CLEVELAND CHARLES (CHERLEY) JUNG MERCHANT OF CHINATOWN FROM 1297 ONTARIO STREET IN CHINATOWN
Mott Street (Chinese: 勿街; Jyutping: Mat6gaai1) is a narrow but busy thoroughfare that runs in a north–south direction in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is regarded as Chinatowns unofficial "Main Street". Mott Street runs from Bleecker Street in the north to Chatham Square in the south. It is a one-way street with southbound-running vehicular traffic only.
History
Early configuration
Mott Street existed in its current configuration by the mid-18th century. At that time, Mott Street passed just to the east of the Collect Pond; Collect Park today is three blocks to the west at Centre Street. Like many streets that predated Manhattans grid, Mott Street meandered around natural features of the landscape rather than running through or over them. It was the need to avoid the now-long since paved-over Collect Pond that gave Mott Street its characteristic "bend" to the northeast at Pell Street.
Having been previously known as Old Street, as well as Winne Street (also spelled Wynne) for the section between Pell and Bleecker, Mott Street was renamed in the late 18th century to honor the prominent local family of the same name, likely in particular businessman Joseph Mott, a butcher and tavern owner who provided support to the rebel forces in the American Revolution.[1][2]
During the 19th century, the lower portion of Mott Street south of Canal Street was part of the Five Points, a notorious slum neighborhood in lower Manhattan. In 1872, Wo Kee, a Chinese merchant, opened a general store on Mott Street near Pell Street. In the years to follow, Chinese immigrants would carve out an enclave around the intersection of Mott, Doyer, and Pell Streets. At the time, it was mostly Guangdongese males who immigrated, and what was to become Chinatown first began as a very small Bachelors Society. Most of these immigrants were from Taishan, in southwestern Guangdong, China, so as a result it was originally aTaishanese community.[3][4] That all changed during the 1960s, when an influx of Cantonese immigrants from Hong Kong and Taiwan began arriving, as well. As a result, Chinatown began expanding quickly, and Standard Cantonese, which is spoken in Guangzhou, China and in Hong Kong, became the dominant language of the neighborhood. At the time, Chinatown was emerging and growing as a[5] Little Hong Kong, but the growth slowed down later on.[6][7][8][9] Manhattans Chinatown has since grown into the largest Chinatown in the United States, engulfing a large swath of the Lower East Side. Nevertheless, the historic heart of Chinatown, as well as the primary destination for tourists, is still Mott Street between Canal Street and Chatham Square. This is center of what is known as the Old Chinatown of Manhattan.[10][11]
The Beginning of the Chinese Community
In 1824, 65 Mott Street became New York Citys first building specifically built to be a tenement[12] (2013 photo)
Ah Ken is reported to have arrived in the area in 1858; he is the first Chinese person credited as having permanently immigrated to Chinatown. As a Cantonese businessman, Ah Ken eventually founded a successful cigar store on Park Row.[13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] He was "probably one of those Chinese mentioned in gossip of the sixties [1860s] as peddling awful cigars at three cents apiece from little stands along the City Hall park fence – offering a paper spill and a tiny oil lamp as a lighter", according to author Alvin Harlow in Old Bowery Days: The Chronicles of a Famous Street (1931).[15]
Later immigrants would similarly find work as "cigar men" or billboard carriers, and Ah Kens particular success encouraged cigar makers William Longford, John Occoo, and John Ava to also ply their trade in Chinatown, and eventually form a monopoly on the cigar trade.[22]
It has been speculated that it may have been Ah Ken who kept a small boarding house on lower Mott Street and rented out bunks to the first Chinese immigrants to arrive in Chinatown. It was with the profits he earned as a landlord, earning an average of $100 a month, that he was able to open his Park Row smoke shop around which modern-day Chinatown would grow.[13][17][23][24][25][26]
Historic Cantonese gangs
For more than 20 years, Cantonese gangs based on Mott Street terrorized Chinatown. The Ghost Shadows made this street their territory once the On Leong Tong Gang, also known as the On Leong Chinese Merchants Association, that dominated the street, gave their approval. The approval was not easy obtained, since it involved a bloody battle over the territory. Nicky Louie, who immigrated from Hong Kong to Manhattans Chinatown in the late 1960s, ran the Ghost Shadows gang with 50 or more members also originating from Hong Kong. With the Ghost Shadows controlling Mott Street during the 1970s, they affiliated with the On Leong Tong. The On Leong Tong were the wealthiest and most influential gang organization in Chinatown. Working with the On Leong earned the Ghost Shadows a portion of money earned by the Tongs activities. The gangs were the guards of the gambling houses in the On Leong territory that operated in the poor conditions of lofts and basements along Mott Street. During the period of the 1980s and 1990s, the gangs also ran a protection racket, whereby shopkeepers paid the gangs a negotiated cash fee for protection. The negotiations often involved drinking tea and were often very peaceful.
The gangs also acted as runners in the Chinatown Connection heroin trade between the Canada–US border and New York, and spread the drug throughout the state. On Leong Gang was like most Chinatown gangs in the past, running a legitimate enterprise, serving as a business collective known as the On Leong Chinese Merchants Association, a crutch for immigrants, even a loan company. The Ghost Shadows were very territorial about Mott Street; in one example, the Ghost Shadows had spotted a White Eagle member walking alone, and kidnapped him by a car, and threw him in the East River, attempting to drown him.
The 1970s was the most violent gang-related period in Chinatown. Gunshots often rang out, and sometimes tourists would be unintentionally injured. Other gangs that existed were Chung Yee, Liang Shan, the Flying Dragons, the White Eagles, and the Black Eagles[27][28][29]
Description
In Chinatown
As Chinatowns "Main Street"
Looking north at Mott and Pell Streets at night
Mott Street at Chatham Square; a Citibank is in the foreground
Today this stretch of Mott Street is lined with souvenir shops, tea houses and restaurants, including Wo Hop restaurant at 17 Mott Street and 15 Mott Street, all catering largely to tourists. In 2003, the 32 Mott Street General Store closed due to the effects of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the Chinatown economy. The proximity of the attack along with street closures in lower Manhattan (especially the ongoing closure of Park Row under 1 Police Plaza) had cut off much business to Chinatown. 32 Mott had been the longest continuously operating store in Chinatown, established in 1891.
Mott Street north of Canal Street was historically part of Little Italy. Today it is predominantly Chinese. This section of Mott Street between roughly Canal and Broome Streets has a number of Chinese-owned fish and vegetable markets, as well as some remaining Italian businesses. The commercial establishments here cater more to the day-to-day needs of Chinatown residents than tourists. There are also shops that sell baby jackets, bamboo hats, and miniature Buddhas.
Little Hong Kong/Guangdong
This portion of Chinatown along with the rest of the western portion of Chinatown still continues to be the main center of the Cantonese community since the beginning of Chinatown and the main Chinese business commercial district for the whole Chinatown neighborhood or known as the unofficial center of Chinatown. The western portion of Chinatown is also what was the original size and historic part of Manhattans Chinatown or known as the Old Chinatown of Manhattan[10][11] until the eastern part of Chinatown just east of the Bowery became more fully developed due to the influx of Fuzhou immigrants during the 1980s-90s primarily on the East Broadway and Eldridge Street portion, which became the new Chinatown.[30] The Bowery, which once served as the borderline of Chinatown is now[31] the divider between the Cantonese Chinatown to the west and Fuzhou Chinatown to the east.[32]
It continues to be a business district catering to not only the Cantonese customers of the Lower East Side, but also to Cantonese people that reside in more affluent places that are also important customers to Chinatowns businesses. The western portion of Chinatown is also a Little Hong Kong (小香港 siu2 hoeng1 gong2), which was a name that was used at one point to describe Manhattans Chinatown when the Hong Kong immigrants were pouring into the Chinatown neighborhood and even though not all the Cantonese immigrants are from Hong Kong, this portion of Chinatown has strong Cantonese characteristics, especially with Standard Cantonese language, which is spoken in Hong Kong and Guangzhou, China being used widely.[5][6]
A new branch of New York Mart opened up in August 2011 on Mott Street, although in the late 2010s, it was renamed to IFresh Supermarket.[33][34] Just a block away from New York Mart is a Hong Kong Supermarket located on the corner of Elizabeth and Hester Streets. These two supermarkets are among the largest Cantonese supermarkets in Chinatown.[35]
The historic core of the Cantonese Chinatown was bounded by Pell, Mott, Doyer, and Bayard Streets below Canal Street. The latter separated Little Italy to the north and Chinatown to the south from the 1800s until the 1950s. After 1965, newer Cantonese-speaking immigrants expanded the Cantonese Chinatown north to Broome and Kenmare Streets.[36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44]
Culture
1930 Interior of Kwong Chong at 44 Mott Street
Little Guangdong (小廣東 siu2 gwong2 dung1) or Cantonese Town (粵語埠 jyut6 jyu5 fau6) would be the more appropriate term since Cantonese immigrants do come from different parts of Guangdong province of China. Most of the Chinatown Chinese-businesses still continue to be Cantonese-owned combining with still significant numbers of Cantonese residents of the Lower East Side and Cantonese from other areas contributing to the Chinatown businesses has allowed Cantonese to continue to be Chinatowns lingua franca even though Mandarin as Chinatowns other lingua franca is increasing. Despite the large Fuzhou population to the eastern section of Chinatown, though, Cantonese is still predominant in Mott Street with the rest of the western portion of Chinatown. The long time established Cantonese community stretches onto Pell, Doyer, Bayard, Elizabeth, Mulberry, and Canal Streets and on Bowery in Manhattans Chinatown.[45][46][47]
Due to the migration of Cantonese immigrants into Bensonhurst and Sheepshead Bay/Homecrest sections of Brooklyn, newer Cantonese enclaves have started to emerge in those areas; with several of them within Bensonhurst on 18th Avenue, Bay Parkway and 86th Street and one portion in Sheepshead/Homecrest on Avenue U now they are becoming known as Brooklyns Little Hong Kong/Guangdong(布碌崙的小香港/廣東), but as of the 2010s, they are still mixed in with other ethnic enclaves and still developing. Although the Cantonese population is more widespread and mixed in Bensonhurst and Sheepshead Bay/Homecrest with other ethnic groups, however it has in recent years surpassed the Cantonese population in Manhattans Chinatown and with Bensonhurst having the highest concentration of Cantonese speaking Chinese immigrants in Brooklyn now, this neighborhood is slowly taking over as NYCs largest primary center of Cantonese culture in addition there is a declining Chinese population including Chinese businesses are declining in Manhattans Chinatown due to the gentrification. As a result, Brooklyns Bensonhurst and Sheepshead Bay are now increasingly becoming the new main attractions for newly arrived Cantonese immigrants into New York City.[48][49][50][51][52][53][54]
Current Status As A Chinese Business Shopping District
Mott Street in 2023
However, despite the gentrification going on, Manhattans Chinatown is still a very busy Chinese business district with many non-Asian tourists and visitors attracted to come to Manhattans Chinatown to explore Chinese culture and food and do shopping as well including many mainland Chinese tourists also visit the neighborhood. There are also still many Chinese consumers from other parts of the tri state that travel to this neighborhood for their shopping and business needs and as a result, Chinese businesses in Manhattans Chinatown are still making very great profits, which will lead to the likelihood that it will remain as a Chinese business district for a long time to come even though the Chinese residency population is continuing to decline in the area. However, Mott Street and along with the western Cantonese portion of Manhattans Chinatown is the main concentration of the busy Chinese business district with a large traffic of Chinese and non-Chinese consumers, which is leading to the high likelihood that the Cantonese portion of Manhattans Chinatown will be the only or last section to remain as the main significant, if not predominately Chinese shopping business district for visitors and tourists in the future.
In NoLIta
Also in this area is Old St. Patricks Cathedral, the first Catholic cathedral built in New York (consecrated 1815). The high walls surrounding the church along Mott Street attest to the tension between Protestants and Catholics in New York during the 19th century. The Church of the Transfiguration was also built here, making it the oldest Roman Catholic church in Manhattan. Mott Street runs through Little Australia in NoLIta.
Mott Street terminates at Bleecker Street in Manhattans NoHo (North of Houston Street) neighborhood.
Food markets and restaurants
Although Chinese food markets can be found in many parts of Manhattans Chinatown, the portion of Mott Street between Hester and Grand Streets have the highest concentration of Chinese food markets centered together.[55][56][57]
Although Chinese and Cantonese restaurants and eateries are easily found everywhere throughout Manhattans Chinatown, Mott Street contains a larger concentration of Chinese restaurants and Chinese eateries between Worth and Hester Streets. Many sell traditional Cantonese dishes, although there are some significant numbers of other Chinese eateries as well as those of other ethnicities. During the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, when indoor dining was restricted, many Chinese restaurants and eateries on Mott Street opened up many outdoor dining services.[58][59]
In November 2021, a Chinese style food court named Mott Street Eatery opened at 98 Mott Street, the first one to exist in Manhattans Chinatown.[60][61]
Structures
Chinese Community Centre
The Chinese Community Centre
Main article: Chinese Community Centre
The Chinese Community Centre spans 60-64 Mott Street. 62 Mott Street is home to the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (CCBA), the oldest Chinese community service organization of Chinatown established in 1883. In the early history of this organization, it performed a quasi-governmental role for the Chinatown community and financially supported many Chinese residents who had goals to become a business owner as well as providing them training. Today the organization provides services ranging from social services, training in personal and commercial conflict issues and mediation, preserving Chinese Culture as well as helping Chinese Americans to integrate well with mainstream groups, being involved with Chinese-American interests, engages in charity events, sponsorships to educational related activities, and advocate for small businesses.[62] Additional services that are provided to the community are low cost rate Adult English Classes, Naturalization Service, and free tax services.[63]
The New York Chinese School is at 64 Mott Street. Located inside the CCBA building, it is the largest Chinese school in North America and was established in 1909 during the Ching Dynasty of China as an overseas Chinese school. It is Chinatowns center of academic learning on Chinese culture, and history. Cantonese and Mandarin classes are also offered at this school, however the Mandarin programs have challenged the long time traditional dominance of Cantonese programs within the school.[64] This educational institution is affiliated with the CCBA due to its location.[65][66]
Historical businesses
Street sign of Mott Street, showing alternative Chinese name, at the intersection with Canal Street
From Canal Street, looking south at Mott Street
By 1903, there were four Chinese restaurants established such as Port Arthur, Tuxedo, Imperial, and Chinese Quick Lunch on Mott Street. Other earliest Chinese restaurants existed such as Chatham on Doyers Street and Savoy & Oriental Restaurant on Pell Street. These restaurants were often in competition with each other in the Chinatown community.[67]
Chinese Tuxedo Restaurant
In 1897, the Chinese Tuxedo Restaurant opened as a high class Chinese American Restaurant. The outside design of the restaurants entrance was a colossal Chinese-Style awning, which was crowned with a large wooden carved Chinese dragon. At the entrance, there was a multi-colored stained glass sign with the word restaurant on it.
There were postcard pictures of this entrance and they were often distributed to customers of this restaurant for free. The restaurant was located on a balcony with carved teakwood panels that seemed to leap out from the rest of the building with the purpose of getting peoples attention to it strolling through the streets. There were often many American customers in this restaurant.
The inside restaurant designs were mosaic-designed tile floors and press tin ceilings with a chandelier and a large dragon design. The dining room displayed potted plants surrounding a water fountain, which contained wooden birds supported by a wooden dragon stand to make the restaurant appealing and also for Feng Shui and tabletops were made of inlaid marble. There were teakwood windscreens behind the fountain with the hand-carved design of double layered wood molding that was used as a room divider with curtains set up on them.
The restaurant also had a private dining room and displayed American advertisements such as one example on record, Hortons ice cream including English and Chinese menus as a way to remind customers this restaurant is not located in China and located in America. On record, an omelet stuffed with chicken, lobster, and ham cost $2.00 on their menu. At the time, there was an elevated train rail conveniently next to the location.[68]
Port Arthur Restaurant
External images
image icon Port Arthur Restaurant Color version of Port Arthur Restaurant
image icon Port Arthur Restaurant – Black and white version of Port Arthur Restaurant
image icon Port Arthur Restaurant – Interior view of Port Arthur Restaurant
The Port Arthur Restaurant was also established in 1897 and operated for more than 85 years. Chu Gam Fai was the original owner who started the business. The restaurant was named after Port Arthur (now Lushun) a city on the northeastern China coast where in 1904 - 1905 the Siege of Port Arthur marked the first victory of Asian power over European power. The restaurant was located on the second and third floors of 7–9 Mott Street. The entrance to the restaurant was marked by an ornate pagoda-style awning and the buildings Chinese pagoda-style balcony would eventually become a trademark for the restaurant. Eventually, an escalator was established in the restaurant to make it easier for customers to access the second and third floors, where diners were seated.
The Port Arthur was the first Chinese restaurant in New York Citys Chinatown to obtain a liquor license. The restaurant was known for its delicious Chinese style dishes and delicacies as well as for its authentic Chinese style wall decor, inlaid pearl mahogany tables, teakwood chairs, ornate carved wooden panels, windscreens, lanterns, and chandeliers.
The third floor dining rooms were reserved for private parties and banquets, where many local Chinese residents held wedding parties and family ceremonial dinners. The East Hall upper dining room had a baby grand piano for entertainment, and by 1910, it was redesigned to accommodate long banquet tables. The West Hall upper dining room had no walls or screens to divide the space and each table was set up with only four seats, to accommodate smaller groups. There was also a special upper floor room for a brides traditional change into different red dresses for various stages of the wedding reception.
The second floor dining area was for smaller groups of customers or after-hours slummers, American tourists in search for exotic adventures. The restaurant also served a special luncheon on the lower dining floor every day from 11am-3pm except for holidays and Sundays.
The restaurant was very conveniently located near an elevated train at Chatham Square and a subway station at Worth Street.[69]
Soy Kee & Company
Below the Port Arthur Restaurant, there was a store named Soy Kee and Company serving as an importer and exporter of Chinese goods selling curios, chinaware, lamps, imported Chinese silks, embroideries, ivory carvings, imported Chinese teas, candies, dried fruits, coffees, canned foods, kimono, pajamas, and other types of accessories. Soy Kee and Company was originally located on 36 Pell Street, then moved to Mott Street in 1897 and then eventually moved outside of the Chinatown neighborhood.[70][71]
Mott Street General Store
External images
image icon Mott Street General Store – Front Pictures of Mott Street General Store
image icon Mott Street General Store – Insider view of Mott Street General Store
In 1891, a Chinese man named Lok Lee opened up the Mott Street General store. This was the gathering place for the earliest Chinese immigrants to socialize and maintain their kin roots with family and friends. It was very especially important because Chinatown was primarily a bachelors society. Due to discrimination within the immigration laws during those old days, Chinese men were not allowed to bring their families into America.
This is the oldest Chinese store that remained in the neighborhood for more than 100 years. The store name is Quong Yuen Shing & Co, located in #32 Mott Street. The architecture designs rarely changed with some of the original wooden cabinetry remaining, carved arch above the counter, formal paintings of Chinese women hanging on walls and the original clock from when the shop first opened still continued to tick. The apothecary shelves that display traditional styles of Chinese rice bowls, tea sets, and jade dragons still remained as well. A carved woodwork that twist around the counter is where herbal remedies were once sold. The store sign that once took up the storefronts two box bays are held at the Museum of Chinese in America.[67][72][73][74][75][76] In 2003, it closed due to the effects of the September 11 attacks on the Chinatown economy. [77] In 2004, the historic business reopened under the name, Good Fortune Gifts. [78]
In popular culture
A line in Rodgers and Harts well known song "Manhattan," 1925, is: "And tell me what street / compares with Mott Street in July; / sweet push carts gently gliding by."
A line in Roger Waters song "Lost Boys Calling", which is part of The Legend of 1900 movie soundtrack, is: "And in Mott street in July / When I hear those seabirds cry"
In a series of short stories by pulp writer Arthur J. Burks, published in All Detective Magazine, 1933–34, undercover detective Dorus Noel maintains an apartment near the intersection of Pell and Mott Streets. Burks Chinatown is riddled with underground passages (which he describes as "rabbit warrens"), and populated by sinister villains and an inexhaustible supply of self-sacrificing Chinese hatchetmen.
In episode four, season six of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, a BTK-esque killer hid a clue on top of a pay phone on the corners of Mott Street and Grand Street.
Revy, one of the main characters of the manga/anime Black Lagoon, is implied to have grown up on Mott Street.
In Garth Ennis initial run on The Punisher, Frank Castles apartment is located off Mott Street.
In The Godfather Part II, the Genco Olive Oil company was located on Mott Street.
In David Mamets The Spanish Prisoner, Susan Ricci lives at 110 Mott Street, "above the Sunshine Bakery".
The Beastie Boys "Three MCs and One DJ" music video was shot in a Mott Street building, which, according to the commentary on the Beastie Boys Video Anthology DVD, was also formerly home to Sonic Youth.
Mott Street was where the title character of Horatio Alger, Jr.s story "Ragged Dick" found his first "lodgings".
In the AMC-TV series Rubicon, a safe house address is listed as 701 Mott Street, Apt 2D.
In Mobsters, Mott Street is referred to as the street where Lucky Luciano grew up and eventually rose to power.
In "Once Upon a Time in America", a Chinese man helps Noodles (Robert De Niro) escape the armed men trying to kill him, by directing him to run through a door facing Mott Street. "There down. Mott Street. Go. Go. Go," says the Chinese man, encouraging Noodles to hurry up.
In the film Gremlins 2: The New Batch, the Chinatown antique store where Gizmo lived is located off Mott Street.[79]
Mott Street is the location of the famous arcade Chinatown Fair.
The David Cronenberg film Naked Lunch depicts author William S Burroughs notorious character Dr. Benway as having an office at Room 401, 1062 Mott St, New York, from which the doctor dispenses a cocktail of pyrethrum and ground black centipede to the films protagonist, William Lee.
In season 4 episode 2 of Peaky Blinders, Luca Changretta mentions that his uncle is a tailor with a shop on Mott Street
In March 2020, Anna Huang and Chloe Chan founded Mott Street Girls to make Chinese-American history more accessible. The duo hosts historical walking tours in Manhattans Chinatown that focus on the life of early Chinese immigrants during the Chinese exclusion period.
See also
flagChina portal
flagHong Kong portal
flagNew York (state) portal
flagNew York City portal
flagUnited States portal
Chinatown, Brooklyn
Brooklyns Bensonhurst Little Hong Kong/Guangdong
Brooklyns Homecrest Little Hong Kong/Guangdong
Chinatown, Flushing
Chinatowns in the United States
List of Chinatowns in the United States
Manhattans Chinatown (simplified Chinese: 曼哈顿华埠 or 唐人街; traditional Chinese: 曼哈頓華埠 or 唐人街; pinyin: Mànhādùn huábù / Tángrénjiē; Jyutping: Maan6haa1deon6 waa4fau6 or tong4jan4gaai1) is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City, bordering the Lower East Side to its east, Little Italy to its north, Civic Center to its south, and Tribeca to its west. With an estimated population of 90,000 to 100,000 people, Chinatown is home to the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere.[5][6] Manhattans Chinatown is also one of the oldest Chinese ethnic enclaves.[7] The Manhattan Chinatown is one of nine Chinatown neighborhoods in New York City,[8] as well as one of twelve in the New York metropolitan area, which contains the largest ethnic Chinese population outside of Asia, comprising an estimated 893,697 uniracial individuals as of 2017.[9]
Chinatown is also a densely populated neighborhood, with over 141,000 residents living in its vicinity encompassing 1.7 square miles.[10] Historically, Chinatown was primarily populated by Cantonese speakers. However, in the 1980s and 1990s, large numbers of Fuzhounese-speaking immigrants also arrived and formed a sub-neighborhood annexed to the eastern portion of Chinatown east of The Bowery, which has become known as Little Fuzhou (小福州) subdivided away from the primarily Cantonese populated original longtime established Chinatown of Manhattan from the proximity of The Bowery going west, known as Little Hong Kong/Guangdong (小粵港). As many Fuzhounese and Cantonese speakers now speak Mandarin—the official language in Mainland China and Taiwan—in addition to their native languages, this has made it more important for Chinatown residents to learn and speak Mandarin.[11] Although now overtaken in size by the rapidly growing Flushing Chinatown (法拉盛華埠) (located in the New York City borough of Queens)[12] and Brooklyn Chinatown (布魯克林華埠), the Manhattan Chinatown remains a dominant cultural force for the Chinese diaspora, as home to the Museum of Chinese in America and as the headquarters of numerous publications based both in the U.S. and China that are geared to overseas Chinese.
Chinatown is part of Manhattan Community District 3, and its primary ZIP Codes are 10013 and 10002.[1] It is patrolled by the 5th Precinct of the New York City Police Department.
Location
Boundary approximations
MapWikimedia | © OpenStreetMap
[Interactive fullscreen map + nearby articles]
Selected locations in Chinatown, Manhattan
Points of interest Parks and open spaces Transit
1 Pearl River Mart
2 Canal Street 6 service6 serviceJ serviceN serviceQ serviceR serviceW serviceZ service
3 Museum of Chinese in America
4 Columbus Park / Dr. Sun Yat-sen Plaza
5 Mott & Pell (Little Hong Kong)
6 Church of the Transfiguration
7 Chatham Square / Kimlau Square
8 Confucius Plaza
9 Grand Street B serviceD service
10 East Broadway F serviceF service
11 Little Fuzhou
Although a New York Business Improvement District has been identified for support,[13] Chinatown has no officially defined borders. The following streets are commonly considered the approximate borders:[14]
Hester Street or Grand Street to the north,[14][15] bordering or overlapping Little Italy
Worth Street to the southwest, bordering Civic Center
East Broadway to the southeast, bordering Two Bridges
Essex Street to the east, bordering the Lower East Side
Lafayette Street to the west, bordering Tribeca
The historic core of Chinatown is bounded by Chatham Square/Bowery, Worth, Baxter, and Canal.[16]: 304 Mott (south of Canal), Mulberry, Bayard, Pell, Doyers, and Worth were settled by Chinese immigrants starting in the 1870s.[17]: 59, 64 The local branch of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association was founded at 10 Chatham Square in 1883 and later moved to the building at 16 Mott Street, now considered the "City Hall of Chinatown".[17]: 67
Citywide demographics
See also: List of U.S. cities with significant Chinese-American populations, Chinese Americans in New York City, and Chinatowns in New York City
Little Fuzhou (on East Broadway) is seen from the Manhattan Bridge.
The Manhattan Chinatown is one of nine Chinatown neighborhoods in New York City, as well as one of twelve in the New York metropolitan area, which contains the largest ethnic Chinese population outside of Asia, enumerating an estimated 779,269 individuals as of 2013;[18] the remaining Chinatowns are located in the boroughs of Queens (up to four, depending upon definition)[19] and Brooklyn (three) and in Nassau County, all on Long Island in New York State; as well as in Edison[20] and Parsippany-Troy Hills in New Jersey. In addition, Manhattans Little Fuzhou (小福州, 紐約華埠), an enclave populated primarily by more recent Chinese immigrants from the Fujian Province of China, is technically considered a part of Manhattans Chinatown, albeit now developing a separate identity of its own.
A new and rapidly growing Chinese community is now[when?] forming in East Harlem (東哈萊姆), Uptown Manhattan, nearly tripling in population between the years 2000 and 2010, according to U.S. Census figures.[21][22][23][24] This neighborhood has been described as the precursor to a new satellite Chinatown within Manhattan itself,[25] which upon acknowledged formation would represent the second Chinese neighborhood in Manhattan, the tenth large Chinese settlement in New York City, and the twelfth within the overall New York City metropolitan region.
As the city proper with the largest ethnic Chinese population outside of Asia by a wide margin, estimated at 628,763 as of 2017,[26] and as the primary destination for new Chinese immigrants,[27] New York City is subdivided into official municipal boroughs, which themselves are home to significant Chinese populations, with Brooklyn and Queens, adjacently located on Long Island, leading the fastest growth.[28][29] After the City of New York itself, the boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn encompass the largest Chinese populations, respectively, of all municipalities in the United States.
RankBoroughChinese AmericansDensity of Chinese Americans per square mile in boroughPercentage of Chinese Americans in boroughs population
1Queens, Chinatowns (皇后華埠) (2014)[30]237,4842,178.810.2
2Brooklyn, Chinatowns (布魯克林華埠) (2014)[31]205,7532,897.97.9
3Manhattan, Chinatown (曼哈頓華埠) (2014)[32]107,6094,713.56.6
4Staten Island (2012)13,620232.92.9
5The Bronx (2012)6,8911640.5
New York City (2014)573,388[33]1,881.16.8
History
Ah Ken and early Chinese immigration
Main article: Ah Ken
Historical population
CensusPop.Note%±
199051,439—
200059,32015.3%
201052,613−11.3%
Asian American population[34]
Ah Ken is claimed to have arrived in the area during the 1850s; he is the first Chinese person credited as having permanently immigrated to Chinatown. As a Cantonese businessman, Ah Ken eventually founded a successful cigar store on Park Row.[35][36][37][38] He first arrived around 1858 in New York City, where he was "probably one of those Chinese mentioned in gossip of the sixties [1860s] as peddling awful cigars at three cents apiece from little stands along the City Hall park fence – offering a paper spill and a tiny oil lamp as a lighter", according to author Alvin Harlow in Old Bowery Days: The Chronicles of a Famous Street (1931).[36]
In the 1850s, the California Gold Rush brought a wave of Chinese immigration to the United States. Approximately 25,000 Chinese immigrants left their homes in search for gam saan ("gold mountain") in California.[39] In New York, immigrants found work as "cigar men" or carrying billboards, and Ah Kens particular success encouraged cigar makers William Longford, John Occoo, and John Ava to also ply their trade in Chinatown, eventually forming a monopoly on the cigar trade.[40] It has been speculated that it may have been Ah Ken who kept a small boarding house on lower Mott Street and rented out bunks to the first Chinese immigrants to arrive in Chinatown. It was with the profits he earned as a landlord, earning an average of $100 per month, that he was able to open his Park Row smoke shop around which modern-day Chinatown would grow.[35][37][41][42]
Chinese exclusion period
Doyers Street in an 1898 postcard.
Doyers Street in Chinatown in 1938.
In 1873, the United States entered a period of economic difficulty known as the Long Depression.[43] As a result, Americans increasingly competed for professions that were typically performed by Chinese immigrants. The period was marked by increased racial discrimination, anti-Chinese riots (particularly in California),[44] and new laws that prevented participation in many occupations on the U.S. West Coast. Consequently, many Chinese immigrants moved to the East Coast cities in search of employment.
Early businesses in East Coast cities included hand laundries and restaurants. Chinatown started on Mott, Park (now Mosco), Pell, and Doyers Streets, east of the notorious Five Points district. By 1870 there was a Chinese population of 200. By 1882, when the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed, the population was up to 2,000 residents. In 1900, the US Census reported 7,028 Chinese males in residence, but only 142 Chinese women. This significant gender inequality remained until the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1943.[45] Wenfei Wang, Shangyi Zhou, and C. Cindy Fan, authors of "Growth and Decline of Muslim Hui Enclaves in Beijing", wrote that because of immigration restrictions, Chinatown continued to be "virtually a bachelor society" until 1965.[46]
The landmark On Leong Building (曼哈頓華埠) at the intersection of Canal Street and Mott Street in Chinatown
The early days of Chinatown were dominated by Chinese "tongs" (now sometimes rendered neutrally as "associations"), which were a mixture of clan associations, landsmans associations, political alliances (Kuomintang (Nationalists) vs Chinese Communist Party), and more secretly, crime syndicates. The associations started to give protection from anti-Chinese harassment. Each of these associations was aligned with a street gang. The associations were a source of assistance to new immigrants, giving out loans, aiding in starting businesses, and so forth. The associations formed a governing body named the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (中華公所). Though this body was meant to foster relations between the Tongs, open warfare periodically flared between the On Leong (安良) and Hip Sing (協勝) tongs. Much of the Chinese gang warfare took place on Doyers street. Gangs like the Ghost Shadows (鬼影) and Flying Dragons (飛龍) were prevalent until the 1990s. The Chinese gangs controlled certain territories of Manhattans Chinatown. The On Leong (安良) and its affiliate Ghost Shadows (鬼影) were of Cantonese and Toishan descent, and controlled Mott, Bayard, Canal, and Mulberry Streets. The Flying Dragons (飛龍) and its affiliate Hip Sing (協勝) also of Cantonese and Toishan descent controlled Doyers, Pell, Bowery, Grand, and Hester Streets. Other Chinese gangs also existed, like the Hung Ching and Chih Kung gangs of Cantonese and Toishan descent, which were affiliated with each other and also gained control of Mott Street. Born to Kill, also known as the Canal Boys, a gang composed almost entirely of Vietnamese immigrants from the Vietnam War under the leadership of David Thai had control over Broadway, Canal, Baxter, Centre, and Lafayette Streets.[47] Fujianese gangs also existed, such as the Tung On gang, which affiliated with Tsung Tsin, and had control over East Broadway, Catherine and Division Streets and the Fuk Ching gang affiliated with Fukien American controlled East Broadway, Chrystie, Forsyth, Eldridge, and Allen Streets. At one point, a gang named the Freemasons gang, which was of Cantonese descent, had attempted to claim East Broadway as its territory.[48][49]: 75 [50][51]
Columbus Park, the only park in Chinatown, was built in 1897 on what was once the center of the infamous Five Points neighborhood. During the 19th century, this was the most dangerous ghetto area of immigrant New York, as portrayed in the book and film Gangs of New York.[52]
Post-1965 reform
A typical scene on Pell Street
In the years after the United States enacted the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, allowing many more immigrants from Asia into the country, the population of Chinatown increased dramatically. Geographically, much of the growth occurred in neighborhoods to the north. The Chinatown grew and became more oriented toward families due to the lifting of restrictions.[46] In the earliest years of the existence of Manhattans Chinatown, it had been primarily populated by Taishanese-speaking Chinese immigrants and the borderlines of the enclave was originally Canal Street to the north, Bowery to the east, Worth Street to the south, and Mulberry Street to the west.[citation needed]
Influx of immigrants from Hong Kong and Guangdong
After 1965, there came a wave of Cantonese speakers from Hong Kong and Guangdong province in Mainland China, and Standard Cantonese became the dominant tongue. With the influx of Hong Kong immigrants, it was developing and growing into a Hong Kongese neighborhood, however the growth slowed down later on during the 1980s-90s.[53][54]
Through the 1970s and 1980s, the influx of Guangdong and Hong Kong immigrants began to develop newer portions of Manhattans Chinatown going north of Canal Street and then later the east of the Bowery. However, until the 1980s, the western section was the most primarily fully Chinese developed and populated part of Chinatown and the most quickly flourishing busy central Chinese business district with still a little bit of remaining Italians in the very northwest portion around Grand Street and Broome Street, which eventually all moved away and became all Chinese by the 1990s.[55][56][57] Although the portion of Chinatown that is east of the Bowery—which is considered part of the Lower East Side already started developing as being part of Chinatown since the influx of Chinese immigrants started spilling over into that section since the 1960s, however until the 1980s, it was still not developing as quickly as the western portion of Chinatown because the proportion and concentration of Chinese residents in the eastern section during that time was comparatively growing at a slower rate and being more scattered than the western section in addition to the fact that there was a higher proportion of remaining non-Chinese residents consisting of Jewish, Puerto Ricans, and a few Italians and African Americans than Chinatowns western section.[58]
During the 1970s and 1980s, the eastern portion of Chinatown east of the Bowery was a very quiet section, and despite fears of crime, it was seen as attractive because of the availability of vacant affordable apartments.[59] Chinese female garment workers were especially targets of crime and often left work together to protect each other as they were heading home.[60][61][62][63][64] In May 1985, a gang-related shooting injured seven people, including a 4-year-old boy, at 30 East Broadway in Chinatown. Two males, who were 15 and 16 years old and were members of a Chinese street gang, were arrested and convicted.[65][66][67][68]
Many Chinese Vietnamese, Laotian Chinese, Chinese Cambodians, and Malaysian Chinese immigrants also settled into the neighborhood as well. [69] [70]
Starting in the 1970s, Mandarin-speaking Taiwanese immigrants and then many other Non-Cantonese Chinese immigrants also were arriving into New York City. However, due to the traditional dominance of Cantonese-speaking residents, which were largely working class in Manhattans Chinatown and the neighborhoods poor housing conditions, they were unable to relate to Manhattans Chinatown and mainly settled in Flushing, creating a more middle class Mandarin Town (國語埠) and an even smaller one in Elmhurst. As a result, Manhattans Chinatown and Brooklyns emerging Chinatown were able to continue retaining its traditional, almost-exclusive Cantonese society. However, there was already a small and slow-growing Fuzhou immigrant population in Manhattans Chinatown since the 1970s-80s in the eastern section of Chinatown east of the Bowery. In the 1990s, though, Chinese people began to move into some parts of the western Lower East Side, which 50 years earlier was populated by Eastern European Jews and 20 years earlier was occupied by Hispanics.[citation needed]
Little Fuzhou
Main article: Little Fuzhou
The Fukien American Association on East Broadway in Little Fuzhou.
From the late 1980s through the 1990s, when a large influx of immigrants from Fuzhou, who largely also spoke Mandarin along with their native Fuzhou dialect began moving into New York City, they were the only exceptional group of Chinese that were non-Cantonese to largely settle into Manhattans Chinatown. Due to the fact that the Chinatown area were mostly populated by Cantonese speakers, the Fuzhou speaking immigrants had a lot of trouble relating to the neighborhood linguistically and culturally and as a result, they settled on the eastern borderline of Manhattans Chinatown east of The Bowery, which during that time was more of an overlapping population of Chinese, Puerto Ricans, and Jewish as well as had significant vacant apartment units and were more affordable than in the more Mandarin-speaking enclaves in Flushing and Elmhurst, and many Fuzhou immigrants had no legal status and being forced into the lowest paying jobs. As they settled in the eastern borderline of Chinatown along East Broadway and Eldridge Street, it became fully part of Chinatown and slowly through the 1990s it would develop into being Little Fuzhou. This has resulted in referring to East Broadway as Fuzhou Street No. 1, which emerged during the late 1980s and early 1990s, and Eldridge Street as Fuzhou Street No. 2, which developed during the mid-1990s and early 2000s. Little Fuzhou became known as a new Chinatown, separate from the older, more Cantonese-dominated Chinatown from The Bowery going west, though there are still a little bit of remaining long time Cantonese residents and businesses in and around what is now the Little Fuzhou enclave.[71][72]: 20
Not only did the Fuzhou immigration influx establish a new portion of Manhattans Chinatown, they contributed significantly in maintaining the Chinese population in the neighborhood. They also played a role in property values increasing quickly during the 1990s, in contrast to during the 1980s, when the housing prices were dropping. As a result, landlords were able to generate twice as much income in Manhattans, Flushings, and Brooklyns Chinatowns.[73]: 114
However, since the 2010s, gentrification has been setting into the Chinatown neighborhood including the Little Fuzhou enclave. Large numbers of Fuzhou speakers have been rapidly moving out of Manhattans Chinatown with large numbers of them shifting to Brooklyns Chinatown in Sunset Park, which has now overwhelmingly taken over as the largest Fuzhou community of New York City. Many Fuzhou owned businesses have now closed with increasing numbers of storefronts becoming vacant in the enclave and is now increasingly becoming quieter with fewer and fewer consumers walking around. Non-Asian hipsters as well as hipster owned businesses have been increasing in the area as well.[74][75][76][77][78][79][80][81][82][83]
Migration to Brooklyn Chinatown
The increasing Fuzhou influx had shifted into the Brooklyn Chinatown in the Sunset Park section of Brooklyn. This shift replaces the Cantonese population throughout Brooklyns Sunset Park Chinatown significantly more rapidly than in Manhattans Chinatown.[84] Gentrification in Manhattans Chinatown has slowed the growth of Fuzhou immigration as well as the growth of Chinese immigrants to Manhattan in general,[85][86] which is why New York Citys rapidly growing Chinese population has now shifted primarily to the boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn.
Some Chinese landlords in Manhattan, especially the many real estate agencies that are mainly of Cantonese ownership, were accused of prejudice against the Fuzhou immigrants, supposedly making Fuzhou immigrants feel unwelcome because concerns that they would not be able to pay rent or debt to gangs that may have helped smuggled them in illegally into the United States, and because of fear that gangs will come up to the apartments to cause trouble.[73]: 108 [87] There is also supposedly a concern that Fujianese are more likely to make the apartments too overcrowded by subdividing an apartment into multiple small spaces to rent to other Fuzhou immigrants. This could also be particularly seen on East Broadway.[88]
Although Mandarin is spoken as a native language among only ten percent of Chinese speakers in Manhattans Chinatown, it is used as a secondary dialect among the greatest number of them. Although Min Chinese, especially the Fuzhou dialect, is spoken natively by a third of the Chinese population in the city, it is not u.
PHOTO CHINOISE boutiques AMÉRICAINE 1929 ORIGINALE CLEVELAND CHINOIS JUNGTONG WARS VINTAGE
