While L.A.'s Chinatown is now less than a square mile, snug between Elysian Park's Dodger Stadium and neighboring Lincoln Heights, it used to be much bigger. For generations, it was home to families who struggled to find permanent housing elsewhere due to redlining laws.
Today, there's tension around the question: Who is Chinatown for? There's a fight to protect the neighborhood's existence as a working-class immigrant ethnic enclave. Over the past decade, many Chinatown businesses moved to the San Gabriel Valley, where there is a larger Asian base.
If you visit the Chinese American Museum, you'll find old brochures and ads that describe Chinatown as a spectacle and show families exoticizing themselves to fulfill the fantasies of outsiders. For 50 cents in 1941, one could see 'Outstanding Chinese talent! Magnificent oriental pageantry!'.
A number of new projects vow to protect Chinatown's history, showcasing a transformation with new businesses being launched by a new generation of Asian American creatives, while maintaining the cultural legacy.
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