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New Chinatown, Los Angeles

 
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Title
New Chinatown, Los Angeles
Description
View of Sun Mun Way on west side of Central Plaza; benches; signs above door read: Rice Bowl, Entrance; Lim's Cafe; and Tuey Far Low; benches; signs on balcony read:"Dancing, Cocktails, and Chinese Food" sign on roof reads:"Rice Bowl, Famous Chinese Foods, Dancing"
Format Extent
1 postcard : b&w ; 9 x 14 cm.
Subject
Chinese Restaurants--California--Los Angeles; Decoration and ornament, Architectural--California--Los Angeles; Gift shops--California--Los Angeles;
Note
The original Los Angeles Chinatown began in the late 1800s as a small settlement on Calle De Los Negros, between El Pueblo Plaza and Old Arcadia Street, and expanded east across Alameda Street. Suffering from absentee landlords and a lack of municipal services and code enforcement, the area was in decline when the city forced residents out and demolished it to make way for the new Union Station Terminal. Two new Chinatowns were created: China City, a tourist attraction, complete with rickshaw rides, brainchild of Christine Sterling, founder of Olvera Street; and New Chinatown, a business and residential neighborhood created and funded by the Chinese community under the leadership of Peter Soo Hoo. Both opened to great fanfare in 1938. Central Plaza is also known as Peter Soo Hoo Plaza. Tuey Far Low, first located in old Chinatown on Alameda and Marchessault, was the site of a fundraising banquet in the early 1900s in support of Sun Yat-Sen's fight for a Chinese republic. On April 22nd, 1937, Peter Soo Hoo, Herbert Lapham and others met there to form a corporation to build New Chinatown. Tuey Far Low reopened on Sun Mun Way in the Central Plaza in 1938.
Collection
Werner von Boltenstern Postcard Collection
Type
Geographic Location
Chinatown (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Language
eng
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