The Los Angeles Times has a good story about the changing face of Chinatown -- the area of Downtown L.A. where the Chinese setlled during the second half of the 19th century.
Though much smaller in size than the Chinese quarters of San Francisco and New York, L.A.'s version has nonetheless been traditionally known as a fascinating blend of family-owned shops, touristy malls that sell everything from cheap tourist trinkets to silk, inlaid furniture or jade jewelry, acupuncturists, herbalists, dim sum houses and ethnic eateries. However, as David Pierson writes,L.A.'s old Chinatown of family shops and traditions is grudgingly giving way to galleries and lofts. Even Quentin Tarantino is buying in.It's all part of the gentrification/blandification of Downtown -- with its inevitable loft conversions, trendy bars, hiking prices, and loss of character. But also with a great, evolving art and gallery scene. Worth visiting while the two Chinatowns still coexist.
During the day, the faded red lanterns that crisscross Chung King Road in Chinatown dangle listlessly above a row of Chinese antique and trinket shops that have seen better times. But on a recent Saturday night, after the gates on the Chinese shops were pulled down, another Chinatown sprang to life near L.A.'s downtown.
Modern art galleries that have filled Chinatown's storefronts in recent years opened, and the red lanterns were illuminated. A mostly bohemian crowd jostled to view abstract drawings and photographs of Brazilian prostitutes.
Amid the fashionably dressed visitors drinking Mexican beer and smoking cigarettes, an elderly Chinese woman scoured the street for empty cans, even accepting ones out of the hands of art patrons. These days, there are two Chinatowns — one on the rise, the other on the decline. [more]
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