Light House / Heavy House 2

China Town            Los Angeles

Housing in the “China Town” area of Los Angeles. View to the south of the Los Angeles down town towers. Train tracks have been taken up in the large flat area at the center left of the photo. This is where our site starts and then climbs up to the park.

Pau is standing at the edge of the existing park

Marlon, Tran, Guillermo and William       Team 1

Han, Monica, Maurice and Phung         Team 2

Pau, Constadine and Ray                        Team 3

Chinatown is a community located north of the Pueblo section of Los Angeles. This community was founded by Chinese immigrants who came to the United States
seeking their fortune during the Gold Rush of 1849 or  to seek work on the railroads. The Chinese immigrants found themselves facing many hardships as they settled. The Chinese were not welcomed by their white neighbors. The white settlers hated and were jealous of the Chinese because they saw them prosper with the very little that they earned. This rivalry resulted in assaults against the Chinese and even death. In 1871, 18 Chinamen died in what was known as "The Chinese Massacre" at the hands of an angry mob. Other Chinese faced denial of work opportunities locally and from the federal government. In 1882, The Chinese Exclusion Act was passed preventing the further immigration
of Chinese immigrants.

        Despite social and economic hardships the Chinese prospered by establishing
schools, banks, stores and hospitals within their own community. After the
turn of the century Chinese Americans established newspapers, a chamber of commerce and became productive members of the Los Angeles community. Chinatown
as it existed before 1937, extended passed Alameda where a prominent part of Chinatown known as Ferguson Alley existed. This area housed shops, restaurants and other businesses, however, when a site was to be selected to build the new Union Station in 1938, Ferguson Alley was chosen. This part of Chinatown no longer exists, but out of this event a new section of Chinatown emerged west of Hill Street known as Greater Chinatown. It is this Chinatown that we are familiar with today.

        Chinatown is still a prosperous community called home by  many Chinese Americans and immigrants. The Chinese community has since extended beyond Chinatown to other parts of the Los Angeles Area, primarily in the San Gabriel Valley communities of Alhambra and Monterey Park. In these communities, the Chinese have established businesses sharing their culture and food. The Chinese Americans are a well part of the ethnic collage of Los Angeles, but they owe gratitude to the first Chinese settlers who braved through the hardships to make a home in a new land. Chinatown will always be a living reminder of that legacy.