Written by Annie Luong
In 1933, Peter SooHoo became interested in building a new and more representative Chinatown as the construction of Union Station came near. At the time, George Eastman planned a new Chinatown with the support of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and the City Council. Eastman’s plan included shops, restaurants, a temple, a theater, gardens, and plazas in a Chinese architectural motif but was too costly to implement. As buildings and businesses in Old Chinatown were brought down and closed for the construction of Union Station, some Chinese headed to the City Market Chinatown. Peter Soo Hoo Jr. stated, “When the merchants in Old Chinatown had orders to move out to make room for the Union Terminal, they did not know what to do … They were handicapped by lack of finances and because of the uncertainty of knowing where to go.” 1
On the 22nd of April 1937, the Los Angeles Chinatown Project Association and a number of guests and leading citizens including Peter Soo Hoo Sr. met with Herbert Lapham at the old Tuey Far Low Restaurant. The Los Angeles Chinatown Project Association planned fundraising, site acquisition, design, and construction. Money was raised among the Chinese Americans without bank financing or loans. No land acquisition or construction could proceed without the up-front collection of all required funds. Erle Webster and Adrian Wilson were the architects of the new project. The goal was to build sixty-two units over one square block. Three groups of buildings were constructed along Gin Ling Way for the initial phase of the project.
On the 25th of June 1938, Los Angeles’ New Chinatown opened. By 1939, Y.C. Hong had completed his buildings and the East Gate. At about the time, the Seven Star Sacred Caverns and the wishing pool were completed. On the week of the 16th of January 1939, New Chinatown held its Chinese New Year celebration with a press reception at Forbidden Palace. The Mei Wah Girls Drum Corps, led by Barbara Jean Wong performed in the parade. The mall developed by Y.C. Hong averaged twenty thousand visitors a week by the second anniversary. The Moon Festival was held in early August 1941 as a fundraiser between New Chinatown, Old Chinatown, and China City to raise funds for war relief in China. Peter SooHoo Sr. stated at the time that the Chinese American community’s desire was “to erect a cultural as well as a commercial center for the purpose of augmenting their [Chinese American] social and business life … They want to erase once and for all the erroneous idea that a Chinatown is necessarily a part of the underworld.” 2
1 Peter SooHoo Interview with Jennifer Tang, Chinatown Remembered Project, May 21, 2008
2 Quoted in Edwin R. Bingham, “The Saga of the Los Angeles Chinese.” (Master’s Thesis, Occidental College, 1942), 155.
The Mu Family Moves to New Chinatown
Transcript
Stanley Mu Interview with Mable Kong
Chinatown Remembered Project
November 3, 2007 [Excerpt]
MK: …where did your family stay? Or where were they living? Were they still in Chinatown?
[28:00]
SM: Let’s see, my…my parents… My father passed away when I was overseas, and my mother and my family… [papers shuffling] They moved…let’s see…moved to…oh… [chuckles] Kensington Street, there…just east of Echo Park, by there on Sunset Boulevard. And my father’s store had moved to New Chinatown. In fact, they moved to Ne- moved to New Chinatown 19…1938 or ‘39. It was the original Chinese that moved into Chinatown on North Broadway.
MK: Your dad’s store, what kind of store was it?
SM: It was a Chinese herb store. But I didn’t know anything about herbs, so… But there wasn’t a lot of business with herbs up there because [chuckles] there weren’t many Chinese living on College Street and North Broadway. So, we sold curios, Chinese figurines, and vases and things of that sort.
MK: Who lived there? (inaudible) they weren’t Chinese, then what kind of people lived there?
SM: It was kind of a… [chuckles] It was kind of a vacant area, and they build the stores there. Let’s see…Gin Ling Way…that was the original street there. Let’s see…there was only about twelve or thirteen stores that were built there in the beginning, so… As it become more of a…quaint places where people come and visit and buy curio, it grew more and more. So, it’s quite a better place if you’ve been there recently. In fact, on both side of Broadway, on the Hill Street side and Broadway side, they put up buildings there.
MK: When did they move out of Chinatown?
SM: Oh, we got kicked out of Chinatown about 1938 or ‘39. That’s when they kicked out all the Chinese there by the Union Station where the clock tower is. That’s where it used to be, east of Alameda Street. I think…I haven’t been there for a while, but right along Alameda Street, my father’s store was on the east side. And that got all torn down, and they put up the train station, Union Station, there. And I haven’t been down there, whether the stores west of Alameda Street is still there or has it been torn down.
Edited Narrative
The Mu Family moves to New Chinatown
Stanley Mu interviewed by Mable Kong
My father passed away when I was overseas, and my mother and my family moved to Kensington Street. My father’s store had moved to New Chinatown. It was a Chinese herb store. But there wasn’t a lot of business with herbs up there because there weren’t many Chinese living on College Street and North Broadway. So, we sold curios, Chinese figurines, and vases and things of that sort. It was the original Chinese that moved into Chinatown on North Broadway.
My older brother and I was in the army, but he was discharged because he had to come back home to run the store. After my father passed away, my younger brothers were too young to run the store, and my mother didn’t speak English. They wouldn’t let me out of the army, but they let my older brother out, so he came back and run the store. He had to come back to take care of the family.
We got kicked out of Chinatown about 1938 or ‘39. That’s when they kicked out all the Chinese there by the Union Station where the clock tower is. That’s where it used to be, east of Alameda Street. I haven’t been there for a while, but right along Alameda Street, my father’s store was on the east side. And that got all torn down, and they put up the train station, Union Station, there.
It was kind of a vacant area, and they built the stores there. Gin Ling Way was the original street there. There was only about twelve or thirteen stores that were built there in the beginning. As it become more of a quaint place where people come and visit and buy curio, it grew more and more.
There were a few [Chinese], but not a whole lot. It was a very nice house, and very quickly get to Chinatown from there. There was maybe two families up there. We didn’t have any problems. I don’t remember any problem.
Before the Second World War, it was very difficult for Chinese to get a job outside of the Chinatown area. After the Second World War, then it became more opportunity because many of us went to college afterward, so we were able to work outside of Chinatown. Chinatown became a very popular place, so many of my friends stayed down in Chinatown. But, myself, I went back to school, and then went out and worked outside of Chinatown.
