark Cantonese restaurant, Chung's, closed its doors in 2004. * Madison Heights: Just north of Detroit in Madison Heights, there is a small but present strip of East Asian commercial outlets along John R. Road, which include restaurants and retail managed by individuals of Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, and Filipino descent. Also located in Madison Heights is the Association of Chinese Americans' Chinese Community Center. Although the Chinese American population of Southeast Michigan is comparatively smaller than other American cities, the Detroit chapter of the ACA is the only branch of the Organization of Chinese Americans to have a fully operational community center, as well as two satellite service centers. * Helena - the capital city of the territory and then state (1889) of Montana had a relatively large Chinatown, several blocks long and a few blocks wide, which was mostly destroyed during the urban renewal of the 1970s. This area, south of Ming Street, is now the Lewis and Clark County Library, the 'old' Federal Building, parking lots, and several parks. Nebraska * Omaha, Nebraska - defunct, vicinity of 12th and Douglas Streets with the On Leong Tong based at 111 North 12th. King Fong's Cantonese at 315 South 16th Street was opened in 1921 by Gin Ah Chin with elaborate furnishings imported from Hong Kong. (Source: E Pluribus Omaha: Immigrants All by Harry Otis and Donald Erickson, 2000) Nevada * Las Vegas - Asian commercial plazas along Spring Mountain Road * Virginia City- a historic Chinatown which had a Chinese population of over 1500 in the 1870s. New Jersey * Edison * Chinatown, Newark a small Chinatown that grew to its largest in the 1920s and no longer exists today * Pleasantville - new one started on Black Horse Pike, near Atlantic City New York New York City has now become the largest magnet for immigration from Mainland China and has become highly diverse, with Fujianese, Wenzhounese, Shanghainese, Cantonese, Taiwanese, Dongbei, and various other types of Chinese people: * Lower Manhattan - Main articles: Chinatown, Manhattan and * Flushing, Queens - * Elmhurst, Queens - previously a small area with Chinese shops on Broadway between 81st Street and Cornish Avenue, Queens' second Chinatown has now expanded to 45th Avenue and Whitney Avenue. * Sunset Park, Brooklyn - * Homecrest, Brooklyn - Avenue U - southern Brooklyn's second Chinatown. * Bensonhurst, Brooklyn - below the D-line elevated subway along on 86th Street between 18th Avenue and Stillwell Avenue has emerged southern Brooklyn's third Chinatown. North Carolina * Charlotte - Central Avenue (near Briar Creek Rd.) is the original "Chinatown" consisting of "Saigon Square" and a pair of other Chinese shopping plazas that include "Dim Sum Restaurant" (which serves New York styled dim sum), the "Eang Hong Supermarket", "Van Loi" (which serves cha shao), and a dozen or so other stores. ** Saigon Square has various Vietnamese (albeit not Chinese) stores including Pho Hoa (Vietnamese noodles). ** Asian Corner Mall on North Tryon Street and Sugar Creek Road, 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. Ohio * Cleveland - Historic neighborhood around Payne Avenue, E. 30th Street and Rockwell Avenue. Also known as “AsiaTown,” it features a large number of shops, markets, galleries and restaurants. It is also home to many annual events, including the Cleveland Dragonboat Festival in September and the Cleveland Asian Festival in May. * Cincinnati - defunct (Source: http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2001/12/06/loc_sept_11_evokes.html) Oklahoma * Oklahoma City - roughly along N. Classen Blvd from N. 22nd Street to N. West 36th ** Old Chinatown, Downtown - In the first half of the 20th century, hundreds of Chinese immigrants lived in an historic "underground Chinatown" beneath what is now the Cox Convention Center. The chambers were rediscovered, long-abandoned, in 1969. Oregon * Portland (See Chinatown, Portland) * Jacksonville - has a defunct Chinatown (oldest in Oregon) * John Day - late 19th century Pennsylvania * Philadelphia - Cherry St area * Pittsburgh - ** Defunct old Chinatown around Blvd of the Allies and Grant St *** One Chinese restaurant, Chinatown Inn, still exists from the original Chinatown in two of its original buildings. *** Original tenants in the old original Pittsburgh Chinatown, all of which are gone today, included: **** Wing Hong Chinese Co., 519 Second Ave **** Hop Ching Wing, at 527 Second Ave **** Quong Yuen Lee Co., 505 Second Ave **** Quong Chong Shing, 511 Second Ave **** Sun Wing Sing Co, 507 Second Ave **** Quong Wah Hai Co., 314 Second Ave **** Lee Jan Fueng, 521 Second Ave * Harrisburg - Cameron Street South Dakota * Deadwood Tennessee * Memphis - Summer Avenue (east) near I-240 Texas * Houston - Chartres Street in East Downtown, and Chinatown at Bellaire Boulevard and Beltway 8. * Dallas-Fort Worth **Richardson - Greenville Avenue **Garland - Walnut Street **Plano - Legacy/U.S. 75 * Austin - prefabricated Chinatown Center on Lamar Boulevard, billed as Austin's "Chinatown" (new as of 2006) Utah * Salt Lake City, Utah - defunct one on Plum Alley Virginia * Alexandria, Virginia - A "satellite" of the Washington, DC Chinatown. Washington *Olympia - 5th Avenue and Water Street, defunct by the 1940s, this Chinatown was founded by the Lok family from Taishan in Guangdong, China. (Washington Governor Gary Locke is a descendant) * Seattle (See International District, Seattle, Washington.) ** Kent -Chinese-themed indoor mall on East Valley Highway, * Spokane - defunct by the 1940s, it was on Trent Alley in downtown Spokane but is now a parking lot today *Tacoma - defunct, burned down in 1885 (see Lincoln International District.)
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