Stroll through Chinatown

Stroll through Chinatown, and if you're not trapped in line at Howlin' Rays or munching on a slice of Phoenix Bakery's famous strawberry cake, you can discover local history through small signs on buildings and historical markers that dot the sidewalks. Today, the area faces more change, thanks to a new wave of gentrification. Nouveau foodie joints attract young crowds while old school restaurants still draw regulars. Developers erect high-end apartment buildings but some seniors halted a proposed rent increase.

Born out of necessity for a community displaced by racism and civic development, the neighborhood has endured for more than 80 years — but the Chinatown we know today isn't Los Angeles's first such enclave.

A man assists a child across the street on wooden planks in L.A.'s Old Chinatown, circa 1930s.

(Security Pacific National Bank Collection/Los Angeles Public Library Collection)

Not So Ancient History

Almost nothing remains of Los Angeles's original Chinatown, which sprung up in the mid-1800s near the city's origins, on Olvera Street.

China in the 19th century was in the midst of a population boom, resulting in "land shortages, famine and an increasingly impoverished rural population." Fleeing poverty and political upheaval, Chinese migrants crossed the Pacific for greener pastures in the United States. They often ended up in California, working in industries like mining and agriculture.

They began settling in and around the area now known as El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument, the oldest part of the city. This was a time of immense growth for L.A., which had only become part of the United States in 1848. Near the city's center, multiple ethnic neighborhoods — the French colony, Little Italy, Sonoratown, Little Tokyo — took shape while wealthier residents headed to chic neighborhoods like Bunker Hill. Chinatown grew as laborers poured in to work on projects like the San Fernando Tunnel in Newhall.
Once here, they faced profound racial discrimination. Newspaper stories spawned negative stereotypes and disparaged Chinese people. Fears that new arrivals were taking jobs from white people stoked growing anti-Chinese sentiment. Racist violence was a reality. That didn't stop immigrants.

By 1870, L.A. was a city of approximately 5,000 people, about 200 of whom were Chinese. Half of them lived on Calle de Los Negros, an alley tucked between El Pueblo Plaza and Old Arcadia Street.

On the night of October 24, 1871, the powder keg of resentment and racism exploded into one of the worst lynchings in U.S. history.

After a police officer and a civilian were shot during a gunfight between rival gangs, a mob of 500 people laid siege to one of Chinatown's most important buildings. The mob robbed, beat and murdered approximately 18 Chinese people. (The exact number of people who were killed has been hard to pin down.) Eight people were tried and found guilty for the Chinese Massacre of 1871 but their convictions were later overturned.

A decade later, in 1882, the federal Chinese Exclusion Act prevented Chinese immigrants from becoming U.S. citizens. The California Alien Land Law of 1913 prevented "aliens ineligible for citizenship" from buying land.

Still, Chinatown's population grew as Chinese people moved from rural areas to an urban one.