1932 Original Seattle Chinatown Photo Funeral Rare Vintage 7X11 Inches Chin Chin

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Seller: memorabilia111 ✉️ (808) 100%, Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan, US, Ships to: US & many other countries, Item: 176283104171 1932 ORIGINAL SEATTLE CHINATOWN PHOTO FUNERAL RARE VINTAGE 7X11 INCHES CHIN CHIN. A VINTAGE ORIGINAL  7X11 INCH PHOTO FROM 1932  OF  1 84268 CHINESE FAMILY WOURNS DEAD FATHER Leading the Long Procession of mourners at their Father's funeral In Seattle's Chinatown, where the thirteen children of Chin Jimmy Chin, and his window, Chin Moy See, They preceded seventy autos Loaded "the Mourning friends, Chun was one of Seattle  best known merchant princes, and a prominent philanthrp[ Above photos Shows Mrs.Chin Moy See leading the procession of her Children, Ranging in age From twenty- Five to threE, during the funeral CREDIT LINE (ACNE) 4/15/32 REF. DEP APR 2 1 1932 3ENLold Sri 3Sv3 ld LSV3 077 3WOV solo hd
The Chinatown–International District of Seattle, Washington (also known as the abbreviated CID) is the center of the city's Asian American community. Within the district are the three neighborhoods known as Chinatown, Japantown and Little Saigon, named for the concentration of businesses owned by people of Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese descent, respectively. The geographic area also once included Manilatown.[3] The name Chinatown/International District was established by City Ordinance 119297 in 1999 as a result of the three neighborhoods' work and consensus on the Seattle Chinatown International District Urban Village Strategic Plan submitted to the City Council in December 1998. Like many other areas of Seattle, the neighborhood is multiethnic, but the majority of its residents are of Chinese ethnicity.[4] It is one of eight historic neighborhoods recognized by the City of Seattle.[5] CID has a mix of residences and businesses and is a tourist attraction for its ethnic Asian culture and landmarks.[6] Location Location of Chinatown International District within Seattle. The CID boundaries are defined as 4th Avenue South (on the west) to Rainier Avenue (on the east) and from Yesler Way (north) to Charles Street/Dearborn (south). The CID is bordered by the neighborhoods of Pioneer Square and SoDo to the west of 4th Ave S; Rainier Valley on the east side of Rainier; Beacon Hill and the Industrial District to the south of Charles/Dearborn; and Downtown and First Hill to the north of Yesler. Within the CID are three distinct neighborhoods: Chinatown, Japantown, and Little Saigon. The Seattle Chinatown Historic District, so designated by the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1986, is roughly south of Jackson and west of I-5, with Hing Hay Park at its heart. In the present day, Japantown is centered on 6th Avenue and Main Street and Little Saigon's main nexus is 12th Avenue South and South Jackson Street. Public transit The CID is served by the International District/Chinatown station on the Central Link light rail system (via the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel near 4th Ave S), and three stops along Jackson on the First Hill Streetcar: at 5th Ave S (connecting to Central Link), 7th Ave S, and 12th Ave S. History 19th century Chinese immigrants first came to the Pacific Northwest in the 1850s, and by the 1860s, some had settled in Seattle. Many of the first Chinese immigrants to Washington came from Guangdong province, especially Taishan.[7] The first Chinese quarters were near Yesler's Mill on the waterfront. According to Chinese oral history, the waterfront was the first Chinatown, where the Chinese dock workers lived. The influx of Chinese immigrants was slowed by the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. In 1886 whites drove out most of Seattle's Chinese population. However, some took shelter with Native Americans on the reservations while others came under the protection of white employers and a judge. The Great Seattle Fire of 1889 further hindered the community. Eventually, the Chinese re-established new quarters farther inland, along Washington St. and Second Avenue South.[8] This was the second Chinatown. Land values rose, especially with impending construction of the Smith Tower, and the people of Chinatown moved again, to the present and third location along King Street. Only the Hop Sing Tong managed to retain its building on 2nd and Washington. It sold this building about 2006 in order to purchase the former China Gate building at 516 7th Ave S in the current Chinatown. Near the end of the 19th century, Japanese immigrants also began arriving, settling on the south side of the district on the other side of the railroad tracks. Part of present-day Dearborn Street, between 8th and 12th avenues, was known as Mikado Street, after the Japanese word for "emperor."[9] Japanese Americans developed Nihonmachi, or Japantown, on Main Street, two blocks north of King Street. By the mid-1920s, Nihonmachi extended from 4th Avenue along Main to 7th Avenue, with clusters of businesses along Jackson, King, Weller, Lane, and Dearborn streets.[10] 20th century 516 7th Ave S was originally built in 1924 as the Chinese Grand Opera Theater to house a Peking Opera company.[11] The Jackson Regrade began in 1907; workers leveled hills and used the resulting fill to reclaim tidal flats, making travel to downtown easier. As downtown property values rose, the Chinese were forced to other areas. By the early 1900s, a new Chinatown began to develop along King Street.[8] In 1910, Goon Dip, a prominent businessman in Seattle's Chinese American community,[12] led a group of Chinese Americans to form the Kong Yick Investment Company, a benefit society.[8] Their funding and efforts led to the construction of two buildings—the East Kong Yick Building and the West Kong Yick Building.[13] Meanwhile, Filipino Americans began arriving to replace the Chinese dock workers, who had moved inland. According to Pamana I, a history of Filipino Americans in Seattle, they settled along First Hill and the hotels and boarding houses of Chinatown and Japantown beginning in the early 1920s. They were attracted to work as contract laborers in agriculture and salmon canneries.[14][15] Among them was Filipino author Carlos Bulosan, who wrote of his experiences and those of his countrymen in his novel America Is In The Heart (1946).[16] By the 1930s, a 'Manilatown' had been established near the corner of Maynard and King.[8] In 1942, under the auspices of Executive Order 9066, the federal government forcibly removed and detained people of Japanese ancestry from Seattle and the West Coast in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Authorities moved them to inland internment camps, where they lived from 1942 to 1946. Most of Seattle's Japanese residents were sent to Minidoka in Idaho.[17] After the war, many returned to the Pacific Northwest but relocated to the suburbs or other districts in Seattle. A remaining vestige of the old community is the office of the North American Post, a Japanese-language newspaper founded in 1902. Another is the Panama Hotel, which was proclaimed a National Treasure in 2015 with a prior listing on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.[18] Maneki, one of the oldest Japanese restaurants in the United States, reopened in its storage space after its original building was looted and vandalized during the war.[19] Uwajimaya, originally a Japantown store, moved down the hill into Chinatown. African Americans moved to Seattle in the Great Migration, mostly out of the South, to work in the war industry during World War II, occupying many of the houses left vacant by the internment of the Japanese Americans. They filled the empty businesses along Jackson Street with notable jazz clubs.[6] In 1951, Seattle Mayor William D. Devin proclaimed the area "International Center" because of the diversity of people who resided and worked in the vicinity. Businesswoman and later city councilwoman Ruby Chow and others criticized the use of "international" for masking Chinese American history. The use of "International District" by the city remains controversial.[6][20] Aerial photograph of the CID in 1969, facing northeast. Prominent east–west streets (running from lower left to upper right) are Jackson (background) and King (foreground). I-5 at top of photograph. Seattle's first neighborhood advocacy group, the Jackson Street Community Council, opposed the construction of an interstate highway through the area.[6] Despite protest, many Chinese and Japanese buildings and businesses were destroyed for the construction of Interstate 5 in the 1960s.[21] Ethnic Asians formed new civic organizations (as compared to the traditional Chinese family associations, tongs and social clubs) serve needs ranging from community health, care of the elderly, information and referrals, counseling, historic preservation, marketing of the area, and building low-income housing. The construction of the Kingdome in 1972 further boxed in the neighborhood, leading to renewed protests over the community's lack of representation, including an impromptu demonstration at the stadium's groundbreaking ceremony on November 2, 1972.[22][23] With the fall of Saigon in 1975, a new wave of immigrants from Vietnam and Southeast Asia established Seattle's Little Saigon east of I-5. Many of these immigrants were of Chinese descent. Vietnamese pho was introduced to the city in 1982 with the opening of Phở Bắc, a restaurant most famous for its boat-like shape.[24] Meanwhile, Little Saigon gained its first grocery store with the opening of Viet Wah in 1981; it was joined by Lam's Seafood Market in 1991 and Hau Hau Market in 1995.[25][26][27][28] The worst mass murder in the history of Seattle took place at the Wah Mee Club on Maynard Alley on February 18, 1983. Thirteen people were killed. In 1986, a portion of Chinatown and Japantown was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the "Seattle Chinatown Historic District."[29] That year the Wing Luke Memorial Museum moved to 7th Avenue, a location it would occupy for two decades. In 1999, the City Council approved the "Chinatown/International District Urban Village Strategic Plan" for the future of the neighborhood. This plan, agreed to by all major organizations in the CID, led to City Ordinance 119297. This ordinance enshrined the three neighborhoods of Chinatown, Japantown, Little Saigon and the Chinatown Historic District into one larger neighborhood with a compromised name. Since then, the often conflicting interests of development, preservation and the conversion of old buildings to low-income housing have clashed as office developments (e.g., Union Station) and market-rate housing developments are overwhelmed by drastic increases in low-income housing stock. In addition, controversy erupted over vacating S. Lane Street as part of a large redevelopment by the private business Uwajimaya. Protesters formed the Save Lane Street organization and insisted as business owners they supported re-development, but opposed vacating a public street for a private business use. After losing a lawsuit filed over the matter, the Save Lane Street group dissolved.[30] 21st century Uwajimaya, 2005 Construction on a paifang for the neighborhood began in 2006 and the Historic Chinatown Gate was unveiled on February 9, 2008. It stands at the west end of South King Street. It is 45 feet tall and made from steel and plaster.[31] The Wing Luke Museum moved to the East Kong Yick Building in 2008.[32] The Japantown and Chinatown portions of the neighborhood, as seen from the Columbia Center in 2019 As part of projects intended to maintain the identity of the neighborhood, the Seattle Department of Transportation installed bilingual street name signs at its intersections starting in the summer of 2013. The Chinatown and Japantown neighborhoods received them with the initial installation; the Little Saigon neighborhood did not have the signs installed until August 2016. The signs feature a top section with the street's legal English names in white on a green background and a bottom section with white translated text in the neighborhoods' respective native languages on a brown background; traditional Chinese is featured in Chinatown while Japanese is featured in Japantown, with Vietnamese featured in Little Saigon.[33][34][35] On February 28, 2019, police officers arrested five spa owners/operators and conducted a raid on 11 massage parlors, the majority of them on South Jackson Street within the neighborhood, in connection with an investigation into an alleged prostitution and money-laundering scheme that began in January 2015. 26 Chinese women, ranging in age from their late 20s to early 60s, were removed from the parlors; many of them were new arrivals that were not fluent in English. According to police and court documents, many of the women worked 14-hour shifts for six to seven days per week in decrepit conditions.[36] Rise of homelessness and exodus The neighborhood has experienced gentrification since the early 2000s owing to a dramatic increase in overall demand for real estate development in the city. A May 2016 report from the National Coalition of Asian Pacific American Community Development revealed that overall city rents outgrew incomes by 45 percent from 2000 to 2014. As a result, a significant portion of its long-time residents have been displaced from their residences due to their inability to pay the increased rent, subsequently enduring homelessness due to the insufficient amount of affordable housing in the neighborhood.[37] The Nickelsville homeless encampment, established in 2008, moved in September 2014 to a site on South Dearborn Street opposite the onramp to northbound Interstate 5. The property owner evicted the encampment in February 2016 after its leader was ousted the year before due to on-site conflict, invalidating the agreement made with the owner; 16 remaining residents were cleared out peacefully on March 11.[38][39][40] In a bid to address the city's worsening homeless crisis, Mayor Ed Murray announced on February 8, 2017, that the city would open a 24/7 homeless shelter similar to the navigation center opened by officials in San Francisco in 2015. After a search dating back to the previous June, the city selected the Pearl Warren Building on 12th Avenue South in the Little Saigon area, which was already hosting a traditional men's homeless shelter at the time. The selection was received with mixed to negative reaction from the Little Saigon community; many in the community were surprised by the announcement, claiming that the city did not ask them for input. While members stated that they were understanding of the need to handle the crisis, they held concerns about the potential for crime and sanitation issues. Backlash from the community, which included letters sent to him and protests outside Seattle City Hall, prompted Murray to announce on April 24 that he would halt the project until he could devise a plan that would satisfy community members. The center opened on July 12 with 75 beds and within its assigned budget of $2.7 million.[41][42][43] Impromptu encampments were still prevalent within the neighborhood. After city officials cleared an encampment of around 20 shelters in a neighboring stairwell on April 22, 2020. Many campers migrated one block over to South Weller Street, which was lined with more than 30 shelters. The clearing occurred despite strict guidelines put in place with the COVID-19 pandemic due to the difficulty encountered by the Seattle Police Department in patrolling the stairwell.[44] As of October 2022, there were 15 encampments around the area, with severe public safety issues surrounding their presence cited as a major reason for a mass exodus of businesses from the neighborhood.[45][46] More than 19 businesses had shuttered operations in the area in that year, with Viet Wah's closure on September 30 among the most notable occurrences.[45][47] In an editorial regarding the Little Saigon section for The Seattle Times, an executive director of a local nonprofit (that also elected to move out) argued that private developers were contributing to the exodus by neglecting to maintain their properties in seeking a market rebound. According to a 2021 economic study of the neighborhood section, it was “rated as having high risk for displacement” owing to rapid residential growth, with around 1,145 new housing units built over the past four years.[48][49] In 2023, it was the first neighborhood in the state to be included in the National Trust for Historic Preservation's annual list of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. The Chinatown neighborhood in Philadelphia was also included in the list, with the organization noting that less than half of such neighborhoods were still remaining out of 83 identified nationwide.[50] Culture MapWikimedia | © OpenStreetMap [Interactive fullscreen map + nearby articles] Selected locations in the Chinatown-International District   Points of interest  Parks and open spaces  Shops and restaurants  1 Danny Woo Garden 2 Donnie Chin International Childrens Park 3 Hing Hay Park 4 Historic Chinatown Gate 5 Nippon Kan Theatre 6 Kobe Terrace 7 Panama Hotel 8 Uwajimaya 9 Wing Luke Museum The neighborhood hosts a Lunar New Year festival near the East Asian Lunar New Year; Dragon Fest, a pan-Asian American festival, during the summer; and a night market in early fall.[51] The nonprofit Friends of Little Saigon hosts an annual Celebrate Little Saigon event that celebrates Vietnamese culture.[52] Certain neighborhood buildings in CID incorporate Chinese architectural designs such as balconies on the second or third floors or tile roofs.[53] The neighborhood also has public art installations by artists such as George Tsutakawa and Norie Sato. Artists Meng Huang and Heather Presler installed Chinese dragon sculptures on lampposts along Jackson Street in 2002.[54] Notable businesses and landmarks include: Night market at Hing Hay Park (2015) Danny Woo International District Community Garden Donnie Chin International Children's Park Hing Hay Park Historic Chinatown Gate (Seattle) Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Washington Nippon Kan Theater (closed) Kobe Terrace Panama Hotel Uwajimaya Wing Luke Museum In popular culture An independent film called The Paper Tigers, a martial arts comedy, was filmed in the Chinatown-International District. [55][56] The Chinatown International District has a short appearance in the Naughty Dog's game The Last of Us Part II. During the gameplay players can visit devastated shops, restaurants, and the iconic Chinatown Gate. See also America's Most Endangered Places Festál at Seattle Center, a series of festivals celebrating the culture and contributions of Seattle's various Asian American and other ethnic communities History of Chinese Americans in Seattle History of the Japanese in Seattle Seattle (/siˈætəl/ ⓘ see-AT-əl) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2022 population of 749,256[10] it is the most populous city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The Seattle metropolitan area's population is 4.02 million, making it the 15th-largest in the United States.[11] Its growth rate of 21.1% between 2010 and 2020 made it one of the country's fastest-growing large cities.[12] Seattle is situated on an isthmus between Puget Sound (an inlet of the Pacific Ocean) and Lake Washington. It is the northernmost major city in the United States, located about 100 miles (160 km) south of the Canadian border. A major gateway for trade with East Asia, the Port of Seattle is the fourth-largest port in North America in terms of container handling as of 2021.[13] The Seattle area has been inhabited by Native Americans (such as the Duwamish, who had at least 17 villages around Elliot Bay) for at least 4,000 years before the first permanent European settlers.[14] Arthur A. Denny and his group of travelers, subsequently known as the Denny Party, arrived from Illinois via Portland, Oregon, on the schooner Exact at Alki Point on November 13, 1851.[15] The settlement was moved to the eastern shore of Elliott Bay in 1852 and named "Seattle" in honor of Chief Seattle, a prominent 19th century leader of the local Duwamish and Suquamish tribes. Seattle currently has high populations of Native Americans alongside Americans with strong Asian, African, European, and Scandinavian ancestry, and hosts the fifth-largest LGBT community in the U.S.[16] Logging was Seattle's first major industry, but by the late 19th century, the city had become a commercial and shipbuilding center as a gateway to Alaska during the Klondike Gold Rush. Growth after World War II was partially due to the local Boeing company, which established Seattle as a center for aircraft manufacturing. The Seattle area developed into a technology center from the 1980s onwards with companies like Microsoft becoming established in the region; Microsoft founder Bill Gates is a Seattleite by birth. Internet retailer Amzon was founded in Seattle in 1994, and major airline Alaska Airlines is based in SeaTac, Washington, serving Seattle's international airport, Seattle–Tacoma International Airport. The stream of new software, biotechnology, and Internet companies led to an economic revival, which increased the city's population by almost 50,000 between 1990 and 2000. The culture of Seattle is heavily defined by its significant musical history. Between 1918 and 1951, nearly 24 jazz nightclubs existed along Jackson Street, from the current Chinatown/International District to the Central District. The jazz scene nurtured the early careers of Ernestine Anderson, Ray Charles, Quincy Jones, and others. The city is also the origin of rock acts such as Foo Fighters, Heart, and Jimi Hendrix, as well as the grunge subgenre of rock and its pioneering bands Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and Soundgarden.[17] History Main article: History of Seattle For a chronological guide, see Timeline of Seattle. Seattle, engraving from Harper's New Monthly Magazine (September 1870) Founding Archaeological excavations suggest that Native Americans have inhabited the Seattle area for at least 4,000 years.[14] By the time the first European settlers arrived, the Duwamish people occupied at least seventeen villages in the areas around Elliott Bay.[18][19][20] The name for the modern city of Seattle in Lushootseed, dᶻidᶻəlal̓ič, meaning "little crossing over place" comes from the location of one of these villages which located at the present King Street Station.[21][22] The first European to visit the Seattle area was George Vancouver, in May 1792 during his 1791–1795 expedition for the Royal Navy to chart the Pacific Northwest.[23] In 1851, a large party of American pioneers led by Luther Collins made a location on land at the mouth of the Duwamish River; they formally claimed it on September 14, 1851.[24] Thirteen days later, members of the Collins Party on the way to their claim passed three scouts of the Denny Party.[25] Members of the Denny Party claimed land on Alki Point on September 28, 1851.[26] The rest of the Denny Party set sail on the schooner Exact from Portland, Oregon, stopping in Astoria, and landed at Alki Point during a rainstorm on November 13, 1851.[26] After a difficult winter, most of the Denny Party relocated across Elliott Bay and claimed land a second time at the site of present-day Pioneer Square,[26] naming this new settlement Duwamps.[27] Charles Terry and John Low remained at the original landing location, reestablished their old land claim and called it "New York", but renamed "New York Alki" in April 1853, from a Chinook word meaning, roughly, "by and by" or "someday".[28][29] For the next few years, New York Alki and Duwamps competed for dominance, but in time Alki was abandoned and its residents moved across the bay to join the rest of the settlers.[30] David Swinson "Doc" Maynard, one of the founders of Duwamps, was the primary advocate to name the settlement Seattle after Chief Seattle (Lushootseed: siʔaɫ, anglicized as "Seattle"), chief of the Duwamish and Suquamish tribes.[31][32][33] The name "Seattle" appears on official Washington Territory papers dated May 23, 1853, when the first plats for the village were filed. In 1855, nominal land settlements were established. On January 14, 1865, the Legislature of Territorial Washington incorporated the Town of Seattle with a board of trustees managing the city. The Town of Seattle was disincorporated on January 18, 1867, and remained a mere precinct of King County until late 1869, when a new petition was filed and the city was re-incorporated December 2, 1869, with a mayor–council government.[26][34] The corporate seal of the City of Seattle carries the date "1869" and a likeness of Chief Seattle in left profile.[35] That same year, Seattle acquired the epithet of the "Queen City", a designation officially changed in 1982 to "Emerald City".[36] Timber town Seattle has a history of boom-and-bust cycles, like many other cities near areas of extensive natural and mineral resources. Seattle has risen several times economically, then gone into precipitous decline, but it has typically used those periods to rebuild solid infrastructure.[37] The first such boom, covering the early years of the city, rode on the lumber industry. During this period the road now known as Yesler Way won the nickname "Skid Road", supposedly after the timber skidding down the hill to Henry Yesler's sawmill. The later dereliction of the area may be a possible origin for the term which later entered the wider American lexicon as Skid Row.[38] Like much of the American West, Seattle saw numerous conflicts between labor and management, as well as ethnic tensions that culminated in the anti-Chinese riots of 1885–1886.[39] This violence originated with unemployed whites who were determined to drive the Chinese from Seattle (anti-Chinese riots also occurred in Tacoma). In 1900, Asians were 4.2% of the population.[40] Authorities declared martial law and federal troops arrived to put down the disorder. Seattle had achieved sufficient economic success that when the Great Seattle Fire of 1889 destroyed the central business district, a far grander city-center rapidly emerged in its place.[41] Finance company Washington Mutual, for example, was founded in the immediate wake of the fire.[42] However, the Panic of 1893 hit Seattle hard.[43] Gold Rush, World War I, and the Great Depression Seattle's first streetcar, at the corner of Occidental and Yesler, 1884. All buildings depicted were destroyed by fire five years later. Seattle and King County in 1891[44] The second and most dramatic boom resulted from the Klondike Gold Rush, which ended the depression that had begun with the Panic of 1893. In a short time, Seattle became a major transportation center. On July 14, 1897, the S.S. Portland docked with its famed "ton of gold", and Seattle became the main transport and supply point for the miners in Alaska and the Yukon. Few of those working men found lasting wealth. However, it was Seattle's business of clothing the miners and feeding them salmon that panned out in the long run. Along with Seattle, other cities like Everett, Tacoma, Port Townsend, Bremerton, and Olympia, all in the Puget Sound region, became competitors for exchange, rather than mother lodes for extraction, of precious metals.[45] The boom lasted well into the early part of the 20th century, and funded many new Seattle companies and products. In 1907, 19-year-old James E. Casey borrowed $100 from a friend and founded the American Messenger Company (later UPS). Other Seattle companies founded during this period include Nordstrom and Eddie Bauer.[42] Seattle brought in the Olmsted Brothers landscape architecture firm to design a system of parks and boulevards.[46] The Gold Rush era culminated in the Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition of 1909, which is largely responsible for the layout of today's University of Washington campus.[47] A shipbuilding boom in the early part of the 20th century became massive during World War I, making Seattle somewhat of a company town. The subsequent retrenchment led to the Seattle General Strike of 1919, an early general strike in the country.[48] A 1912 city development plan by Virgil Bogue went largely unused. Seattle was mildly prosperous in the 1920s but was particularly hard hit in the Great Depression, experiencing some of the country's harshest labor strife in that era. Violence during the Maritime Strike of 1934 cost Seattle much of its maritime traffic, which was rerouted to the Port of Los Angeles.[49] The Great Depression in Seattle affected many minority groups, one being the Asian Pacific Americans; they were subject to racism, loss of property, and failed claims of unemployment due to citizenship status.[50] Seattle was one of the major cities that benefited from programs such as the WPA, CCC, UCL, and PWA.[51][52] The workers, mostly men, built roads, parks, dams, schools, railroads, bridges, docks, and even historical and archival record sites and buildings. However, Seattle faced massive unemployment, loss of lumber and construction industries as Los Angeles prevailed as the bigger West Coast city. Seattle had building contracts that rivaled New York City and Chicago, but lost to LA as well. Seattle's eastern farm land faded due to Oregon's and the Midwest's, forcing people into town.[53][54] Pioneer Square in 1917 featuring the Pioneer Building, the Smith Tower, and the Seattle Hotel The famous Hooverville arose during the Depression, leading to Seattle's growing homeless population. Stationed outside Seattle, the Hooverville housed thousands of men but very few children and no women. With work projects close to the city, Hooverville grew and the WPA settled into the city.[55] A movement by women arose from Seattle during the Depression. Fueled by Eleanor Roosevelt's book It's Up to the Women, women pushed for recognition, not just as housewives, but as the backbone to family. Using newspapers and journals Working Woman and The Woman Today, women pushed to be seen as equal and receive some recognition.[56] Seattle's University of Washington was greatly affected during the Depression era. As schools across Washington lost funding and attendance, the UW actually prospered during the time period. While Seattle public schools were influenced by Washington's superintendent Worth McClure,[57] they still struggled to pay teachers and maintain attendance. The UW, despite academic challenges that plagued the college due to differing views on teaching and learning, focused on growth in student enrollment rather than improving the existing school.[58] Seattle was also the home base of impresario Alexander Pantages who, starting in 1902, opened a number of theaters in the city exhibiting vaudeville acts and silent movies. He went on to become one of America's greatest theater and movie tycoons. Scottish-born architect B. Marcus Priteca designed several theaters for Pantages in Seattle, which were later demolished or converted to other uses. Seattle's surviving Paramount Theatre, on which he collaborated, was not a Pantages theater.[59] Post-war years: aircraft and software Building the Seattle Center Monorail, 1961 (looking north up Fifth Avenue from Virginia Street) War work again brought local prosperity during World War II, this time centered on Boeing aircraft. The war dispersed the city's numerous Japanese-American businessmen due to the Japanese American internment. After the war, the local economy dipped. It rose again with Boeing's growing dominance in the commercial airliner market.[60] Seattle celebrated its restored prosperity and made a bid for world recognition with the Century 21 Exposition, the 1962 World's Fair, for which the iconic Space Needle was built.[61] Another major local economic downturn was in the late 1960s and early 1970s, at a time when Boeing was heavily affected by the oil crises, loss of government contracts, and costs and delays associated with the Boeing 747. Many people left the area to look for work elsewhere, and two local real estate agents put up a billboard reading "Will the last person leaving Seattle – Turn out the lights."[62] Seattle remained the corporate headquarters of Boeing until 2001, when the company separated its headquarters from its major production facilities; the headquarters were moved to Chicago.[63] The Seattle area is still home to Boeing's Renton narrow-body plant and Everett wide-body plant.[64] The company's credit union for employees, BECU, remains based in the Seattle area and has been open to all residents of Washington since 2002.[65] On March 20, 1970, twenty-eight people were killed when the Ozark Hotel was burned by an unknown arsonist.[66] As prosperity began to return in the 1980s, the city was stunned by the Wah Mee massacre in 1983, when thirteen people were killed in an illegal gambling club in the Seattle Chinatown-International District.[67] Beginning with Microsoft's 1979 move from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to nearby Bellevue, Washington,[68] Seattle and its suburbs became home to a number of technology companies including Amaon, F5 Networks, RealNetworks, Nintendo of America, and T-Mobile.[69] This success brought an influx of new residents with a population increase within city limits of almost 50,000 between 1990 and 2000,[70] and saw Seattle's real estate become some of the most expensive in the country.[71] In 1993, the movie Sleepless in Seattle brought the city further national attention,[72] as did the television sitcom Frasier. The dot-com boom caused a great frenzy among the technology companies in Seattle but the bubble ended in early 2001.[73][74] Seattle in this period attracted widespread attention as home to these many companies, but also by hosting the 1990 Goodwill Games[75] and the APEC leaders conference in 1993,[76] as well as through the worldwide popularity of grunge, a sound that had developed in Seattle's independent music scene.[77] Another bid for worldwide attention—hosting the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference of 1999—garnered visibility, but not in the way its sponsors desired, as related protest activity and police reactions to those protests overshadowed the conference itself.[78] The city was further shaken by the Mardi Gras Riots in 2001, and then literally shaken the following day by the Nisqually earthquake.[79] Another boom began as the city emerged from the Great Recession which commenced when  moved its headquarters from North Beacon Hill to South Lake Union. This initiated a historic construction boom which resulted in the completion of almost 10,000 apartments in Seattle in 2017, which is more than any previous year and nearly twice as many as were built in 2016.[80][81] Beginning in 2010, and for the next five years, Seattle gained an average of 14,511 residents per year, with the growth strongly skewed toward the center of the city,[82] as unemployment dropped from roughly 9 percent to 3.6 percent.[83] The city has found itself "bursting at the seams", with over 45,000 households spending more than half their income on housing and at least 2,800 people homeless, and with the country's sixth-worst rush hour traffic.[83] Geography Topography See also: Bodies of water of Seattle, List of neighborhoods in Seattle, and Regrading in Seattle Satellite photo of Seattle Seattle is located between the saltwater Puget Sound (an arm of the Pacific Ocean) to the west and Lake Washington to the east. The city's chief harbor, Elliott Bay, is part of Puget Sound, which makes the city an oceanic port. To the west, beyond Puget Sound, are the Kitsap Peninsula and Olympic Mountains on the Olympic Peninsula; to the east, beyond Lake Washington and the Eastside suburbs, are Lake Sammamish and the Cascade Range. Lake Washington's waters flow to Puget Sound through the Lake Washington Ship Canal (consisting of two man-made canals, Lake Union, and the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks at Salmon Bay, ending in Shilshole Bay on Puget Sound).[citation needed] The sea, rivers, forests, lakes, and fields surrounding Seattle were once rich enough to support one of the world's few sedentary hunter-gatherer societies. The surrounding area lends itself well to sailing, skiing, bicycling, camping, and hiking year-round.[84][85] The city itself is hilly, though not uniformly so.[86] Like Rome, the city is said to lie on seven hills;[87] the lists vary but typically include Capitol Hill, First Hill, West Seattle, Beacon Hill, Queen Anne, Magnolia, and the former Denny Hill. The Wallingford, Delridge, Mount Baker, Seward Park, Washington Park, Broadmoor, Madrona, Phinney Ridge, Sunset Hill, Blue Ridge, Broadview, Laurelhurst, Hawthorne Hills, Maple Leaf, and Crown Hill neighborhoods are all located on hills as well. Many of the hilliest areas are near the city center, with Capitol Hill, First Hill, and Beacon Hill collectively constituting something of a ridge along an isthmus between Elliott Bay and Lake Washington.[88] The break in the ridge between First Hill and Beacon Hill is man-made, the result of two of the many regrading projects that reshaped the topography of the city center.[89] The topography of the city center was also changed by the construction of a seawall and the artificial Harbor Island (completed 1909) at the mouth of the city's industrial Duwamish Waterway, the terminus of the Green River. The highest point within city limits is at High Point in West Seattle, which is roughly located near 35th Ave SW and SW Myrtle St. North of the city center, Lake Washington Ship Canal connects Puget Sound to Lake Washington. It incorporates four natural bodies of water: Lake Union, Salmon Bay, Portage Bay, and Union Bay.[citation needed] Due to its location in the Pacific Ring of Fire, Seattle is in a major earthquake zone. On February 28, 2001, the magnitude 6.8 Nisqually earthquake did significant architectural damage, especially in the Pioneer Square area (built on reclaimed land, as are the Industrial District and part of the city center), and caused one fatality.[90] Other strong quakes occurred on January 26, 1700 (estimated at 9 magnitude), December 14, 1872 (7.3 or 7.4),[91] April 13, 1949 (7.1),[92] and April 29, 1965 (6.5).[93] The 1965 quake caused three deaths in Seattle directly and one more by heart failure.[93] Although the Seattle Fault passes just south of the city center, neither it[94] nor the Cascadia subduction zone has caused an earthquake since the city's founding. The Cascadia subduction zone poses the threat of an earthquake of magnitude 9.0 or greater, capable of seriously damaging the city and collapsing many buildings, especially in zones built on fill.[95] According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 142.5 square miles (369 km2),[96] 83.9 square miles (217 km2) of which is land and 58.7 square miles (152 km2), water (41.16% of the total area).[citation needed] Cityscape Further information: List of tallest buildings in Seattle and Architecture of Seattle Seattle skyline view from Queen Anne Hill. From this angle the Space Needle appears tallest. Mount Rainier, Elliott Bay, and the Port of Seattle on Puget Sound are also visible. Climate Pledge Arena is also visible right near the Space Needle. Climate Main article: Climate of Seattle According to Köppen, Seattle has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate (Csb),[97][98][99] while under the Trewartha system, it is labeled as an oceanic climate (Do).[100][101] It has cool, wet winters and mild, relatively dry summers, covering characteristics of both.[102][103] The climate is sometimes characterized as a "modified Mediterranean" climate because it is cooler and wetter than a "true" Mediterranean climate, but shares the characteristic dry summer (which has a strong influence on the region's vegetation).[104] Temperature extremes are moderated by the adjacent Puget Sound, greater Pacific Ocean, and Lake Washington. Thus extreme heat waves are rare in the Seattle area, as are very cold temperatures (below about 15 °F (−9 °C)). The Seattle area is the cloudiest region of the United States, due in part to frequent storms and lows moving in from the adjacent Pacific Ocean. With many more "rain days" than other major American cities, Seattle has a well-earned reputation for frequent rain.[105] In an average year, at least 0.01 inches (0.25 mm) of precipitation falls on 150 days, more than nearly all U.S. cities east of the Rocky Mountains.[106] However, because it often has merely a light drizzle falling from the sky for many days, Seattle actually receives significantly less rainfall (or other precipitation) overall than many other U.S. cities like New York City, Miami, or Houston. Seattle is cloudy 201 days out of the year and partly cloudy 93 days.[107] vte Climate data for Seattle (SeaTac Airport), 1991–2020 normals,[a] extremes 1894–present[b] Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year Record high °F (°C) 67 (19) 70 (21) 79 (26) 89 (32) 93 (34) 108 (42) 103 (39) 99 (37) 98 (37) 89 (32) 74 (23) 66 (19) 108 (42) Mean maximum °F (°C) 57.0 (13.9) 59.1 (15.1) 66.4 (19.1) 74.3 (23.5) 81.9 (27.7) 85.8 (29.9) 91.2 (32.9) 89.9 (32.2) 84.1 (28.9) 72.0 (22.2) 61.6 (16.4) 56.8 (13.8) 94.1 (34.5) Average high °F (°C) 48.0 (8.9) 50.3 (10.2) 54.2 (12.3) 59.3 (15.2) 66.3 (19.1) 71.1 (21.7) 77.4 (25.2) 77.6 (25.3) 71.6 (22.0) 60.5 (15.8) 52.1 (11.2) 47.0 (8.3) 61.3 (16.3) Daily mean °F (°C) 42.8 (6.0) 44.0 (6.7) 47.1 (8.4) 51.3 (10.7) 57.5 (14.2) 62.0 (16.7) 67.1 (19.5) 67.4 (19.7) 62.6 (17.0) 53.8 (12.1) 46.5 (8.1) 42.0 (5.6) 53.7 (12.1) Average low °F (°C) 37.7 (3.2) 37.7 (3.2) 39.9 (4.4) 43.3 (6.3) 48.7 (9.3) 53.0 (11.7) 56.8 (13.8) 57.2 (14.0) 53.6 (12.0) 47.0 (8.3) 40.9 (4.9) 37.1 (2.8) 46.1 (7.8) Mean minimum °F (°C) 26.1 (−3.3) 27.3 (−2.6) 31.3 (−0.4) 35.6 (2.0) 40.6 (4.8) 46.6 (8.1) 51.5 (10.8) 51.7 (10.9) 45.8 (7.7) 36.8 (2.7) 29.2 (−1.6) 25.4 (−3.7) 21.5 (−5.8) Record low °F (°C) 0 (−18) 1 (−17) 11 (−12) 29 (−2) 28 (−2) 38 (3) 43 (6) 44 (7) 35 (2) 28 (−2) 6 (−14) 6 (−14) 0 (−18) Average precipitation inches (mm) 5.78 (147) 3.76 (96) 4.17 (106) 3.18 (81) 1.88 (48) 1.45 (37) 0.60 (15) 0.97 (25) 1.61 (41) 3.91 (99) 6.31 (160) 5.72 (145) 39.34 (999) Average snowfall inches (cm) 1.8 (4.6) 2.2 (5.6) 0.4 (1.0) 0.0 (0.0) 0.0 (0.0) 0.0 (0.0) 0.0 (0.0) 0.0 (0.0) 0.0 (0.0) 0.0 (0.0) 0.2 (0.51) 1.7 (4.3) 6.3 (16) Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in) 18.7 15.9 17.1 15.0 11.3 9.2 4.7 4.9 8.3 14.3 18.4 18.4 156.2 Average snowy days (≥ 0.1 in) 1.4 1.2 0.4 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.2 1.5 4.7 Average relative humidity (%) 78.0 75.2 73.6 71.4 68.9 67.1 65.4 68.2 73.2 78.6 79.8 80.1 73.3 Average dew point °F (°C) 33.1 (0.6) 35.1 (1.7) 36.3 (2.4) 38.8 (3.8) 43.5 (6.4) 48.2 (9.0) 51.4 (10.8) 52.7 (11.5) 50.2 (10.1) 45.1 (7.3) 38.8 (3.8) 34.3 (1.3) 42.3 (5.7) Mean monthly sunshine hours 69.8 108.8 178.4 207.3 253.7 268.4 312.0 281.4 221.7 142.6 72.7 52.9 2,169.7 Percent possible sunshine 25 38 48 51 54 56 65 64 59 42 26 20 49 Average ultraviolet index 1 2 3 5 6 7 7 6 5 3 1 1 4 Source 1: NOAA (relative humidity, dew point and sun 1961–1990)[109][110][111] Source 2: Weather Atlas (UV)[112] Demographics Main article: Demographics of Seattle According to the 2012–2016 American Community Survey (ACS), the racial makeup of the city was 65.7% White Non-Hispanic, 16.9% Asian, 6.8% Black or African American, 6.6% Hispanic or Latino of any race, 0.4% Native American, 0.9% Pacific Islander, 0.2% other races, and 5.6% two or more races.[113] Historical population Census Pop. Note %± 1860 188 — 1870 1,107 488.8% 1880 3,533 219.2% 1890 42,837 1,112.5% 1900 80,671 88.3% 1910 237,194 194.0% 1920 315,312 32.9% 1930 365,583 15.9% 1940 368,302 0.7% 1950 467,591 27.0% 1960 557,087 19.1% 1970 530,831 −4.7% 1980 493,846 −7.0% 1990 516,259 4.5% 2000 563,374 9.1% 2010 608,660 8.0% 2020 737,015 21.1% 2022 (est.) 749,256 [2] 1.7% U.S. Decennial Census[114] 2010–2020[2] Racial composition 2023[115] 2020[116] 2010[117] 1990[40] 1970[40] 1940[40] White (non-Hispanic) 62.2% 59.5% 66.3% 73.7% 85.3%[c] n/a Asian (non-Hispanic) 16.3% 16.9% 13.7% 11.8% 4.2% 2.8% Hispanic or Latino 7.2% 8.2% 6.6% 3.6% 2.0%[c] n/a Black or African American (non-Hispanic) 6.8% 6.8% 7.7% 10.1% 7.1% 1.0% Other (non-Hispanic) n/a 0.6% 0.2% n/a n/a n/a Two or more races (non-Hispanic) 8.8% 7.3% 4.4% n/a n/a n/a Seattle's population historically has been predominantly white.[40] The 2010 census showed that Seattle was one of the whitest big cities in the country, although its proportion of white residents has been gradually declining.[118] In 1960, whites constituted 91.6% of the city's population,[40] while in 2010 they constituted 69.5%.[119][120] According to the 2006–2008 American Community Survey, approximately 78.9% of residents over the age of five spoke only English at home. Those who spoke Asian languages other than Indo-European languages made up 10.2% of the population, Spanish was spoken by 4.5% of the population, speakers of other Indo-European languages made up 3.9%, and speakers of other languages made up 2.5%.[citation needed] Ethnic origins in Seattle Map of racial distribution in Seattle, 2010 U.S. Census. Each dot is 25 people: ⬤ White ⬤ Black ⬤ Asian ⬤ Hispanic ⬤ Other Seattle's foreign-born population grew 40% between the 1990 and 2000 censuses.[121] The Chinese population in the Seattle area has origins in mainland China, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, and Taiwan. The earliest Chinese-Americans that came in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were almost entirely from Guangdong Province. The Seattle area is also home to a large Vietnamese population of more than 55,000 residents,[122] as well as over 30,000 Somali immigrants.[123] The Seattle-Tacoma area is also home to one of the largest Cambodian communities in the United States, numbering about 19,000 Cambodian Americans,[124] and one of the largest Samoan communities in the mainland U.S., with over 15,000 people having Samoan ancestry.[119][125] Additionally, the Seattle area had the highest percentage of self-identified mixed-race people of any large metropolitan area in the United States, according to the 2000 United States Census Bureau.[126] According to a 2012 HistoryLink study, Seattle's 98118 ZIP code (in the Columbia City neighborhood) was one of the most diverse ZIP Code Tabulation Areas in the United States.[127] According to the ACS 1-year estimates, in 2018, the median income of a city household was $93,481, and the median income for a family was $130,656.[128] 11.0% of the population and 6.6% of families were below the poverty line. Of people living in poverty, 11.4% were under the age of 18 and 10.9% were 65 or older.[128] It is estimated that King County has 8,000 homeless people on any given night, and many of those live in Seattle.[129] In September 2005, King County adopted a "Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness", one of the near-term results of which is a shift of funding from homeless shelter beds to permanent housing.[130] In recent years, the city has experienced steady population growth, and has been faced with the issue of accommodating more residents. In 2006, after growing by 4,000 citizens per year for the previous 16 years, regional planners expected the population of Seattle to grow by 200,000 people by 2040.[131] However, former mayor Greg Nickels supported plans that would increase the population by 60%, or 350,000 people, by 2040 and worked on ways to accommodate this growth while keeping Seattle's single-family housing zoning laws.[131] The Seattle City Council later voted to relax height limits on buildings in the greater part of Downtown, partly with the aim to increase residential density in the city center.[132] As a sign of increasing downtown core growth, the Downtown population crested to over 60,000 in 2009, up 77% since 1990.[133] In 2021 Seattle experienced its first population decline in 50 years.[134] Seattle has a relatively high number of adults living alone. According to the 2000 U.S. Census interim measurements of 2004, Seattle has the fifth highest proportion of single-person households nationwide among cities of 100,000 or more residents, at 40.8%.[135] Sexual orientation and gender identity See also: LGBT culture in Seattle and Seattle Pride Seattle has a notably large lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. According to a 2006 study by UCLA, 12.9% of city residents polled identified as gay, lesbian, or bisexual. This was the second-highest proportion of any major U.S. city, behind San Francisco.[136] Greater Seattle also ranked second among major U.S. metropolitan areas, with 6.5% of the population identifying as gay, lesbian, or bisexual.[136] According to 2012 estimates from the United States Census Bureau, Seattle has the highest percentage of same-sex households in the United States, at 2.6 percent, surpassing San Francisco (2.5 percent).[137] The Capitol Hill district has historically been the center of LGBT culture in Seattle.[138] Economy This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (April 2021) See also: List of companies based in Seattle Washington Mutual's last headquarters, the WaMu Center, (now the Russell Investments Center) (center left) and its headquarters prior, Washington Mutual Tower (now the 1201 Third Avenue Tower) (center right) headquarters building (named "Day 1") in the Denny Triangle Seattle's economy is driven by a mix of older industrial companies and "new economy" internet and technology companies, as well as service, design, and clean technology companies. The city's gross metropolitan product (GMP) was $231 billion in 2010, making it the 11th largest metropolitan economy in the United States.[139][140] The Port of Seattle, which also operates Seattle–Tacoma International Airport, is a major gateway for trade with Asia and cruises to Alaska. It also is the 8th largest port in the United States when measured by container capacity. Its maritime cargo operations merged with the Port of Tacoma in 2015 to form the Northwest Seaport Alliance.[141][142] Although it was affected by the Great Recession, Seattle has retained a comparatively strong economy, and is noted for start-up businesses, especially in green building and clean technologies.[143] In February 2010, the city government committed Seattle to become North America's first "climate neutral" city, with a goal of reaching zero net per capita greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.[144] Large companies continue to dominate the business landscape. Seven companies on Fortune 500's 2022 list of the United States' largest companies (based on total revenue) are headquartered in Seattle: Internet retailer (#2), coffee chain Starbucks (#120), freight forwarder Expeditors International of Washington (#225), department store Nordstrom (#245), forest products company Weyerhaeuser (#354), online travel company Expedia Group (#404) and real-estate tech company Zillow (#424) .[145] Other Fortune 500 companies commonly associated with Seattle are based in nearby Puget Sound cities. Warehouse club chain Costco (#11), the largest retail company in Washington, is based in Issaquah. Microsoft (#14) is located in Redmond. Furthermore, Bellevue is home to truck manufacturer Paccar (#151).[145] Other major companies headquartered in the area include Nintendo of America in Redmond, T-Mobile US in Bellevue, and Providence Health & Services (the state's largest health care system and fifth largest employer) in Renton. The city has a reputation for heavy coffee consumption;[146] coffee companies founded or based in Seattle include Starbucks,[147] Seattle's Best Coffee,[148] and Tully's.[149] There are also many successful independent artisanal espresso roasters and cafés.[146][needs update] Before moving its headquarters to Chicago and then ultimately Arlington, Virginia, aerospace manufacturer Boeing (#60) was the largest company based in Seattle. Its largest division, Boeing Commercial Airplanes, is still headquartered within the Puget Sound region.[150][d] The company also has large aircraft manufacturing plants in Everett and Renton; it remains the largest private employer in the Seattle metropolitan area.[151] In 2006 former Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels announced a desire to spark a new economic boom driven by the biotechnology industry. Major redevelopment of the South Lake Union neighborhood is underway in an effort to attract new and established biotech companies to the city, joining biotech companies Corixa (acquired by GlaxoSmithKline), Immunex (now part of Amgen), Trubion, and ZymoGenetics. Vulcan Inc., the holding company of billionaire Paul Allen, is behind most of the development projects in the region. While some see the new development as an economic boon, others have criticized Nickels and the Seattle City Council for pandering to Allen's interests at taxpayers' expense.[152] In 2005, Forbes ranked Seattle as the most expensive American city for buying a house based on the local income levels.[153] Owing largely to the rapidly increasing cost of living, Seattle and Washington State have some of the highest minimum wages in the country, at $15 per hour for smaller businesses and $16 for the city's largest employers.[154] Operating a hub at Seattle–Tacoma International Airport, Alaska Airlines maintains its headquarters in the city of SeaTac, next to the airport.[155] Seattle is a hub for global health with the headquarters of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, PATH (global health organization), Infectious Disease Research Institute, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. In 2015, the Washington Global Health Alliance counted 168 global health organizations in Washington state. Many are headquartered in Seattle.[156] Culture Seattle Central Library Many of Seattle's neighborhoods host one or more street fairs or parades.[157] Performing arts Main articles: Arts in Seattle and Music of Seattle See also: List of musicians from Seattle and List of songs about Seattle Kreielsheimer Promenade and Marion Oliver McCaw Hall at Seattle Center Seattle has been a regional center for the performing arts for many years. The century-old Seattle Symphony Orchestra has won many awards and performs primarily at Benaroya Hall.[158] The Seattle Opera and Pacific Northwest Ballet, which perform at McCaw Hall (opened in 2003 on the site of the former Seattle Opera House at Seattle Center), are comparably distinguished,[159][160] with the Opera being particularly known for its performances of the works of Richard Wagner[161][162] and the PNB School (founded in 1974) ranking as one of the top three ballet training institutions in the United States.[163] The Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestras (SYSO) is the largest symphonic youth organization in the United States.[164] The city also boasts lauded summer and winter chamber music festivals organized by the Seattle Chamber Music Society.[165] The 5th Avenue Theatre, built in 1926, stages Broadway-style musical shows[166] featuring both local talent and international stars.[167] Seattle has "around 100" theatrical production companies[168] and over two dozen live theatre venues, many of them associated with fringe theatre;[169][170] Seattle is probably second only to New York for number of equity theaters[171] (28 Seattle theater companies have some sort of Actors' Equity contract).[168] In addition, the 900-seat Romanesque Revival Town Hall on First Hill hosts numerous cultural events, especially lectures and recitals.[172] Benaroya Hall has been the home of the Seattle Symphony since 1998. Between 1918 and 1951, there were nearly two dozen jazz nightclubs along Jackson Street, running from the current Chinatown/International District to the Central District. The jazz scene developed the early careers of Ray Charles, Quincy Jones, Bumps Blackwell, Ernestine Anderson, and others.[173] Early popular musical acts from the Seattle/Puget Sound area include the collegiate folk group The Brothers Four, vocal group The Fleetwoods, 1960s garage rockers The Wailers and The Sonics, and instrumental surf group The Ventures, some of whom are still active.[173] Seattle is considered the home of grunge music,[17] having produced artists such as Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, and Mudhoney, all of whom reached international audiences in the early 1990s.[173] The city is also home to such varied artists as avant-garde jazz musicians Bill Frisell and Wayne Horvitz, hot jazz musician Glenn Crytzer, hip hop artists Sir Mix-a-Lot, Macklemore, Blue Scholars, and Shabazz Palaces, smooth jazz saxophonist Kenny G, classic rock staples Heart and Queensr che, and alternative rock bands such as Foo Fighters, Harvey Danger, The Presidents of the United States of America, The Posies, Modest Mouse, Band of Horses, Death Cab for Cutie, and Fleet Foxes. Rock musicians such as Jimi Hendrix, Duff McKagan, and Nikki Sixx spent their formative years in Seattle. The Seattle-based Sub Pop record company continues to be one of the world's best-known independent/alternative music labels.[173] Over the years, a number of songs have been written about Seattle. Seattle annually sends a team of spoken word slammers to the National Poetry Slam and considers itself home to such performance poets as Buddy Wakefield, two-time Individual World Poetry Slam Champ;[174] Anis Mojgani, two-time National Poetry Slam Champ;[175] and Danny Sherrard, 2007 National Poetry Slam Champ and 2008 Individual World Poetry Slam Champ.[176] Seattle also hosted the 2001 national Poetry Slam Tournament. The Seattle Poetry Festival is a biennial poetry festival that (launched first as the Poetry Circus in 1997) has featured local, regional, national, and international names in poetry.[177] The city also has movie houses showing both Hollywood productions and works by independent filmmakers.[178] Among these, the Seattle Cinerama stands out as one of only three movie theaters in the world still capable of showing three-panel Cinerama films.[179] Tourism See also: List of museums in Seattle 210 cruise ship visits brought 886,039 passengers to Seattle in 2008.[180] Among Seattle's prominent annual fairs and festivals are the 24-day Seattle International Film Festival,[181] Northwest Folklife over the Memorial Day weekend, numerous Seafair events throughout July and August (ranging from a Bon Odori celebration to the Seafair Cup hydroplane races), the Bite of Seattle, one of the largest Gay Pride festivals in the United States, and the art and music festival Bumbershoot, which programs music as well as other art and entertainment over the Labor Day weekend. All are typically attended by 100,000 people annually, as are the Seattle Hempfest and two separate Independence Day celebrations.[182][183][184][185] Other significant events include numerous Native American pow-wows, a Greek Festival hosted by St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Montlake, and numerous ethnic festivals (many associated with Festál at Seattle Center).[186] There are other annual events, ranging from the Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair & Book Arts Show;[187] an anime convention, Sakura-Con;[188] Penny Arcade Expo, a gaming convention;[189] a two-day, 9,000-rider Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic;[190] and specialized film festivals, such as the Maelstrom International Fantastic Film Festival, the Seattle Asian American Film Festival, Children's Film Festival Seattle, Translation: the Seattle Transgender Film Festival, the Seattle Queer Film Festival, Seattle Latino Film Festival, and the Seattle Polish Film Festival.[191][192] The Henry Art Gallery opened in 1927, the first public art museum in Washington.[193] The Seattle Art Museum (SAM) opened in 1933 and moved to their current downtown location in 1991 (expanded and reopened in 2007); since 1991, the 1933 building has been SAM's Seattle Asian Art Museum (SAAM).[194] SAM also operates the Olympic Sculpture Park (opened in 2007) on the waterfront north of the downtown piers.[195] The Frye Art Museum is a free museum on First Hill.[196] Regional history collections are at the Log House Museum in Alki, Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, the Museum of History and Industry, and the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture. Industry collections are at the Center for Wooden Boats and the adjacent Northwest Seaport, and the Museum of Flight. Regional ethnic collections include the National Nordic Museum, the Wing Luke Asian Museum, and the Northwest African American Museum. Seattle has artist-run galleries,[197] including ten-year veteran Soil Art Gallery,[198] and the newer Crawl Space Gallery.[199] The Seattle Great Wheel The Seattle Great Wheel, one of the largest Ferris wheels in the US, opened in June 2012 as a new, permanent attraction on the city's waterfront, at Pier 57, next to Downtown Seattle.[200] The city also has many community centers for recreation, including Rainier Beach, Van Asselt, Rainier, and Jefferson south of the Ship Canal and Green Lake, Laurelhurst, Loyal Heights north of the Canal, and Meadowbrook.[201] Woodland Park Zoo opened as a private menagerie in 1889 but was sold to the city in 1899.[202] The Seattle Aquarium has been open on the downtown waterfront since 1977 (undergoing a renovation in 2006).[203] The Seattle Underground Tour is an exhibit of places that existed before the Great Fire.[204] Since the middle 1990s, Seattle has experienced significant growth in the cruise industry, especially as a departure point for Alaska cruises. In 2008, a record total of 886,039 cruise passengers passed through the city, surpassing the number for Vancouver, BC, the other major departure point for Alaska cruises.[205] Religion See also: List of places of worship in Seattle This section needs to be updated. The reason given is: This survey is more than eight years old. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (December 2022) According to a 2014 study by the Pew Research Center, the largest religious groupings are Christians (52%), followed by those of no religion (37%), Hindus (2%), Buddhists (2%), Jews (1%), Muslims (1%) and a variety of other religions have smaller followings.[206] According to the same study by the Pew Research Center, about 34% of Seattleites are Protestant, and 15% are Roman Catholic. Meanwhile, 6% of the residents in Seattle call themselves agnostics, while 10% call themselves atheists.[207][208] Religious composition 2014 Christian 52%  —Evangelical Protestant 23%  —Mainline Protestant 10%  —Black Protestant 1% Catholic 15% Non-Christian faiths 10%  —Jewish 1%  —Muslim < 1%  —Buddhist 2%  —Hindu 2% Unaffiliated 37% Don't know 1% Sports Main article: Sports in Seattle See also: History of professional soccer in Seattle Club Sport League Venue (capacity) Founded Titles Record attendance Seattle Seahawks American football NFL Lumen Field (69,000) 1976 1 69,005 Seattle Mariners Baseball MLB T-Mobile Park (47,574) 1977 0 46,596 Seattle Kraken Ice hockey NHL Climate Pledge Arena (17,100) 2021 0 17,151[209] Seattle Sounders FC Soccer MLS Lumen Field (69,000) 2007 2 69,274[210] Seattle Seawolves Rugby MLR Starfire Sports (4,500)[211] 2017 2 4,500 Seattle Sea Dragons American football XFL Lumen Field (69,000) 2018 — 29,172[212] Seattle Storm Basketball WNBA Climate Pledge Arena (18,100) 2000 4 18,100[213] OL Reign Soccer NWSL Lumen Field (69,000) 2013 0 42,054[214] Ballard FC Soccer USL2 Interbay Soccer Field (1,000) 2022 1 3,146[215] Lumen Field, home of the Seattle Seahawks, Seattle Sounders FC, OL Reign, and Seattle Sea Dragons T-Mobile Park, home of the Seattle Mariners Climate Pledge Arena, home of the Seattle Kraken and Seattle Storm Lumen Field during a Sounders match Seattle has four major men's professional sports teams: the National Football League (NFL)'s Seattle Seahawks, Major League Baseball (MLB)'s Seattle Mariners, the National Hockey League (NHL)'s Seattle Kraken, and Major League Soccer (MLS)'s Seattle Sounders FC. Other professional sports teams include the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)'s Seattle Storm, the National Women's Soccer League's OL Reign; and Major League Rugby (MLR)'s Seattle Seawolves. Seattle's professional sports history began at the start of the 20th century with the PCHA's Seattle Metropolitans, which in 1917 became the first American hockey team to win the Stanley Cup.[216] In 1969, Seattle was awarded a Major League Baseball franchise, the Seattle Pilots. Based at Sick's Stadium in Mount Baker, home to Seattle's former minor-league teams, the Pilots played in Seattle for one season before relocating to Milwaukee and becoming the Milwaukee Brewers.[217] The city, alongside the county and state governments, sued the league and was offered a second expansion team, the Seattle Mariners, as settlement. The Mariners began play in 1977 at the multi-purpose Kingdome, where the team struggled for most of its time. Relative success in the mid-to-late 1990s saved the team from being relocated and allowed them to move to a purpose-built baseball stadium, T-Mobile Park (formerly Safeco Field), in 1999.[218][219] The Mariners have never reached a World Series and only appeared in the MLB playoffs five times, mostly between 1995 and 2001, but had Hall of Fame players and candidates like Ken Griffey Jr., Randy Johnson, Ichiro Suzuki, and Alex Rodriguez.[220] The team tied the all-time MLB single regular season wins record in 2001 with 116 wins.[221] From 2001 to 2022, the Mariners failed to qualify for the playoffs—the longest active postseason drought in major North American sports, at 20 seasons.[222] The Seattle Seahawks entered the National Football League in 1976 as an expansion team and have advanced to the Super Bowl three times: 2005, 2013 and 2014.[223] The team played in the Kingdome until it was imploded in 2000 and moved into Qwest Field (now Lumen Field) at the same site in 2003.[223] The Seahawks lost Super Bowl XL in 2005 to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Detroit, but won Super Bowl XLVIII in 2013 by defeating the Denver Broncos 43–8 at MetLife Stadium. The team advanced to the Super Bowl the following year, but lost to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLIX on a last-minute play.[223] Seahawks fans have set stadium noise records on several occasions and are collectively known as the "12th Man".[223][224] Seattle Sounders FC has played in Major League Soccer since 2009, as the latest continuation of the original 1974 Sounders team of the North American Soccer League after an incarnation in the lower divisions of American soccer.[225] Sharing Lumen Field with the Seahawks, the team set various attendance records in its first few MLS seasons, averaging over 43,000 per match and placing themselves among the top 30 teams internationally.[226][227] The Sounders have won the MLS Supporters' Shield in 2014[228] and the U.S. Open Cup on four occasions: 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2014.[229] The Sounders won the first of their two MLS Cup titles in 2016, defeating Toronto FC 5–4 in a penalty shootout in Toronto,[230] before finishing as runners-up in a rematch against Toronto in MLS Cup 2017. In 2019 the Sounders made their first-ever home-field appearance in MLS Cup, once again against Toronto FC, and won the game 3–1 to earn their second MLS Cup title in front of a club-record attendance of 69,274.[231] The stadium also hosted the second leg of the 2022 CONCACAF Champions League Final, played in front of 68,741 to break the tournament attendance record. The Sounders became the first MLS team to win a continental title since 2000 and the first to win the modern Champions League.[232] Seattle's Major League Rugby team, the Seattle Seawolves, play in nearby Tukwila at Starfire Sports Complex, a small stadium that is also used by the Sounders for their U.S. Open Cup matches.[233] The team began play in 2018 and won the league's inaugural championship.[234] They successfully defended their title in the 2019 season, and appeared as a finalist in the 2022 championship game.[235][236] From 1967 to 2008, Seattle was home to the Seattle SuperSonics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A frequent playoff participant, the Sonics were the 1978–79 NBA champions, and also contended for the championship in 1978 and 1996. Following a team sale in 2006, a failed effort to replace the aging KeyArena, and settlement of a lawsuit to hold the team to the final two years of its lease with the city, the SuperSonics relocated to Oklahoma City and became the Oklahoma City Thunder ahead of the 2008–09 season.[237][238] An effort in 2013 to purchase the Sacramento Kings franchise and relocate it to Seattle as a resurrected Sonics squad was denied by the NBA board of governors.[239] The Seattle Storm of the Women's National Basketball Association have also played their games at KeyArena (now Climate Pledge Arena) since their foundation in 2000. The WNBA granted Seattle their expansion side following the popularity of the recently folded Seattle Reign, a women's professional basketball team that played from 1996 to 1998 in the rival American Basketball League.[240] The Storm began as a sister team to the now-defunct Sonics of the NBA, but sold to separate Seattle-based ownership in 2006. Tied for the league record, the Storm have claimed the WNBA championship on four occasions, winning in 2004, 2010, 2018, and 2020.[241][242] The team also won the first-ever WNBA Commissioner's Cup in 2021. The Seattle Thunderbirds hockey team has represented Seattle in the Canadian major-junior Western Hockey League since 1977. Originally playing in Mercer Arena and the Seattle Center Coliseum (which had hosted previous minor-league hockey teams), the Thunderbirds have been based at the ShoWare Center in the suburb of Kent since 2007, and have won one WHL championship in 2017.[243] In 1974, Seattle was awarded a conditional expansion franchise in the National Hockey League; however, this opportunity did not come to fruition. In 2018, a new Seattle-based group successfully applied for an expansion team in the NHL, which was named the Seattle Kraken and began play in 2021.[244][245][246] The SuperSonics' former home arena, KeyArena (now Climate Pledge Arena), underwent major renovations from 2018 to 2021 to accommodate the new NHL team.[247] The NHL ownership group reached its goal of 10,000 deposits within 12 minutes of opening a ticket drive, which later increased to 25,000 in 75 minutes.[248] Seattle Reign FC,[249] a founding member of the National Women's Soccer League, was founded in 2012, holding their home games in Seattle from 2014 to 2018 and again since 2022. The team name was chosen to honor the defunct women's basketball team of the same name.[240] The club played at Starfire Sports Complex in nearby Tukwila for the league's inaugural 2013 season before moving to Seattle Center's Memorial Stadium in 2014. Under new management, the team moved to Tacoma's Cheney Stadium in 2019, before moving to Seattle's Lumen Field in 2022.[250] In 2020, OL Groupe, the parent company of French clubs Olympique Lyonnais and Olympique Lyonnais Féminin, became the team's majority owner and rebranded the club as OL Reign.[250] Seattle also fields two minor-league professional teams: the Seattle Sea Dragons of the XFL in American football and Ballard FC of USL League 2 in soccer. The Dragons played at Lumen Field in the league's inaugural season in 2020,[251] which was suspended after five weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic,[252] eventually filed for bankruptcy,[253] and had its assets sold.[254][255] The Sea Dragons are slated to return alongside the XFL in 2023.[256] Representing the Seattle neighborhood of Ballard, Ballard FC was founded in 2022 as an independent, semi-professional soccer team in the fourth-division USL League 2. The team is owned by a group led by former Sounders player Lamar Neagle and plays matches at the 1,000-seat Interbay Soccer Stadium, also home to Seattle Pacific University's and Ballard High School's soccer teams.[257] Seattle also boasts two collegiate sports teams based at the University of Washington and Seattle University, both competing in NCAA Division I for various sports.[258] The University of Washington's athletic program, nicknamed the Huskies, competes in the Pac-12 Conference, and Seattle University's athletic program, nicknamed the Redhawks, mostly competes in the Western Athletic Conference. The Huskies teams use several facilities, including the 70,000-seat Husky Stadium for football and the Hec Edmundson Pavilion for basketball and volleyball.[259][260] The two schools have basketball and soccer teams that compete against each other in non-conference games and have formed a local rivalry due to their sporting success.[258] The Major League Baseball All-Star Game was held in Seattle three times, once at the Kingdome (1979) and twice at T-Mobile Field (2001 and 2023).[261] The NBA All-Star Game was also held in Seattle twice: the first in 1974 at the Seattle Center Coliseum and the second in 1987 at the Kingdome.[262] Lumen Field hosted MLS Cup 2009, played between Real Salt Lake and the Los Angeles Galaxy, as a neutral site in front of 46,011 spectators.[263] Seattle will be one of eleven US host cities for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with matches played at Lumen Field and training facilities at Longacres in Renton, Washington.[264] Parks and recreation See also: List of parks in Seattle and Seattle Parks and Recreation Lake Union Park at the southern end of Lake Union Seattle's mild, temperate, marine climate allows year-round outdoor recreation, including walking, cycling, hiking, skiing, snowboarding, kayaking, rock climbing, motor boating, sailing, team sports, and swimming.[265] In town, many people walk around Green Lake, through the forests and along the bluffs and beaches of 535-acre (2.2 km2) Discovery Park (the largest park in the city) in Magnolia, along the shores of Myrtle Edwards Park on the Downtown waterfront, along the shoreline of Lake Washington at Seward Park, along Alki Beach in West Seattle, or along the Burke-Gilman Trail.[citation needed] Gas Works Park features the preserved superstructure of a coal gasification plant closed in 1956. Located across Lake Union from downtown, the park provides panoramic views of the Seattle skyline.[citation needed] Also popular are hikes and skiing in the nearby Cascade or Olympic Mountains and kayaking and sailing in the waters of Puget Sound, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the Strait of Georgia.[citation needed] Government and politics Main articles: Government and politics of Seattle, Mayor of Seattle, and Seattle City Council The city council consists of two at-large positions and seven district seats representing the areas shown. Seattle is a charter city, with a mayor–council form of government. From 1911 to 2013, Seattle's nine city councillors were elected at large, rather than by geographic subdivisions.[266] For the 2015 election, this changed to a hybrid system of seven district members and two at-large members as a result of a ballot measure passed on November 5, 2013. The only other elected offices are the city attorney and Municipal Court judges. All city offices are officially non-partisan.[267] Like some other parts of the United States, government and laws are also run by a series of ballot initiatives (allowing citizens to pass or reject laws), referendums (allowing citizens to approve or reject legislation already passed), and propositions (allowing specific government agencies to propose new laws or tax increases directly to the people).[citation needed] Seattle is widely considered one of the most socially liberal cities in the United States, even surpassing Portland.[268] In the 2012 U.S. general election, a majority of Seattleites voted to approve Referendum 74 and legalize gay marriage in Washington state.[269] In the same election, an overwhelming majority of Seattleites also voted to approve the legalization of the recreational use of cannabis in the state.[270] Like much of the Pacific Northwest (which has the lowest rate of church attendance in the United States and consistently reports the highest percentage of atheism[271][272]), church attendance, religious belief, and political influence of religious leaders are much lower than in other parts of America.[273] Seattle's political culture is very liberal and progressive for the United States, with over 80% of the population voting for the Democratic Party. All precincts in Seattle voted for Democratic Party candidate Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential election.[274] In partisan elections for the Washington State Legislature and United States Congress, nearly all elections are won by Democrats. Although local elections are nonpartisan, most of the city's elected officials are known to be Democrats, the most notable exception being Seattle City Attorney Ann Davison.[citation needed] In 1926, Seattle became the first major American city to elect a female mayor, Bertha Knight Landes.[275] It has also elected an openly gay mayor, Ed Murray,[276] and a third-party socialist councillor, Kshama Sawant.[277] For the first time in United States history, an openly gay black woman was elected to public office when Sherry Harris was elected as a Seattle city councillor in 1991.[278][279] In 2015, the majority of the city council was female.[280] Federally, Seattle is split between two congressional districts. Most of the city is in Washington's 7th congressional district, represented by Democrat Pramila Jayapal, the first Indian-American woman elected to Congress.[281] She succeeded 28-year incumbent and fellow Democrat Jim McDermott. Part of southeastern Seattle is in the 9th District, represented by Democrat Adam Smith.[citation needed] Bruce Harrell was elected as mayor in the 2021 mayoral election, succeeding Jenny Durkan, and took office on January 1, 2022. The mayor's office also includes three deputy mayors, appointed to advise the mayor on policies. As of 2022, the city's deputy mayors are Monisha Harrell, Tiffany Washington, and Kendee Yamaguchi. In 2023, the city council voted to ban caste discrimination as part of the city's anti-discrimination laws. The ban is the first in the United States.[282] Education Main article: Education in Seattle See also: List of libraries in Seattle This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (April 2021) Of the city's population over the age of 25, 53.8% (vs. a national average of 27.4%) hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and 91.9% (vs. 84.5% nationally) have a high school diploma or equivalent. A 2008 United States Census Bureau survey showed that Seattle had the highest percentage of college and university graduates of any major U.S. city.[283] The city was listed as the most literate of the country's 69 largest cities in 2005 and 2006, the second most literate in 2007 and the most literate in 2008 in studies conducted by Central Connecticut State University.[284] Seattle Public Schools is the school district for the vast majority of the city.[285] That school district desegregated without a court order[286] but continue to struggle to achieve racial balance in a somewhat ethnically divided city (the south part of town having more ethnic minorities than the north).[287] In 2007, Seattle's racial tie-breaking system was struck down by the United States Supreme Court, but the ruling left the door open for desegregation formulae based on other indicators (e.g., income or socioeconomic class).[288] A very small portion of the city is within the Highline School District.[285] The public school system is supplemented by a moderate number of private schools: Five of the private high schools are Catholic, one is Lutheran, and six are secular.[289] University of Washington Quad University of Washington Quad Seattle is home to the University of Washington, as well as the institution's professional and continuing education unit, the University of Washington Educational Outreach. The 2017 U.S. News & World Report ranked the University of Washington at No. 11 in the world.[290] The UW receives more federal research and development funding than any public institution. Over the last 10 years, it has also produced more Peace Corps volunteers than any other U.S. university.[291] Seattle also has a number of smaller private universities including Seattle University and Seattle Pacific University, the former a Jesuit Catholic institution, the latter a Free Methodist institution. The Seattle Colleges District operates three colleges: North Seattle College, Seattle Central College, and South Seattle College. Universities aimed at the working adult are the City University and Antioch University. Seminaries include Western Seminary and a number of arts colleges, such as Cornish College of the Arts, Pratt Fine Arts Center. In 2001, Time magazine selected Seattle Central Community College as community college of the year, saying that the school "pushes diverse students to work together in small teams".[292] Media Main article: Media in Seattle As of 2019, Seattle has one major daily newspaper, The Seattle Times. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, known as the P-I, published a daily newspaper from 1863 to March 17, 2009, before switching to a strictly on-line publication. There is also the Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce,[293] and the University of Washington publishes The Daily, a student-run publication, when school is in session. The most prominent weeklies are the Seattle Weekly and The Stranger; both consider themselves "alternative" papers.[294] The weekly LGBT newspaper is the Seattle Gay News. Real Change is a weekly street newspaper that is sold mainly by homeless persons as an alternative to panhandling. There are also several ethnic newspapers, including The Facts, Northwest Asian Weekly and the International Examiner as well as numerous neighborhood newspapers.[citation needed] Seattle is also well served by television and radio, with all major U.S. networks represented, along with at least five other English-language stations and two Spanish-language stations.[295] Seattle cable viewers also receive CBUT 2 (CBC) from Vancouver, British Columbia.[citation needed] Non-commercial radio stations include NPR affiliates KUOW-FM 94.9 and KNKX 88.5 (Tacoma), as well as classical music station KING-FM 98.1. Other non-commercial stations include KEXP-FM 90.3 (affiliated with the UW), community radio KBCS-FM 91.3 (affiliated with Bellevue College), and high school radio KNHC-FM 89.5, which broadcasts an electronic dance music radio format, is owned by the public school system and operated by students of Nathan Hale High School. Many Seattle radio stations are available through Internet radio, with KEXP in particular being a pioneer of Internet radio.[296] Seattle also has numerous commercial radio stations. In a March 2012 report by the consumer research firm Arbitron, the top FM stations were KRWM (adult contemporary format), KIRO-FM (news/talk), and KISW (active rock) while the top AM stations were KOMO (all news), KJR (AM) (all sports), KIRO (AM) (all sports).[297] Seattle-based online magazines Worldchanging and Grist.org were two of the "Top Green Websites" in 2007 according to TIME.[298] Infrastructure Health systems Main article: Medical facilities of Seattle Seattle Children's in Laurelhurst The University of Washington is consistently ranked among the country's leading institutions in medical research, earning special merits for programs in neurology and neurosurgery. Seattle has seen local developments of modern paramedic services with the establishment of Medic One in 1970.[299] In 1974, a 60 Minutes story on the success of the then four-year-old Medic One paramedic system called Seattle "the best place in the world to have a heart attack".[300] Three of Seattle's largest medical centers are located on First Hill. Harborview Medical Center, the public county hospital, is the only Level I trauma hospital in a region that includes Washington, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho.[301] Virginia Mason Medical Center and Swedish Medical Center's two largest campuses are also located in this part of Seattle, including the Virginia Mason Hospital. This concentration of hospitals resulted in the neighborhood's nickname "Pill Hill".[302] Located in the Laurelhurst neighborhood, Seattle Children's, formerly Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center, is the pediatric referral center for Washington, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho. The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center has a campus in the Eastlake neighborhood. The University District is home to the University of Washington Medical Center which, along with Harborview, is operated by the University of Washington. Seattle is also served by a Veterans Affairs hospital on Beacon Hill, a third campus of Swedish in Ballard, and UW Medical Center - Northwest near Northgate Station.[303] Transportation Main article: Transportation in Seattle Further information: Street layout of Seattle See also: List of bridges in Seattle Interstate 5 as it passes through downtown Seattle King County Water Taxi, and downtown Seattle 1 Line light rail trains in the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel at the University Street Station King Street Station, used by Amtrak and commuter trains The first streetcars appeared in 1889 and were instrumental in the creation of a relatively well-defined downtown and strong neighborhoods at the end of their lines. The advent of the automobile began the dismantling of rail in Seattle. Tacoma–Seattle railway service ended in 1929 and the Everett–Seattle service came to an end in 1939, replaced by automobiles running on the recently developed highway system. Rails on city streets were paved over or removed, and the opening of the Seattle trolleybus system brought the end of streetcars in Seattle in 1941. This left an extensive network of privately owned buses (later public) as the only mass transit within the city and throughout the region.[304] King County Metro provides frequent stop bus service within the city and surrounding county, as well as the South Lake Union Streetcar line and the First Hill Streetcar line.[305] Seattle is one of the few cities in North America whose bus fleet includes electric trolleybuses. Sound Transit provides an express bus service within the metropolitan area, two Sounder commuter rail lines between the suburbs and downtown, and its 1 Line light rail line between the University of Washington and Angle Lake.[306] Washington State Ferries, which manages the largest network of ferries in the United States and third largest in the world, connects Seattle to Bainbridge and Vashon Islands in Puget Sound and to Bremerton and Southworth on the Kitsap Peninsula.[307] King Street Station in Pioneer Square serves Amtrak intercity trains and Sounder commuter trains, and is located adjacent to the International District/Chinatown light rail station.[308] According to the 2007 American Community Survey, 18.6% of Seattle residents used one of the three public transit systems that serve the city, giving it the highest transit ridership of all major cities without heavy or light rail prior to the completion of Sound Transit's 1 Line.[309] The city has also been described by Bert Sperling as the fourth most walkable U.S. city and by Walk Score as the sixth most walkable of the fifty largest U.S. cities.[310][311] Seattle–Tacoma International Airport, locally known as Sea-Tac Airport and located just south in the neighboring city of SeaTac, is operated by the Port of Seattle and provides commercial air service to destinations throughout the world. Closer to downtown, Boeing Field is used for general aviation, cargo flights, and testing/delivery of Boeing airliners. A secondary passenger airport, Paine Field, opened in 2019 and is located in Everett, 25 miles (40 km) north of Seattle. It is predominantly used by Boeing and their large assembly plant located nearby.[312][313] The main mode of transportation, however, is the street system, which is laid out in a cardinal directions grid pattern, except in the central business district where early city leaders Arthur Denny and Carson Boren insisted on orienting the plats relative to the shoreline rather than to true North.[314] Only two roads, Interstate 5 and State Route 99 (both limited-access highways) run uninterrupted through the city from north to south. From 1953 to 2019, State Route 99 ran through downtown Seattle on the Alaskan Way Viaduct, an elevated freeway on the waterfront. However, due to damage sustained during the 2001 Nisqually earthquake the viaduct was replaced by a tunnel. The 2-mile (3.2 km) Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement tunnel was originally scheduled to be completed in December 2015 at a cost of US$4.25 billion. The world's largest tunnel boring machine, named "Bertha", was commissioned for the project, measuring 57 feet (17 m) in diameter. The tunnel's opening was delayed to February 2019 due to issues with the tunnel boring machine, which included a two-year halt in excavation.[315] Seattle has the 8th worst traffic congestion of all American cities, and is 10th among all North American cities according to Inrix.[316] The city has started moving away from the automobile and towards mass transit. From 2004 to 2009, the annual number of unlinked public transportation trips increased by approximately 21%.[317] In 2006, voters in King County passed the Transit Now proposition, which increased bus service hours on high ridership routes and paid for five limited-stop bus lines called RapidRide.[318] After rejecting a roads and transit measure in 2007, Seattle-area voters passed a transit only measure in 2008 to increase ST Express bus service, extend the Link light rail system, and expand and improve Sounder commuter rail service.[319][failed verification] A light rail line (now the 1 Line) from downtown heading south to Sea-Tac Airport began service on December 19, 2009, giving the city its first rapid transit line with intermediate stations within the city limits. An extension north to the University of Washington opened on March 19, 2016,[320] followed by the Northgate extension in October 2021.[321] Further extensions are planned to reach Lynnwood to the north, Federal Way to the south, and Bellevue and Redmond to the east by 2025.[322][323] Voters in the Puget Sound region approved an additional tax increase in November 2016 to expand light rail to West Seattle and Ballard as well as Tacoma, Everett, and Issaquah.[324] Utilities Main article: Utilities of Seattle Water and electric power are municipal services, provided by Seattle Public Utilities and Seattle City Light respectively. Other utility companies serving Seattle include Puget Sound Energy (natural gas, electricity), Seattle Steam Company (steam), Waste Management, Inc and Recology CleanScapes (curbside recycling, composting, and solid waste removal), CenturyLink, Frontier Communications, Wave Broadband, and Comcast (telecommunications and television).[citation needed] About 90% of Seattle's electricity is produced using hydropower. Less than 2% of electricity is produced using fossil fuels.[325] International relations Seattle has the following sister cities:[326] Israel Beersheba, Israel Norway Bergen, Norway Philippines Cebu City, Philippines China Chongqing, China New Zealand Christchurch, New Zealand South Korea Daejeon, South Korea Republic of Ireland Galway, Ireland Poland Gdynia, Poland Vietnam Haiphong, Vietnam Taiwan Kaohsiung, Taiwan Japan Kobe, Japan Cameroon Limbe, Cameroon Kenya Mombasa, Kenya France Nantes, France Hungary Pécs, Hungary Italy Perugia, Italy Iceland Reykjavík, Iceland Cambodia Sihanoukville, Cambodia Indonesia Surabaya, Indonesia Uzbekistan Tashkent, Uzbekistan[327] See also List of people from Seattle List of television shows set in Seattle The Chinatown centered on Grant Avenue and Stockton Street in San Francisco, California, (Chinese: 唐人街; pinyin: tángrénjiē; Jyutping: tong4 jan4 gaai1) is the oldest Chinatown in North America and the largest Chinese enclave outside Asia. It is also the oldest and largest of the four notable Chinese enclaves within San Francisco.[3][4][5] Since its establishment in 1848,[6] it has been highly important and influential in the history and culture of ethnic Chinese immigrants in North America. Chinatown is an enclave that continues to retain its own customs, languages, places of worship, social clubs, and identity. There are two hospitals, several parks and squares, numerous churches, a post office, and other infrastructure. Recent immigrants, many of whom are elderly, opt to live in Chinatown because of the availability of affordable housing and their familiarity with the culture.[7] San Francisco's Chinatown is also renowned as a major tourist attraction, drawing more visitors annually than the Golden Gate Bridge.[8] Contents 1 Geography and location 2 Demographics 2.1 Demographic history 3 History 3.1 Origins: 1850s 3.1.1 Guangdong pioneers 3.1.2 Associations and institutions 3.1.3 Prostitution and ill repute 3.1.4 Ah Toy 3.2 1870s to the 1906 earthquake 3.2.1 Chinese Exclusion Acts 3.2.2 Tong wars 3.2.3 Bubonic plague 3.3 1906 to the 1960s 3.3.1 Relocation Attempt 3.3.2 Rebuilding 3.3.3 Nightlife 3.3.4 The Second World War Years and Immigration reform 3.3.5 Frank Wong dioramas 3.4 1960s–present 3.4.1 Gang violence 4 Culture 4.1 Institutions 4.2 Events and Festivals 4.3 Chinatown Community Development Center 5 Media and politics 6 Fame 7 Transportation 8 See also 9 References 10 Further reading 11 External links Geography and location [Full screen] Selected locations in Chinatown, San Francisco   Points of interest  Parks and open spaces  Hospital  1 Dragon Gate 2 Saint Mary's Square 3 Sing Chong and Sing Fat buildings 4 Nam Kue School 5 Portsmouth Square 6 Chinese Telephone Exchange 7 Tin How Temple 8 Ross Alley / Fortune Cookie factory 9 Chinese Hospital 10 Chinese Historical Society of America 11 Six Companies Washington Street in Chinatown with Transamerica Pyramid in the background. Officially, Chinatown is located in downtown San Francisco, covers 24 square blocks,[9] and overlaps five postal ZIP codes (94108, 94133, 94111, 94102, and 94109). It is within an area of roughly 1⁄2 mi (0.80 km) long (north to south) by 1⁄4 mi (0.40 km) wide (east to west) with the current boundaries being, approximately, Kearny Street in the east, Broadway in the north, Powell in the west, and Bush Street in the south.[10] Stockton Street Within Chinatown there are two major north–south thoroughfares. One is Grant Avenue (都板街), with the Dragon Gate ("Chinatown Gate" on some maps) at the intersection of Bush Street and Grant Avenue, designed by landscape architects Melvin Lee and Joseph Yee and architect Clayton Lee; Saint Mary's Square with a statue of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen by Benjamin Bufano;[9] a war memorial to Chinese war veterans; and stores, restaurants and mini-malls that cater mainly to tourists. The other, Stockton Street (市德頓街), is frequented less often by tourists, and it presents an authentic Chinese look and feel reminiscent of Hong Kong, with its produce and fish markets, stores, and restaurants. It is dominated by mixed-use buildings that are three to four stories high, with shops on the ground floor and residential apartments upstairs.[11] A major focal point in Chinatown is Portsmouth Square.[9] Since it is one of the few open spaces in Chinatown and sits above a large underground parking lot, Portsmouth Square bustles with activity such as T'ai Chi and old men playing Chinese chess.[9] A replica of the Goddess of Democracy used in the Tiananmen Square protest was built in 1999 by Thomas Marsh and stands in the square. It is made of bronze and weighs approximately 600 lb (270 kg). Demographics According to the San Francisco Planning Department, Chinatown is "the most densely populated urban area west of Manhattan", with 34,557 residents living in 20 square blocks.[12] In the 1970s, the population density in Chinatown was seven times the San Francisco average.[13] During the time from 2009 to 2013, the median household income was $20,000 – compared to $76,000 citywide – with 29% of residents below the national poverty threshold. The median age was 50 years, the oldest of any neighborhood.[14] As of 2015, two thirds of the residents lived in one of Chinatown's 105 single room occupancy hotels (SRO), 96 of which had private owners and nine were owned by nonprofits.[15] There are two public housing projects in Chinatown, Ping Yuen and North Ping Yuen.[16] Most residents are monolingual speakers of Mandarin or Cantonese;[14] in 2015, only 14% of households in the SROs were headed by a person that spoke English fluently.[15] The areas of Stockton and Washington Streets and Jackson and Kearny Streets in Chinatown are almost entirely Chinese or Asian, with blocks ranging from 93% to 100% Asian.[17] Many of those Chinese immigrants who gain some wealth while living in Chinatown leave it for the Richmond District, the Sunset District or the suburbs.[14] Demographic history Grant Avenue during Chinese New Year. Working-class Hong Kong Chinese immigrants began arriving in large numbers in the 1960s. Despite their status and professional qualifications in Hong Kong, many took low-paying employment in restaurants and garment factories in Chinatown because of limited English. An increase in Cantonese-speaking immigrants from Hong Kong and Mainland China has gradually led to the replacement in Chinatown of the Taishanese dialect by the standard Cantonese dialect. Due to such overcrowding and poverty, other Chinese areas have been established within the city of San Francisco proper, including one in its Richmond and three more in its Sunset districts, as well as a recently established one in the Visitacion Valley neighborhood. These outer neighborhoods have been settled largely by Chinese from Southeast Asia. There are also many suburban Chinese communities in the San Francisco Bay Area, especially in Silicon Valley, such as Cupertino, Fremont, and Milpitas, where Taiwanese Americans are dominant. Despite these developments, many continue to commute in from these outer neighborhoods and cities to shop in Chinatown, causing gridlock on roads and delays in public transit, especially on weekends. To address this problem, the local public transit agency, Muni, is planning to extend the city's subway network to the neighborhood via the new Central Subway.[18] Unlike in most Chinatowns in the United States, ethnic Chinese refugees from Vietnam have not established businesses in San Francisco's Chinatown district, due to high property values and rents. Instead, many Chinese-Vietnamese – as opposed to ethnic Vietnamese who tended to congregate in larger numbers in San Jose – have established a separate Vietnamese enclave on Larkin Street in the heavily working-class Tenderloin district of San Francisco, where it is now known as the city's "Little Saigon" and not as a "Chinatown" per so. History Origins: 1850s Official Map of Chinatown (July 1885). Map is oriented with north to the right side. Dupont (now Grant) is the prominent street running north–south along the middle of the map. Full extent of map is Stockton (top/west), Kearny (bottom/east), California (left/south), and Broadway (right/north). Special attention is paid to vices: prostitution is marked in green (Chinese) and blue (white); joss houses are marked in red; opium dens are marked in bright yellow; and gambling is marked in pink. Guangdong pioneers San Francisco's Chinatown was the port of entry for early Chinese immigrants from the west side of the Pearl River Delta, speaking mainly Hoisanese[19] and Zhongshanese,[20] in the Guangdong province of southern China from the 1850s to the 1900s.[21] On August 28, 1850, at Portsmouth Square,[22]:9 San Francisco's first mayor, John Geary, officially welcomed 300 "China Boys" to San Francisco.[23]:34–38 By 1854, the Alta California, a local newspaper which had previously taken a supportive stance on Chinese immigrants in San Francisco, began attacking them, writing after a recent influx that "if the city continues to fill up with these people, it will be ere long become necessary to make them subject of special legislation".[23]:54–55 Sacramento St.; 唐人街: literally "Tang people street" These early immigrant settled near Portsmouth Square and around Dupont Street (now called Grant Ave).[23]:54–55 As the settlement grew in the early 1850s, Chinese shops opened on Sacramento St, which the Guangdong pioneers called "Tang people street" (唐人街);[24][22]:13 and the settlement became known as "Tang people town" (唐人埠), which in Cantonese is Tong Yun Fow.[22]:9–40 By the 1870s, the economic center of Chinatown moved from Sacramento St to Dupont St;[25]:15–16 e.g., in 1878, out of 423 Chinese firms in Chinatown, 121 were located on Dupont St, 60 on Sacramento St, 60 on Jackson St, and the remainder elsewhere.[22]:15 The area was the one geographical region deeded by the city government and private property owners which allowed Chinese persons to inherit and inhabit dwellings within the city. The majority of these Chinese shopkeepers, restaurant owners, and hired workers in San Francisco Chinatown were predominantly Hoisanese and male.[20] For example, in 1851, the reported Chinese population in California was about 12,000 men and less than ten women.[23]:41 Some of the early immigrants worked as mine workers or independent prospectors hoping to strike it rich during the 1849 Gold Rush. Many Chinese found jobs working for large companies seeking a source of labor, most famously as part of the Central Pacific[9] on the Transcontinental Railroad, from 1865–1869.[23]:71–72 Associations and institutions The west side of the Pearl River Delta of Guangdong, where most of the Chinese emigrated from, was subdivided into many distinct districts and some with distinct dialects. Several district associations, open to anyone emigrating from that district(s), were formed in the 1850s to act as a culture-shock absorber for newly arrived immigrants and to settle disputes among their member. Although there are some disagreement about which association formed first, by 1854, six of such district associations were formed, of various size and influence, and disputes between members of different associations became more frequent. Thus, in 1862, the six district associations (commonly called the Chinese Six Companies, even though the number of member associations varied through the years) banded together to resolve inter-district disputes. This was made formal in 1882 and incorporated in 1901 as the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (on Stockton Street) to look after the general interest of the Chinese people living in a hostile western world.[26]:1–9 Founded purportedly in 1852, the Tin How Temple (Queen of Heaven and Goddess of the Seven Seas) on Waverly Place is the oldest Chinese temple in the United States. It is dedicated to the goddess Tin How, the protector of seafarers, much honored by Chinese immigrants, especially arriving by ship, to San Francisco. The original building was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake, and it opened on the top floor of a four-story building at 125 Waverly Place in 1910. After closing in 1955, the temple reopened in 1975, due to a resurgence of interest from a new immigrant population following the 1965 immigration reform act.[27]:207–209 The Chinese Presbyterian Church on Stockton Street can trace its roots to October 1852, when Cantonese-speaking Rev. William Speer, a missionary in Canton, came to work with the Chinese immigrants in San Francisco. In November 1853 he organized the first Chinese mission in the United States, which provided much needed medical aid and conducted day and night schools that taught English to Chinese immigrants. He also published a Chinese/English newspaper, the Oriental, which staunchly defended the Chinese as anti-Chinese sentiment began to grow in the 1850s.[28] The original building was destroyed by the earthquake, and the present church building on 925 Stockton Street was built in 1907.[27]:173–174 Other Christian denominations followed, including the Methodist Church on Washington Street (founded 1870, rebuilt 1911) and the First Baptist Church (founded 1880, rebuilt 1908 on Waverly Place) as well as Catholic, Congregational, and Episcopal. The pattern these early missions followed was to first conduct English language classes and Sunday schools. In these decades, the only English classes available to Chinese immigrants were those offered by these Christian missions. Some added rescue homes (e.g., from prostitution), and social services for the sick and protection from racial discrimination. In these ways, the early Christian missions and churches in Chinatown gained widespread respect and new converts.[26]:28–34 Prostitution and ill repute The Street of the Gamblers (Ross Alley), Arnold Genthe, 1898. The population of Chinatown was predominantly male because U.S. policies at the time made it difficult for Chinese women to enter the country. In the 1850s, San Francisco "was all but submerged in Caucasian forms of gambling and prostitution and lewdness".[23]:57 During the late period of the California Gold Rush, a few Chinese female prostitutes began their sexual businesses in Chinatown. In addition, the major prostitution enterprises had been raised by criminal gang group "Tong", importing unmarried Chinese women to San Francisco.[29] During the 1870s to 1880s, the population of Chinese sex workers in Chinatown grew rapidly to more than 1,800, accounting for 70% of the total Chinese female population.[29] In the mid-19th century, police harassment reshaped the urban geography and the social life of Chinese prostitutes. Consequently, hundreds of Chinese prostitutes were expelled to side streets and alleys hidden from public traffic.[30] From 1870 to 1874, the California legislature formally criminalized the immigrant Asian women who were transported into California. In 1875, the U.S. Congress followed California's action and passed the Page Law, which was the first major legal restriction to prohibit the immigration of Chinese, Japanese, and Mongolian women into America.[31] In 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act declared that no more skilled or unskilled immigrants would be allowed to enter the country, which meant that many Chinese and Chinese Americans could not have families in America, because their wives and children were prohibited to immigrate.[32] Simultaneously, the public discourse began to accuse Chinese prostitutes of transmitting venereal diseases. Dr. Hugh Huger Toland, a member of the San Francisco Board of Health, reported that white boys and men contracted diseases when they visited "Chinese houses of prostitution" in Chinatown, in order to warn white citizens to stay away; Toland asserted that nine-tenths of his patients had patronized Chinese prostitutes. "When these persons come to me I ask them where they got the disease, and they generally tell me that they have been with Chinawomen."[33]:12–13 [34]:27  All great cities have their slums and localities where filth, disease, crime and misery abound; but in the very best aspect which "Chinatown" can be made to present, it must stand apart, conspicuous and beyond them all in the extreme degree of all these horrible attributes, the rankest outgrowth of human degradation that can be found upon this continent. Here it may truly be said that human beings exist under conditions (as regards their mode of life and the air they breathe) scarcely one degree above those under which the rats of our water-front and other vermin live, breathe and have their being. And this order of things seems inseparable from the very nature of the race, and probably must be accepted and borne with—must be endured, if it cannot be cured—restricted and looked after, so far as possible, with unceasing vigilance, so that, whatever of benefit, "of degree," even, that may be derived from such modification of the evil of their presence among us, may at least be attained, not daring to hope that there can be any radical remedy for the great, overshadowing evil which Chinese immigration has inflicted upon this people. The Report of the Special Committee of the Board of Supervisors of San Francisco, on the Condition of the Chinese Quarter of that City (1885)[33]:5 By the end of the 19th century, Chinatown's assumed reputation as a place of vice caused it to become a tourist destination, attracting numerous working class white people, who sought the oriental mystery of Chinese culture, and sought to fulfill their expectations and fantasies about the filth and depravity. The white customers' patronization of Chinatown prostitutes was more extensive than gambling. After catering for three decades to white people as well as Chinese bachelors, Chinatown's prostitution sector developed into a powerful vested interest, favoring the vice industry.[35] As the tourist industry grew up, the visitors came to include members of the white middle class, which pushed the vice businesses to transform into an entertainment industry as a more respectable form in which to serve white customers. Ah Toy Main article: Ah Toy Ah Toy (c.1828 – 1928) was a Cantonese[36] prostitute and madam in San Francisco during the California Gold Rush, and purportedly the first Chinese prostitute in San Francisco.[37] Arriving from Hong Kong in 1849,[38] she quickly became the most well-known Asian woman in the Old West.[39] She reportedly was a tall, attractive woman with bound feet.[40] When Ah Toy left China for the United States, she originally traveled with her husband, who died during the voyage. Toy became the mistress of the ship's captain, who showered gold upon her, so much so that by the time she arrived in San Francisco in the 1840s,[41] Toy had a fair bit of money. Noticing the looks she drew from the men in her new town, she figured they would pay for a closer look. Her peep shows became quite successful, and she eventually became a high-priced prostitute. In 1850, Toy opened a chain of brothels at 34 and 36 Waverly Place[41] (then called Pike Street), importing girls from China as young as eleven years old to work in them. Her neighbors on Pike Street—conveniently linked to San Francisco's business district by Commercial Street—included the elegant new "parlour house" of madame Belle Cora, and the cottage of Fanny Perrier, mistress of Judge Edward (Ned) McGowan. Towards the end of her life Ah Toy supposedly returned to China a wealthy woman to live the rest of her days in comfort,[42] but came back to California not long afterward. From 1868 until her death in 1928, she lived a quiet life in Santa Clara County, returning to public attention only upon dying three months short of her 100th birthday in San Jose.[43][44] 1870s to the 1906 earthquake Officers of the Chinese Six Companies The headquarters of the Chinese Six Companies on Stockton Relations between the United States and Qing China were normalized through the Burlingame Treaty of 1868. Among other terms, the treaty promised the right of free immigration and travel within the United States for Chinese; business leaders saw China as a plentiful source of cheap labor, and celebrated the treaty's ratification.[45] But this did not last for long. The mostly male Chinese immigrants came to the United States with the intent of sending money home to support their families; coupled with the high cost of repaying their loans for travel, they often had to take any work that was available. Fears began to arise among non-Chinese workers that they could be replaced, and resentment towards Chinese immigrants rose.[46] With extensive nationwide unemployment in the wake of the Panic of 1873, racial tensions in the city boiled over into full blown race riots. The two-day San Francisco riot of 1877 raged through Chinatown in July; four were killed and US$100,000 (equivalent to $2,400,000 in 2019) in property damage was done to Chinese-owned businesses. In response to the violence, the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, also known as the Chinese Six Companies, which evolved out of the labor recruiting organizations for different areas of Guangdong, was created to provide the community with a unified voice. The heads of these companies advocated for the Chinese community to the wider business community as a whole and to the city government. The state legislature of California passed several measures to restrict the rights of Chinese immigrants, but these were largely superseded by the terms of the Burlingame Treaty of 1868.[46] Chinese Exclusion Acts In 1880, the Burlingame Treaty was renegotiated and the United States ratified the Angell Treaty, which allowed federal restrictions on Chinese immigration and temporarily suspended the immigration of unskilled laborers. Anti-immigrant sentiment became federal law once the United States Government passed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882: the first immigration restriction law aimed at a single ethnic group. This law, along with other immigration restriction laws such as the Geary Act, greatly reduced the numbers of Chinese allowed into the country and the city, and in theory limited Chinese immigration to single males only. Exceptions were in fact granted to the wives and minor children of wealthy merchants; immigrants would purchase or partner in businesses to declare themselves merchants in order to bring their families to America. Alternatively, prospective immigrants could become "paper sons" by purchasing the identity of Americans whose citizenship had been established by birthright.[27]:38–39 However, the Exclusion Act was credited with reducing the population of the neighborhood to an all-time low in the 1920s. Main immigration building on Angel Island Many early Chinese immigrants to San Francisco and beyond were processed at Angel Island, in the San Francisco Bay, which is now a state park. Unlike Ellis Island on the east coast where prospective European immigrants might be held for up to a week, Angel Island typically detained Chinese immigrants for months while they were interrogated closely to validate their papers. The detention facility was renovated in 2005 and 2006 under a federal grant. Tong wars As in much of San Francisco, a period of criminality existed during the late 19th century; many tongs arose, trafficking in smuggling, gambling and prostitution. From the mid-1870s, turf battles sprang up over competing criminal enterprises. By the early 1880s, the term Tong war was being popularly used to describe these periods of violence in Chinatown. At their height in the 1880s and 1890s, twenty to thirty tongs ran highly profitable gambling houses, brothels, opium dens, and slave trade enterprises in Chinatown. Overcrowding, segregation, graft, and the lack of governmental control contributed to conditions that sustained the criminal tongs until the early 1920s. Chinatown's isolation and compact geography intensified the criminal behavior that terrorized the community for decades despite efforts by the Six Companies and police/city officials[47] to stem the tide. The San Francisco Police Department established its so-called Chinatown Squad in the 1880s, consisting of six patrolmen led by a sergeant. However, the Squad was ineffective largely by design. An investigation published in 1901 by the California state legislature found that Mayor James D. Phelan and Police Chief William P. Sullivan, Jr. had knowingly tolerated gambling and prostitution in Chinatown in the interest of bolstering municipal revenue, calling the police department "so apathetic in putting down the horrible system of slavery existing in Chinatown as to justify your committee in believing it criminally negligent."[48] Phelan and Sullivan testified it would take between 180 and 400 policemen to enforce the laws against gambling and prostitution, which was contradicted by the ex-Chief of Police William J. Biggy, who said 30 "earnestly directed" policemen would suffice.[49]:625–630 Bubonic plague Main article: San Francisco plague of 1900–1904 Chinatown, as it is at present, cannot be rendered sanitary except by total obliteration. It should be depopulated, its buildings leveled by fire and its tunnels and cellars laid bare. Its occupants should be colonized on some distant portion of the peninsula, where every building should be constructed under strict municipal regulation and where every violation of the sanitary laws could be at once detected. The day has passed when a progressive city like San Francisco should feel compelled to tolerate in its midst a foreign community, perpetuated in filth, for the curiosity of tourists, the cupidity of lawyers and the adoration of artists. Dr. Williamson, Annual Report to the Board of Health (quoted in 1901)[50] In March 1900, a Chinese-born man who was a long-time resident of Chinatown was found dead of bubonic plague. The next morning, all of Chinatown was quarantined, with policemen preventing "Asiatics" (people of Asian heritage) from either entering or leaving. The San Francisco Board of Health began looking for more cases of plague and began burning personal property and sanitizing buildings, streets and sewers within Chinatown. Chinese Americans protested and the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association threatened lawsuits. The quarantine was lifted but the burning and fumigating continued. A federal court ruled that public health officials could not close off Chinatown without any proof that Chinese Americans were any more susceptible to plague than Anglo Americans.[51][52][53][54][55] 1906 to the 1960s Looking east down Clay St at the Great Fire on 18 April 1906: Arnold Genthe The Chinatown neighborhood was completely destroyed in the 1906 earthquake and fire that leveled most of the city. "The fire had full sway, and Chinatown, for the removal of which many a scheme has been devised, is but a memory." Oakland Tribune, April, 1906.[25]:33 Relocation Attempt Plans to relocate Chinatown predated the earthquake several years. At the 1901 Chinese Exclusion Convention held in San Francisco, A. Sbarboro called Chinatown "synonymous with disease, dirt and unlawful deeds" that "give[s] us nothing but evil habits and noxious stenches".[50] With Chinatown completely demolished by the Great Fire, which ended on April 21, 1906, the City seized the chance to remove the Chinese from the old downtown business district. Certain city officials and real-estate developers made more formal plans to move Chinatown to the Hunters Point neighborhood at the southern edge of the city,[56] or even further south to Daly City. Abe Ruef, the political boss widely considered to be the power behind Mayor Eugene Schmitz, invited himself to become part of the Committee of Fifty and, within a week of the end of the Great Fire, on Saturday, April 27, 1906,[25]:61–63 formed an additional Subcommittee on Relocating the Chinese, because he felt the land was too valuable for Chinese. Opposition arose, however, from politicians who feared that the removal of the Chinese would affect San Francisco's lucrative trade with Asian countries. Moreover, the government of China was also opposed, and soon after the earthquake, Tsi Chi Chow, the first secretary of the Chinese legation in Washington, DC, arrived in San Francisco, conveying to California governor George Pardee the opposition of China's Empress Dowager Cixi to the plan.[57] The representatives, "acting unofficially", stated "the only way to remove the Chinese from the old Chinatown would be to give them a place elsewhere that would be acceptable for their purpose, when they might be willing to move."[58] The San Francisco Call reported it as "a vigorous protest" and noted that as the site of the Chinese consulate was the property of Imperial China, it could not be reassigned by the city.[59] On May 10, 1906, the Subcommittee met with representatives from the Chinese community, the Chinese Six Companies, who said that they would either rebuild in their old Chinatown quarters or move across the bay to Oakland, where most of the Chinatown refugees had fled.[25]:65 Other community leaders pointed out that displaced residents may not stop to resettle in Hunters Point, moving further to other West Coast cities like Seattle or Los Angeles, taking the pool of cheap labor with them.[60] On July 8, 1906, after 25 committee meetings and considering various alternative sites in the City, the Subcommittee submitted a final report stating their inability to drive the Chinese from their old Chinatown quarters.[25]:66 Ironically, plans to relocate Chinatown failed in the end because restrictive housing covenants in other areas of the City prohibited Chinese from settling elsewhere.[61]:92 In any event, the ability to rebuild in their old Chinatown quarters was the first significant victory[62] for the Chinese community in Chinatown.[25]:83 Rebuilding c.1910 2006 Looking north along Grant from the intersection of Grant and Pine. The distinctive pagoda-topped roofs of the Sing Fat and Sing Chong buildings are on the left side of each picture. The dragon street lamp (right) was installed in 1925 for the San Francisco Diamond Jubilee Festival. Even when the Subcommittee was bringing its relocation attempt to an end, the Chinese were already rebuilding, albeit with temporary wooden buildings which did not required permits. By June 10, 1906, twelve Chinese businesses were opened in Chinatown, including a couple of cafes. The actual reconstruction did not begin until October 1, 1906, when the City granted 43 building permits to Chinese businesses. By the time of the first post-quake Chinese New Year in 1907, several dozen buildings were completed, using old bricks unburnt by the fire, and Chinatown was filled with happy people. The reconstruction of Chinatown was completed more or less in 1908, a year ahead of the rest of the City.[25]:92–94 A group of Chinese merchants, including Mendocino-born Look Tin Eli, hired American architects to design in a Chinese-motif "Oriental" style in order to promote tourism in the rebuilt Chinatown.[63] The results of this design strategy[64] were the pagoda-topped buildings of the Sing Chong and Sing Fat bazaars on the west corners of Grant Ave (then Dupont St) and California St, which have become icons of San Francisco Chinatown.[27]:113–115 In November 1907, an article extolling the virtues of the "new Chinatown of San Francisco" was written, praising the new "substantial, modern, fireproof buildings of brick and stone ... following the Oriental style of architecture" and declaring "[n]o more picturesque squalor, no more gambling dens, opium joints or public haunts of vice" would be tolerated, at the command of the Chinese Six Companies. By then, 5,000 residents had returned, of the estimated 30,000 that lived in Chinatown prior to the quake.[65] When the earthquake destroyed Chinatown's wooden tenements, it also dealt a blow to the tongs. Criminal tongs continued on until the 1920s, when legitimate Chinese merchants and a more capable Chinatown Squad under Sgt. Jack Manion gained the upper hand. Manion was appointed leader of the Squad in 1921 and served for two decades. Stiffer legislation against prostitution and drugs ended the tongs.[66] The Chinatown Squad was finally disbanded in August 1955 by Police Chief George Healey, upon the request of the influential Chinese World newspaper, which had editorialized the Squad was an "affront to Americans of Chinese descent".[67] While the Chinese merchants succeeded in rebuilding in a tourist-attractive way, they could not influence the landlords, most of which were not Chinese, to provide adequate housing for the Chinese residents. In a 1930 Community Chest Survey of 153 Chinatown families, 32 families, with an average of five persons each, lived in one room each; only 19 families had complete bath tub, kitchen, and toilet facilities; on the average, there was one kitchen for 3.1 families and one toilet for 4.6 families (or 28.3 persons). Crowded inadequate living conditions contributed to a high death rate for the Chinese. The Chinese were no longer a problem for the city; they were forgotten.[68]:61–62 Nightlife Dragon Street Lamp on Grant Ave The famous Sam Wo restaurant opened in 1912. In 1925 for the celebration of the San Francisco Diamond Jubilee, the Downtown Merchants Association, the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, and the San Francisco Diamond Jubilee Festival jointly raised $18,000 for 43 dragon street lamps to be cast in China and installed along Grant Avenue from Bush Street to Broadway. Designed by W(alter) D’Arcy Ryan, who also designed the "Path of Gold" streetlights along Market Street,[27]:124–125 the distinctive 2,750 pounds (1,250 kg) street lamp, painted in traditional Chinese colors of red, gold and green, was composed of a cast-iron hexagonal base supporting a lotus and bamboo shaft surmounted with two cast-aluminum dragons below a pagoda lantern with bells and topped by a stylized hexagonal red roof[69]—all in keeping with the Oriental style pioneered by Look Tin Eli (1910).[64] The new lamps made Grant Avenue one of the brightest streets in the City at night,[68]:51 at a cost of US$418 (equivalent to $6,100 in 2019) each. Since then, the original molds were used to add 24 more dragon street lamps were in 1996 (distinguishable by the foundry, whose name and location in Emporia, Kansas is cast on an access door at the base), and later, 23 more were added along Pacific by PG&E.[69][70] Chinatown (facing north from just south of the corner of Grant and Commercial) in 1945. Prominently lit buildings on the left (west) side of Grant include the Ying On (closer to camera) and Soo Yuen (in background); the Eastern Bakery sign is lit on the right (east) side of Grant. During the Great Depression, many nightclubs and cocktail bars were started in Chinatown.[71] The Forbidden City nightclub, located at 369 Sutter Street in Chinatown and run by Charlie Low, became one of the most famous entertainment places in San Francisco.[72] While it was doing business, from the late 1930s to the late 1950s, the Forbidden City gained an international reputation with its unique showcase of exotic oriental performance from Chinese American performers.[73] Another popular club for tourists and LGBT clients was Li Po, which, like Forbidden City, combined western entertainment with "Oriental" culture. It was advertised in a 1939 tourism guide book as a "jovial and informal Chinatown cocktail lounge" where one could find "love, passion, and nighttime".[16] As of 2018, it was still in operation at 916 Grant Avenue.[72] The Second World War Years and Immigration reform For the Chinese in Chinatown, the war came upon them in September 1931, when Japan attacked the Manchurian city of Mukden, and became unignorable in July 1937, when Japan launched a major offensive southward from their base in Manchuria towards the heart of China. In response, the Chinese Six Companies convened many community organizations together, from which was founded the Chinese War Relief Association, to raise funds from the Chinatown communities through out the U.S. to aid civilians trapped by the war in China. In San Francisco's Chinatown, a popular means to raise money for war relief was through the Rice Bowl parades and parties, where the appeal to fill the rice bowls of starving children victimized by the war in China resonated with the Chinatown community. One hallmark of the Rice Bowl parade was the striking scene of a large number of Chinese-American women in fashionable Chinese dress (the cheongsam) carrying one huge Chinese flag spanning the width of the street, onto which money was thrown from balconies, windows, and sidewalks. In the Rice Bowl parade and party of 1938, San Francisco Chinatown raised $55,000; the second Rice Bowl in 1940 collected $87,000; and the third in 1941 brought in $93,000—all for war and hunger relief of civilians in war-torn China.[74]:33–44 [75] As Chinese Americans became more visible in the public eye during the period leading to the U.S. involvement in the war, the negative image of China and the Chinese began to erode.  — K. Scott Wong[74]:42 Once China became an ally to the U.S. in World War II, a positive image of the Chinese began to emerge. In October 1942, Earl Warren, running for Governor of California, wrote, "Like all native born Californians, I have cherished during my entire life a warm and cordial feeling for the Chinese people." [74]:89 In her goodwill tour of the U.S. starting in February 1943, Madame Chiang Kai Shek probably did more to change the American attitude towards the Chinese people than any other single person.[27]:53–54 She was hosted by the First Lady and President Franklin D. Roosevelt; she was the second woman and the first Chinese to address the U.S. Congress. The American public embraced her with respect and kindness, which is in stark contrast to the treatment of most Chinese immigrants and Chinese Americans.[74]:89–109 To the Chinese in Chinatown, she became an icon of the war years.[76] In December 1943, in recognition of the important role of China as an ally in the war, the Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed by the Magnuson Act, which allowed for naturalization but restricted Chinese immigrants to a small annual quota of 105 new entry visas. The repeal of the Exclusion Act and other immigration restriction laws, in conjunction with passage of the War Brides Act in December 1945, allowed Chinese-American veterans to bring their families outside of national quotas and led to a major population boom in the area during the 1950s. However, tight quotas on new immigration from China still applied until the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 was passed. In the 1948 landmark case of Shelley v. Kraemer, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled without dissent that enforcing racially restrictive covenants in property deeds violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and thus such covenants are unenforceable in court, which lifted the invisible walls around Chinatown,[68] permitting some Chinese Americans to move out of the Gilded Ghetto[77] into other neighborhoods of the City and gain a foothold on the middle class. Twenty years later, such racially restrictive covenants were outlawed in the 1968 Fair Housing Act. Frank Wong dioramas San Francisco artist Frank Wong created miniature dioramas that depict Chinatown during the 1930s and 1940s.[78] In 2004, Wong donated seven miniatures of scenes of Chinatown, titled "The Chinatown Miniatures Collection," to the Chinese Historical Society of America (CHSA).[79] The dioramas are on permanent display in CHSA's Main Gallery.[78][79][80] 1960s–present View north along Grant Avenue, approximately taken from the sidewalk in front of 645 Grant (1965). In the 1960s, the shifting of underutilized national immigration quotas brought in another huge wave of immigrants, mostly from Hong Kong. This changed San Francisco Chinatown from predominantly Hlay Yip Wah (Sze Yup or Hoisan Wah)-speaking to Sam Yup Wah (standard Cantonese)-speaking. During the same decade, many stores moved from Grant Avenue to Stockton Street, drawn by lower rents and the better transportation enabled by the 30-Stockton Muni trolleybus line.[81] The Dragon Gate at Grant and Bush, now a prominent landmark, was dedicated in 1970. There were areas where many Chinese in Northern California living outside of San Francisco Chinatown could maintain small communities or individual businesses. Nonetheless, the historic rights of property owners to deed or sell their property to whomever they pleased was exercised enough to keep the Chinese community from spreading. However, in Shelley v. Kraemer, the Supreme Court had ruled it unconstitutional for property owners to exclude certain groups when deeding their rights. This ruling allowed the enlargement of Chinatown and an increase in the Chinese population of the city. At the same time, the declining white population of the city as a result of White Flight combined to change the demographics of the city. Neighborhoods that were once predominately white, such as Richmond District and Sunset District and in other suburbs across the San Francisco Bay Area became centers of new Chinese immigrant communities. This included new immigrant groups such as Mandarin-speaking immigrants from Taiwan who have tended to settle in suburban Millbrae, Cupertino, Milpitas, Mountain View, and even San Jose – avoiding San Francisco as well as Oakland entirely.[citation needed] Gang violence Imperial Palace Restaurant in 2010. The Imperial Palace replaced the Golden Dragon in the same space at 816 Washington. With these changes came a weakening of the Tongs' traditional grip on Chinese life. Newer Chinese groups often came from areas outside of the Tongs' control, so the influence of the Tongs and criminal groups associated with them, such as the Triads, grew weaker in Chinatown and the Chinese community.[citation needed] However, the presence of the Asian gangs remained significant in the immigrant community, and in the summer of 1977, an ongoing rivalry between two street gangs, the Wah Ching and the Joe Boys, erupted in violence and bloodshed, culminating in a shooting spree at the Golden Dragon Restaurant on Washington Street (華盛頓街). Five people were killed and eleven wounded, none of whom were gang members. The incident has become infamously known as the Golden Dragon massacre. Five perpetrators, who were members of the Joe Boys gang, were convicted of murder and assault charges and were sentenced to prison.[82] The Golden Dragon closed in January 2006 because of health violations, and later reopened as the Imperial Palace Restaurant.[83] Other notorious acts of violence have taken place in Chinatown since 1977. At 2 a.m. on May 14, 1990, San Francisco residents who had just left The Purple Onion, a nightclub located where Chinatown borders on North Beach, were shot as they entered their cars. 35-year-old Michael Bit Chen Wu was killed and six others were injured, among them a critically wounded pregnant woman.[84] In June 1998, shots were fired at Chinese Playground, wounding six teenagers, three of them critically. A 16-year-old boy was arrested for the shooting, which was believed to be gang-related.[85] On February 27, 2006, Allen Leung was shot to death in his business on Jackson Street;[86] Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow, who succeeded Leung as head of the Ghee Kung Tong, was later convicted in 2016 of soliciting Leung's murder as fallout from the corruption investigation of Leland Yee,[87] and Raymond "Skinny Ray" Lei was indicted for committing the murder in 2017.[88] View north along Stockton from atop the north portal of the Stockton Street Tunnel in 2011 Culture Institutions San Francisco's Chinatown is home to the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (known as the Chinese Six Companies), which is the umbrella organization for local Chinese family and regional associations in Chinatown. It has spawned lodges in other Chinatowns in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including Chinatown, Los Angeles and Chinatown, Portland. The Chinese Culture Center is a community based non-profit organization located on the third floor of the Hilton San Francisco Financial District, across Kearny Street from Portsmouth Square. The Center promotes exhibitions about Chinese life in the United States and organizes tours of the area. The Chinese Historical Society of America is housed in a building designed by Julia Morgan as a YWCA, at 965 Clay. Selected locations in Chinatown, San Francisco No Name Year Address Notability Image 1 Dragon Gate 1970 Grant at Bush Southern entrance to Chinatown on Grant. One of the most photographed locations. San Francisco Dragon Gate to Chinatown.jpg 2 Saint Mary's Square — 651 California Features statue of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, by Beniamino Bufano and a memorial for Chinese-American veterans of World Wars I and II. St Mary's Square 03.JPG 3 Sing Chong building 1907 601–615 Grant Designed by Ross & Burgren and among the earliest buildings erected after the 1906 earthquake. Strong influence on Chinatown architecture. San Francisco - Chinatown & California Street Cable Car (1098847880).jpg Sing Fat building 1907 573 Grant Sing Fat MG 7885bui (38545078252).png 4 Nam Kue Chinese School 1925 755 Sacramento Private school offering classes in Chinese culture, history, and language. Nam Kue Chinese School - San Francisco, CA - DSC02361.JPG 5 Portsmouth Square 1800s 733 Kearny Oldest public space in San Francisco. Portsmouth Square 2.JPG 6 Chinese Telephone Exchange 1909 743 Washington All calls to Chinatown were routed by name and occupation until 1948. Telephone Exchange (5402029672).jpg 7 Tin How Temple 1910 125 Waverly Oldest Taoist temple in Chinatown. Chinatown 23 Buddhist Temple (4253514495).jpg 8 Ross Alley 1849 Between Jackson, Washington, Grant, and Stockton Often used as a backdrop for films. Chinatown San Francisco (4678554439).jpg Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Company 1962 56 Ross Alley Working fortune cookie factory and shop. 15 Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory.jpg 9 Chinese Hospital 1925 (demolished), 1977, 2017 845 Jackson Only Chinese-language hospital in United States. Hospital, Chinatown (6031029834).jpg 10 Chinese Historical Society of America 1932 965 Clay Former YWCA building designed by Julia Morgan Chinatown YWCA (8467462746).jpg 11 Six Companies c.1907 (remodeled 1950s) 843 Stockton Sometimes called the "White House" of Chinatown. 1830 Painted Lady (31697805676).jpg Dragon on Market, 2011 Events and Festivals In the 1950s,[89]:71–73 during the Korean war, a number of Chinese-American leaders, led by W. K. Wong,[90] organized the San Francisco Chinese New Year Festival and Parade,[91] including art shows, street dances, martial arts, music, and a fashion show. The 1953 parade was led by Korean war veteran, Joe Wong, and featured the Miss Chinatown festival queen and the dragon.[91]:29 By 1958, the festival queen had been formally expanded into the pageant of "Miss Chinatown U.S.A".[91]:56 In 1994, around 120 queer Asian Americans joined the annual parade, which was the first time that Asian American queer community had appeared in public and gained acceptance from Chinese-American society.[92] San Francisco Chinatown's annual Autumn Moon Festival celebrates seasonal change and the opportunity to give thanks to a bountiful summer harvest. The Moon Festival is popularly celebrated throughout China and surrounding countries each year, with local bazaars, entertainment, and mooncakes, a pastry filled with sweet bean paste and egg. The festival is held each year during mid-September, and is free to the public. Funeral procession in Chinatown along Grant with marching band, taken facing south near the corner of Grant and Jackson, 2016 Chinatown is frequently the venue of traditional Chinese funeral processions, where a marching band (playing Western songs such as Nearer, My God, to Thee) takes the street with a motorcycle escort.[93] The band is followed by a car displaying an image of the deceased (akin to the Chinese custom of parading a scroll with his or her name through the village), and the hearse and the mourners, who then usually travel to Colma south of San Francisco for the actual funeral.[94] By union regulation, the procession route starts at the Green Street Mortuary proceeding on Stockton Street for six blocks and back on Grant Avenue, taking about one hour.[93] Chinatown Community Development Center Chinatown Community Development Center is an organization formed in 1977 after the merger of the Chinatown Resource center and the Chinese Community Housing Corporation.[95] The organization was started by Gordon Chin, who served as Executive Director since 1977 until he was succeeded by the organization's Deputy Director Rev. Norman Fong on October 1, 2011. The organization advocates and provides services to San Francisco's Chinatown. They have also started many groups, Adopt-An-Alleyway Youth Empowerment Project being the most notable,[96] and have been involved with many tenant programs.[97] Media and politics In the citywide Board of Supervisors elections, Chinatown forms part of District Three and in 2014 accounted for 44% of both registered voters and ballots cast.[14] The two main newspapers read among residents are Sing Tao Daily and World Journal.[14] SF Mayor Willie Brown attends a Chinese New Year Celebration in Chinatown (1999). Fame San Francisco Chinatown restaurants are considered to be the birthplace of Americanized Chinese cuisine such as food items like Chop Suey while introducing and popularizing Dim Sum to American tastes, as its Dim Sum tea houses are a major tourist attraction. Johnny Kan was the proprietor of one of the first modern style Chinese restaurants, which opened in 1953. Many of the district's restaurants have been featured in food television programs on Chinese cuisine such as Martin Yan's Martin Yan - Quick & Easy. Chinatown has served as a backdrop for several movies, television shows, plays and documentaries including The Maltese Falcon, What's Up, Doc?, Big Trouble in Little China, The Pursuit of Happyness, The Presidio, Flower Drum Song, The Dead Pool, and Godzilla. Noted Chinese American writers grew up there such as Russell Leong. Contrary to popular belief, while the Chinese-American writer Amy Tan was inspired by Chinatown and its culture for the basis of her book The Joy Luck Club and the subsequent movie, she did not grow up in this area; she was born and grew up in Oakland.[98] Notable 1940s basketball player Willie "Woo Woo" Wong, who excelled in local schools, college and professional teams, was born in, and grew up playing basketball in, Chinatown; a local playground bears his name.[99][100][101] Actor Bruce Lee, who was born at San Francisco Chinese Hospital before moving back to Hong Kong three months later, returned to the United States at the age of eighteen, residing in San Francisco's Chinatown for the first few months before moving to Seattle.[citation needed] Transportation Cable Car 56 ascends Nob Hill from Chinatown along California Street; prominent buildings shown include the Transamerica Pyramid, Sing Chong Bazaar, Hartford Building, and Old Saint Mary's Cathedral. See also: List of streets and alleys in Chinatown, San Francisco San Francisco cable cars have long served areas of Chinatown; the modern system serves the southern (along California Street) and western (along Powell Street) sections of the neighborhood. The Stockton Street Tunnel was completed in 1914 and brought San Francisco Municipal Railway Streetcar service to Stockton Street. After the tracks were removed, the overhead wires were maintained and buses replaced streetcars along the route. The 30 Stockton and 45 Union-Stockton are among the most heavily ridden lines in the system.[citation needed] Modern rail service will return at Chinatown station upon completion of the Central Subway. The Broadway Tunnel was completed in 1952 and was intended to serve as a connection between the Embarcadero Freeway and the Central Freeway. These plans did not materialize due to the highway revolts at the time.[citation needed] The tunnel currently serves to connect Chinatown with Russian Hill and Van Ness Avenue to the west. In the 1980s, Chinatown merchants were opposed to the removal of the Embarcadero Freeway, but these objections were overturned after it was damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.[102][103] According to the San Francisco Chronicle, activist Rose Pak then "almost single-handedly persuaded the city to build" the $1.5 billion Central Subway project to compensate Chinatown for the demolition of the freeway.[104] The 49-Mile Scenic Drive is routed through Chinatown, with particular attention paid to the corner of Grant and Clay. See also flag California portal flag China portal flag Hong Kong portal San Francisco Bay Area portal flag United States portal 1877 San Francisco Riot History of the Chinese Americans in San Francisco Kong Chow Temple Rose Pak Queer history in Chinatown, San Francisco Alice Fong Yu History Recommended reading: Chinese in America, Immigration at the Golden Gate, and The Children of Chinatown 1848 First Chinese immigrants - two men and one women - arrive in San Francisco on the American brig, Eagle 1849 Gold discovered at Sutter's Mill 1853 Old St. Mary's Church erected. Presbyterian Church in Chinatown is the first Asian church in North America. 1859 "The Chinese School" was created. Chinese children were assigned to this "Chinese only" school. They were not permitted into any other public schools in San Francisco. 1862 California�s Anti-Coolie Tax 1870 California passes a law against the importation of Chinese, Japanese, and "Mongolian" women for the purpose of prostitution 1870 Anti-Chinese ordinances are passed in San Francisco to curtail their housing and employment options. Queues are banned. 1873 Chinese Congregational Church and Chinese United Methodist Church are established 1874 Presbyterian Mission Home for Chinese women, later renamed Donaldina Cameron House is established 1875 Page Law bars Asian prostitutes, felons, and contract laborers 1880 US and China sign treaty giving the US the right to limit but "not absolutely prohibit" Chinese immigration. California's Civil Code passes anti-miscegination law. First Chinese Baptist Church founded. 1882 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act bans immigration of Chinese laborers to the United States and prohitbits Chinese from becoming naturalized citizens. (Chinese Exclusion Act List) 1885 The "Chinese School" was renamed the" Oriental School," so that Chinese, Korean, and Japanese students could be assigned to the school. 1886 Salvation Army established. 1892 Geary Act 1894 Cumerland Presbyterian Church is established. 1900 Tung Wah Dispensary opens in Chinatown 1902 Chinese exclusion act extended for another 10 years. (Chinese Exclusion Act List) 1904 Chinese exclusion act made indefinite. (Chinese Exclusion Act List) 1905 Independent Baptist Church is established. 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. True Sunshine Episcopal is established. 1908 Chinese Chamber of Commerce formed. 1910 Angel Island Immigration Station opens and operates as a detention and processing center for Chinese immigration. Thousands of Chinese immigrants spend weeks and months detained, undergoing rigorous interrogations by U.S. immigration officials. 1911 Chinatown YMCA is established 1916 Chinatown YWCA is established 1921 Chinatown Public Library opens. 1924 The "Oriental School" was renamed Commodore Stockton School. Alice FongYu was the first Chinese teacher. Students were barred from speaking Chinese in school or on the playground. 1925 The Nam Kue School is built. Tung Wah Dispensary is relocated and renamed Chinese Hospital. 1927 The Chinese Playground is built 1940 English-Language Newspaper for Chinatown 1943 Chinese Exclusion Repeal Act by Congress and grants Chinese aliens naturaliztion rights. (Chinese Exclusion Act List) 1948 Displaced Person's Act 1952 Church of the Nazarene is established. 1954 First Chinese Southern Baptist Church is established. 1957 Immigration and Nationality Act 1963 Chinese Historical Society of America founded 1964 Luthern Church of the Holy Spirit is established. 1965 Immigration Act of 1965. 1966 First Miss Teen Chinatown Pageant 1978 San Francisco Chinese Baptist Church is established. 1982 First Chinese American women seen regularly on national television 1987 Chinese Grace Church is established. 1988 San Francisco Evangelical Free Church is established. 1995 Immigration Reform Act of 1995 1998 Commodore Stockton Elementary School was renamed Gordon J. Lau Elementary School in honor of the late civic leader and advocate for the Chinese community 2011 Mayor Edwin Lee elected as first Chinese American mayor in San Francisco's history 2012 Point Guard Jeremy Lin become the first Chinese American basketball player to start in the NBA. Recommended reading: Chinese in America, Immigration at the Golden Gate, and The Children of Chinatown A Chinatown (Chinese: 唐人街; pinyin: Tángrénjiē; Jyutping: tong4 jan4 gaai1) is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa, Australasia and the Middle East. The development of most Chinatowns typically resulted from mass migration to an area without any or with very few Chinese residents. Binondo in Manila, established in 1594, is recognized as the world's oldest Chinatown. Notable early examples outside Asia include San Francisco's Chinatown in the United States and Melbourne's Chinatown in Australia, which were founded in the mid-19th century during the California gold rush and Victoria gold rush, respectively. A more modern example, in Montville, Connecticut, was caused by the displacement of Chinese workers in the Manhattan Chinatown following the September 11th attacks in 2001.[1][2] Contents 1 Definition 2 History 2.1 In Asia 2.2 In the West 2.3 1970s to the present 3 Chinese Settlements 3.1 History 3.2 Settlement pattern 4 Characteristics 4.1 Demographics 4.2 Town-Scape 5 Benevolent and business associations 6 Names 6.1 English 6.2 In Chinese 6.3 Other languages 7 Locations 7.1 Africa 7.2 Americas 7.3 Asia 7.4 Australia and Oceania 7.5 Europe 8 In popular culture 9 See also 10 References 10.1 Citations 10.2 Sources Definition Oxford Dictionaries defines "Chinatown" as "... a district of any non-Asian town, especially a city or seaport, in which the population is predominantly of Chinese origin".[3] However, some Chinatowns may have little to do with China.[4] Some "Vietnamese" enclaves are in fact a city's "second Chinatown", and some Chinatowns are in fact pan-Asian, meaning they could also be counted as a Koreatown or Little India.[5] One example includes Asiatown in Cleveland, Ohio. It was initially referred to as a Chinatown but was subsequently renamed due to the influx of non-Chinese Asian Americans who opened businesses there. Today the district acts as a unifying factor for the Chinese, Taiwanese, Korean, Japanese, Filipino, Indian, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian, Nepalese and Thai communities of Cleveland.[6] Further ambiguities with the term can include Chinese ethnoburbs which by definition are "... suburban ethnic clusters of residential areas and business districts in large metropolitan areas[7] where the intended purpose is to be "... as isolated from the white population as Hispanics".[8] An article in The New York Times blurs the line further by categorizing very different Chinatowns such as Chinatown, Manhattan, which exists in an urban setting as "traditional"; Monterey Park's Chinatown, which exists in a "suburban" setting (and labeled as such); and Austin, Texas's Chinatown, which is in essence a "fabricated" Chinese-themed mall. This contrasts with narrower definitions, where the term only described Chinatown in a city setting.[9] In some cities in Spain, the term barrio chino ('Chinese quarter') denotes an area, neighborhood or district where prostitution or other businesses related to the sex industry are concentrated; i.e. a red-light district. Some examples of this are the Chinatown of Salamanca and Barri Xinès, the Chinatown of Barcelona a part of El Raval, although in Barcelona there was a small Chinese community in the 1930s. History See also: Chinese emigration Trading centres populated predominantly by Chinese men and their native spouses have long existed throughout Southeast Asia. Emigration to other parts of the world from China accelerated in the 1860s with the signing of the Treaty of Peking (1860), which opened the border for free movement. Early emigrants came primarily from the coastal provinces of Guangdong (Canton, Kwangtung) and Fujian (Fukien, Hokkien) in southeastern China – where the people generally speak Toishanese, Cantonese, Hakka, Teochew (Chiuchow) and Hokkien. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, a significant amount of Chinese emigration to North America originated from four counties called Sze Yup, located west of the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong province, making Toishanese a dominant variety of the Chinese language spoken in Chinatowns in Canada and the United States. As conditions in China have improved in recent decades, many Chinatowns have lost their initial mission, which was to provide a transitional place into a new culture. As net migration has slowed into them, the smaller Chinatowns have slowly decayed, often to the point of becoming purely historical and no longer serving as ethnic enclaves.[10] In Asia The Chinese New Year celebrated in Chinatown, Kolkata Along the coastal area of Southeast Asia of the 16th century, quite many Chinese settlements existed in according to Zheng He's and Tome Pires' travel accounts. Melaka in Portuguese colonial period, for instance, had a large number of Chinese population in Campo China. They settled down at port towns under authority's approval for trading. After the European colonial powers seized and ruled the port towns in the 16th century, Chinese supported European traders and colonists, and created autonomic settlements. Several Asian Chinatowns, although not yet called by that name, have a long history. Those in Nagasaki, Kobe and Yokohama, Japan,[11] Binondo in Manila, Hoi An and Bao Vinh in central Vietnam[12] all existed in 1600. Glodok, the Chinese quarter of Jakarta, Indonesia, dates to 1740.[13] Chinese presence in India dates back to the 5th century AD, with the first recorded Chinese settler in Calcutta named Young Atchew around 1780.[14] Chinatowns first appeared in the Indian cities of Calcutta (now renamed Kolkata), Mumbai and Chennai. The Chinatown centered on Yaowarat Road in Bangkok, Thailand, was founded at the same time as the city itself, in 1782.[15] In the West Chinese seamen established one of the earliest Chinatowns around the docks in Liverpool in the mid-19th century. An early enclave of Chinese people emerged in the 1830s in Liverpool, England, when the first direct trading vessel from China arrived in Liverpool's docks to trade in goods, including silk and cotton wool.[16] Many Chinese immigrants arrived in Liverpool in the late 1850s in the employ of the Blue Funnel Shipping Line, a cargo transport company established by Alfred Holt. The commercial shipping line created strong trade links between the cities of Shanghai, Hong Kong and Liverpool, mainly in the importation of silk, cotton and tea.[16] They settled near the docks, but the area was heavily bombed during World War II, with the Chinese community moving a few blocks to the current Liverpool Chinatown in Nelson Street. The Chinatown in San Francisco is one of the largest in North America and the oldest north of Mexico. It served as a port of entry for early Chinese immigrants from the 1850s to the 1900s.[17] The area was the one geographical region deeded by the city government and private property owners which allowed Chinese persons to inherit and inhabit dwellings within the city. Many Chinese found jobs working for large companies seeking a source of labor, most famously as part of the Central Pacific[18] on the Transcontinental Railroad. Since it started in Omaha, that city had a notable Chinatown for almost a century.[19] Other cities in North America where Chinatowns were founded in the mid-nineteenth century include almost every major settlement along the West Coast from San Diego to Victoria. Other early immigrants worked as mine workers or independent prospectors hoping to strike it rich during the 1849 Gold Rush. Economic opportunity drove the building of further Chinatowns in the United States. The initial Chinatowns were built in the Western United States in states such as California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. As the transcontinental railroad was built, more Chinatowns started to appear in railroad towns such as St. Louis, Chicago, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Butte Montana, and many east coast cities such as New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Providence, and Baltimore. With the passage of the Emancipation Proclamation, many southern states such as Arkansas, Louisiana, and Georgia began to hire Chinese for work in place of slave labor.[20] The history of Chinatowns was not always peaceful, especially when labor disputes arose. Racial tensions flared when lower-paid Chinese workers replaced white miners in many mountain-area Chinatowns, such as in Wyoming with the Rock Springs Massacre. Many of these frontier Chinatowns became extinct as American racism surged and the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed. In Australia, the Victorian gold rush which began in 1851 attracted Chinese prospectors from the Guangdong area, and a community began to form in the eastern end of Little Bourke Street, Melbourne by the mid 1850s; the area is still the centre of the Melbourne chinatown, making it the oldest continuously occupied Chinatown in a western city (since the San Francisco one was destroyed and rebuilt). Gradually expanding, it reached a peak in the early 20th century, with Chinese business, mainly furniture workshops, occupying a block wide swath of the city, overlapping into the adjacent 'Little Lon' red light district. With restricted immigration it shrunk again, becoming a strip of Chinese restaurants by the late 1970s, when it was celebrated with decorative arches, and with recent huge influx of students from mainland China is now the centre of a much larger area of noodle shops, travel agents, restaurants, and groceries. The Australian gold rushes also saw the development of a Chinatown in Sydney, at first around the Rocks, near the docks, but it has moved twice, first in the 1890s to the east side of the Haymarket area, near the new markets, then in the 1920s concentrating on the west side,[21] and Chinatown, Sydney is now centred on Dixon Street. Other Chinatowns in European capitals, including Paris and London, were established at the turn of the 20th century. The first Chinatown in London was located in the Limehouse area of the East End of London[22] at the start of the 20th century. The Chinese population engaged in business which catered to the Chinese sailors who frequented the Docklands. The area acquired a bad reputation from exaggerated reports of opium dens and slum housing. France received a large settlement of Chinese immigrant laborers, mostly from the city of Wenzhou, in the Zhejiang province of China. Significant Chinatowns sprung up in Belleville and the 13th arrondissement of Paris. Manhattan's Chinatown, the largest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere[23]   Chinatown, San Francisco, the oldest Chinatown in North America   Liverpool's Chinatown, the oldest Chinatown in Europe   Chinatown, Philadelphia, the recipient of significant Chinese immigration from both New York City[24] and China[25] 1970s to the present By the late 1970s, refugees and exiles from the Vietnam War played a significant part in the redevelopment of Chinatowns in developed Western countries. As a result, many existing Chinatowns have become pan-Asian business districts and residential neighborhoods. By contrast, most Chinatowns in the past had been largely inhabited by Chinese from southeastern China. In 2001, the events of September 11 have resulted in a mass migration of about 14,000 Chinese workers from Manhattan's Chinatown to Montville, Connecticut, due to the fall of the garment industry and workers transitioning to casino jobs fueled by the development of the Mohegan Sun casino. In 2012, Tijuana's Chinatown formed as a result of availability of direct flights to China. The La Mesa District of Tijuana was formerly a small enclave, but has tripled in size as a result of direct flights to Shanghai, with an ethnic Chinese population rise from 5,000 in 2009 to roughly 15,000 in 2012, overtaking Mexicali's Chinatown as the largest Chinese enclave in Mexico. The busy intersection of Main Street, Kissena Boulevard, and 41st Avenue in the Flushing Chinatown (法拉盛華埠), Queens, New York City. The segment of Main Street between Kissena Boulevard and Roosevelt Avenue, punctuated by the Long Island Rail Road trestle overpass, represents the cultural heart of Flushing Chinatown. Housing over 30,000 individuals born in China alone, the largest by this metric outside Asia, Flushing has become home to the largest and one of the fastest-growing Chinatowns in the world.[26] The New York metropolitan area, consisting of New York City, Long Island, and nearby areas within the states of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania, is home to the largest Chinese American population of any metropolitan area within the United States and the largest Chinese population outside of China, enumerating an estimated 893,697 in 2017[27] and including at least 12 Chinatowns. Continuing significant immigration from Mainland China, both legal[28][29] and illegal[30] in origin, has spurred the ongoing rise of the Chinese American population in the New York metropolitan area; this immigration continues to be fueled by New York's status as an alpha global city, its high population density, its extensive mass transit system, and the New York metropolitan area's enormous economic marketplace. The Manhattan Chinatown contains the largest concentration of ethnic Chinese in the Western hemisphere;[31] while the Flushing Chinatown in Queens has become the world's largest Chinatown, but conversely, has also emerged as the epicenter of organized prostitution in the United States.[32] Today, Chinatown, Chicago is one of the few Chinatown neighborhoods in the United States that has shielded gentrification and has seen a continued growth of Chinese residents.[33] Chinese Settlements History People of Fujian province used to move over the South China Sea from the 14th century to look for more stable jobs, in most cases of trading and fishery, and settled down near the port/jetty under approval of the local authority such as Magong (Penghu), Lukang (Taiwan), Hoian (Vietnam), Songkla (Thailand), Malacca (Malaysia), Banten, Semarang, Tuban (Indonesia), Manila (the Philippines), etc. A large number of this kind of settlements was developed along the coastal areal of the South China Sea, and was called "Campon China" by Portuguese account[34] and "China Town" by English account.[35] Settlement pattern The settlement was developed along jetty and protected by Mazu temple, which was dedicated for a goddess for safe sailing. Market place was open in front of Mazu temple, and shophouses were built along the street leading from west side of the Mazu temple. At the end of the street, Tudigong (Land God) temple was placed. As the settlement prospered as commercial town, Kuan Ti temple would be added for commercial success, especially by people from Hong Kong and Guangdong province. This core pattern was maintained even the settlement got expanded as a city, and forms historical urban center of the Southeast Asia.[36] Hoian Settlement Pattern, Vietnam, 1991.   Pengchau Settlement Pattern, Hong Kong, 1991.   Chinese Settlement in Georgetown, Malaysia, 1991.   Chinese Settlement in Kuching, Malaysia, 1991.   Tin Hua (Goddess of Mercy) Temple in Kucing, Malaysia, 1991.   To Di Gong (Land God) Temple at Kucing, 1991. Characteristics The features described below are characteristic of many modern Chinatowns. Demographics The early Chinatowns such as those in San Francisco and Los Angeles in the United States were naturally destinations for people of Chinese descent as migration were the result of opportunities such as the California Gold Rush and the Transcontinental Railroad drawing the population in, creating natural Chinese enclaves that were almost always 100% exclusively Han Chinese, which included both people born in China and in the enclave, in this case American-born Chinese.[37] In some free countries such as the United States and Canada, housing laws that prevent discrimination also allows neighborhoods that may have been characterized as "All Chinese" to also allow non-Chinese to reside in these communities. For example, the Chinatown in Philadelphia has a sizeable non-Chinese population residing within the community.[38] A recent study also suggests that the demographic change is also driven by gentrification of what were previously Chinatown neighborhoods. The influx of luxury housing is speeding up the gentrification of such neighborhoods. The trend for emergence of these types of natural enclaves is on the decline (with the exceptions being the continued growth and emergence of newer Chinatowns in Queens and Brooklyn in New York City), only to be replaced by newer "Disneyland-like" attractions, such as a new Chinatown that will be built in the Catskills region of New York.[39] This includes the endangerment of existing historical Chinatowns that will eventually stop serving the needs of Chinese immigrants. Newer developments like those in Norwich, Connecticut, and the San Gabriel Valley, which are not necessarily considered "Chinatowns" in the sense that they do not necessarily contain the Chinese architectures or Chinese language signs as signatures of an officially sanctioned area that was designated either in law or signage stating so, differentiate areas that are called "Chinatowns" versus locations that have "significant" populations of people of Chinese descent. For example, San Jose, California in the United States has 63,434 people (2010 U.S. Census) of Chinese descent, and yet "does not have a Chinatown". Some "official" Chinatowns have Chinese populations much lower than that.[40] Town-Scape Main article: Chinese architecture Many tourist-destination metropolitan Chinatowns can be distinguished by large red arch entrance structures known in Mandarin Chinese as Paifang (sometimes accompanied by imperial guardian lion statues on either side of the structure, to greet visitors). Other Chinese architectural styles such as the Chinese Garden of Friendship in Sydney Chinatown and the Chinese stone lions at the gate to the Victoria, British Columbia Chinatown are present in some Chinatowns. Mahale Chiniha, the Chinatown in Iran, contains many buildings that were constructed in the Chinese architectural style. Paifangs usually have special inscriptions in Chinese. Historically, these gateways were donated to a particular city as a gift from the Republic of China and People's Republic of China, or local governments (such as Chinatown, San Francisco), and business organizations. The long-neglected Chinatown in Havana, Cuba, received materials for its paifang from the People's Republic of China as part of the Chinatown's gradual renaissance. Construction of these red arches is often financed by local financial contributions from the Chinatown community. Some of these structures span an entire intersection, and some are smaller in height and width. Some paifang can be made of wood, masonry, or steel and may incorporate an elaborate or simple design. Chinatown landmarks Entrance to Chinatown, Sydney   Paifang in Philadelphia   Paifang in Buenos aires, Argentina   Chinatown, Boston looking towards the paifang   Gate of Chinatown, Portland, Oregon   Chinatown entry arch in Newcastle, England   Chinese Garden of Friendship, part of Sydney Chinatown   Chinese stone lions at the Chinatown gate in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada   Harbin Gates in Chinatown of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada   Millennium Gate on Pender Street in Chinatown of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada   Chinese Cultural Centre in Calgary, Alberta, Canada   Chinese Temple "Toong On Church" in Kolkata, India.   Chinese Temple in Yokohama Chinatown, Japan. Benevolent and business associations Main article: Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association Headquarters of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association in Chinatown, San Francisco. A major component of many Chinatowns is the family benevolent association, which provides some degree of aid to immigrants. These associations generally provide social support, religious services, death benefits (members' names in Chinese are generally enshrined on tablets and posted on walls), meals, and recreational activities for ethnic Chinese, especially for older Chinese migrants. Membership in these associations can be based on members sharing a common Chinese surname or belonging to a common clan, spoken Chinese dialect, specific village, region or country of origin, and so on. Many have their own facilities. Some examples include San Francisco's prominent Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (中華總會館 Zhōnghuá Zǒng Huìguǎn), aka Chinese Six Companies, and Los Angeles' Southern California Teochew Association. The Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association is among the largest umbrella groups of benevolent associations in the North America, which branches in several Chinatowns. Politically, the CCBA has traditionally been aligned with the Kuomintang and the Republic of China. The London Chinatown Chinese Association is active in Chinatown, London. Chinatown, Paris has an institution in the Association des Résidents en France d'origine indochinoise and it servicing overseas Chinese immigrants in Paris who were born in the former French Indochina. Traditionally, Chinatown-based associations have also been aligned with ethnic Chinese business interests, such as restaurant, grocery, and laundry (antiquated) associations in Chinatowns in North America. In Chicago's Chinatown, the On Leong Merchants Association was active. Names English Official signs in Boston pointing towards "Chinatown" Although the term "Chinatown" was first used in Asia, it does not come from a Chinese language. Its earliest appearance seems to have been in connection with the Chinese quarter of Singapore, which by 1844 was already being called "China Town" or "Chinatown" by the British colonial government.[41][42] This may have been a word-for-word translation into English of the Malay name for that quarter, which in those days was probably "Kampong China" or possibly "Kota China" or "Kampong Tionghua/Chunghwa/Zhonghua". The first appearance of a Chinatown outside Singapore may have been in 1852, in a book by the Rev. Hatfield, who applied the term to the Chinese part of the main settlement on the remote South Atlantic island of St. Helena.[43] The island was a regular way-station on the voyage to Europe and North America from Indian Ocean ports, including Singapore. Sign inside Jefferson Station in Philadelphia pointing to "Chinatown" One of the earliest American usages dates to 1855, when San Francisco newspaper The Daily Alta California described a "pitched battle on the streets of [SF's] Chinatown".[44] Other Alta articles from the late 1850s make it clear that areas called "Chinatown" existed at that time in several other California cities, including Oroville and San Andres.[45][46] By 1869, "Chinatown had acquired its full modern meaning all over the U.S. and Canada. For instance, an Ohio newspaper wrote: "From San Diego to Sitka..., every town and hamlet has its 'Chinatown'."[47] In British publications before the 1890s, "Chinatown" appeared mainly in connection with California. At first, Australian and New Zealand journalists also regarded Chinatowns as Californian phenomena. However, they began using the term to denote local Chinese communities as early as 1861 in Australia[48] and 1873 in New Zealand.[49] In most other countries, the custom of calling local Chinese communities "Chinatowns" is not older than the twentieth century. Several alternate English names for Chinatown include China Town (generally used in British and Australian English), The Chinese District, Chinese Quarter, and China Alley (an antiquated term used primarily in several rural towns in the western United States for a Chinese community; some of these are now historical sites). In the case of Lillooet, British Columbia, Canada, China Alley was a parallel commercial street adjacent to the town's Main Street, enjoying a view over the river valley adjacent and also over the main residential part of Chinatown, which was largely of adobe construction. All traces of Chinatown and China Alley there have disappeared, despite a once large and prosperous community. In Chinese Street sign in Chinatown, Newcastle, with 唐人街 below the street name. In Chinese, Chinatown is usually called 唐人街, in Cantonese Tong jan gai, in Mandarin Tángrénjiē, in Hakka Tong ngin gai, and in Toisan Hong ngin gai, literally meaning "Tang people's street(s)". The Tang Dynasty was a zenith of the Chinese civilization, after which some Chinese call themselves. Some Chinatowns are indeed just one single street, such as the relatively short Fisgard Street in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. A more modern Chinese name is 華埠 (Cantonese: Waa Fau, Mandarin: Huábù) meaning "Chinese City", used in the semi-official Chinese translations of some cities' documents and signs. Bù, pronounced sometimes in Mandarin as fù, usually means seaport; but in this sense, it means city or town. Tong jan fau (唐人埠 "Tang people's town") is also used in Cantonese nowadays. The literal word-for-word translation of Chinatown—Zhōngguó Chéng (中國城) is also used, but more frequently by visiting Chinese nationals rather than immigrants of Chinese descent who live in various Chinatowns. Chinatowns in Southeast Asia have unique Chinese names used by the local Chinese, as there are large populations of people who are Overseas Chinese, living within the various major cities of Southeast Asia. As the population of Overseas Chinese, is widely dispersed in various enclaves, across each major Southeast Asian city, specific Chinese names are used instead. For example, in Singapore, where 2.8 million ethnic Chinese constitute a majority 74% of the resident population,[50] the Chinese name for Chinatown is Niúchēshǔi (牛車水, Hokkien POJ: Gû-chia-chúi), which literally means "ox-cart water" from the Malay 'Kreta Ayer' in reference to the water carts that used to ply the area. The Chinatown in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, (where 2 million ethnic Chinese comprise 30% of the population of Greater Kuala Lumpur [51]) while officially known as Petaling Street (Malay: Jalan Petaling), is referred to by Malaysian Chinese by its Cantonese name ci4 cong2 gaai1 (茨廠街, pinyin: Cíchǎng Jiē), literally "tapioca factory street", after a tapioca starch factory that once stood in the area. In Manila, Philippines, the area is called Mínlúnluò Qū 岷倫洛區, literally meaning the "Mín and Luò Rivers confluence district" but is actually a transliteration of the local term Binondo and an allusion to its proximity to the Pasig River. Other languages In Francophone regions (such as France and Quebec), Chinatown is often referred to as le quartier chinois (the Chinese Quarter; plural: les quartiers chinois). The most prominent Francophone Chinatowns are located in Paris and Montreal. The Spanish-language term is usually barrio chino (Chinese neighborhood; plural: barrios chinos), used in Spain and Latin America. (However, barrio chino or its Catalan cognate barri xinès do not always refer to a Chinese neighborhood: these are also common terms for a disreputable district with drugs and prostitution, and often no connection to the Chinese.). The Vietnamese term for Chinatown is Khu người Hoa (Chinese district) or phố Tàu (Chinese street). Vietnamese language is prevalent in Chinatowns of Paris, Los Angeles, Boston, Philadelphia, Toronto, and Montreal as ethnic Chinese from Vietnam have set up shop in them. In Japanese, the term "chūkagai" (中華街, literally "Chinese Street") is the translation used for Yokohama and Nagasaki Chinatown. In Indonesia, chinatown is known as Pecinan, a shortened term of pe-cina-an, means everything related to the Chinese people. Most of these pecinans usually located in Java.[52] Some languages have adopted the English-language term, such as Dutch and German. Locations Street scene of the Chinatown in Cyrildene, Johannesburg Africa Main article: Chinatowns in Africa There are three noteworthy Chinatowns in Africa located in the coastal African nations of Madagascar, Mauritius, and South Africa. South Africa has the largest Chinatown and the largest Chinese population of any African country and remains a popular destination for Chinese immigrants coming to Africa. Derrick Avenue in Cyrildene, Johannesburg, hosts South Africa's largest Chinatown. Americas Main article: Chinatowns in the Americas In the Americas, which includes North America, Central America and South America, Chinatowns have been around since the 1800s. The most prominent ones exist in the United States and Canada in Toronto, New York City, San Francisco, and Vancouver. The New York City metropolitan area is home to the largest ethnic Chinese population outside of Asia, comprising an estimated 893,697 uniracial individuals as of 2017,[53] including at least 12 Chinatowns – six[54] (or nine, including the emerging Chinatowns in Corona and Whitestone, Queens,[55] and East Harlem, Manhattan) in New York City proper, and one each in Nassau County, Long Island; Edison, New Jersey;[55] and Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey, not to mention fledgling ethnic Chinese enclaves emerging throughout the New York City metropolitan area. San Francisco, a Pacific port city, has the oldest and longest continuous running Chinatown in the Western Hemisphere.[56][57][58] In Canada, Vancouver's Chinatown is the country's largest.[59] The oldest Chinatown in the Americas is in Mexico City and dates back to at least the early 17th century.[60] Since the 1970s, new arrivals have typically hailed from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. Latin American Chinatowns may include the descendants of original migrants – often of mixed Chinese and Latin parentage – and more recent immigrants from East Asia. Most Asian Latin Americans are of Cantonese and Hakka origin. Estimates widely vary on the number of Chinese descendants in Latin America. Notable Chinatowns also exist in Lima, Peru. Chinatowns in the Americas Manhattan Chinatown   San Francisco's Chinatown   Chinatown, Boston   Chinatown, Philadelphia   Portland, Oregon's Chinatown   Vancouver Chinatown   Chinatown in Canada's Capital, Ottawa   Arch honors Chinese-Mexican community of Mexico City, built in 2008, Articulo 123 Street Asia Main article: Chinatowns in Asia Chinatowns in Asia are widespread with a large concentration of overseas Chinese in East Asia and Southeast Asia and ethnic Chinese whose ancestors came from southern China – particularly the provinces of Guangdong, Fujian, and Hainan – and settled in countries such as Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam centuries ago—starting as early as the Tang Dynasty, but mostly notably in the 17th through the 19th centuries (during the reign of the Qing Dynasty), and well into the 20th century. Today the Chinese diaspora in Asia is largely concentrated in Southeast Asia however the legacy of the once widespread overseas Chinese communities in Asia is evident in the many Chinatowns that are found across East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Asian Chinatowns Yokohama Chinatown's Goodwill Gate in Japan   Kan Yin Temple (Kwan Yin Si), a place of worship for Burmese Chinese in Bago, also serves as a Mandarin school   Chinatown gate in Mangga Dua, Jakarta, Indonesia   Kya-Kya or Kembang Jepun, Surabaya's Chinatown, one of oldest Chinatown in Indonesia   Chinese New Year celebrated in Chinatown, Kolkata, India. Australia and Oceania Main articles: Chinatowns in Australia and Chinatowns in Oceania The Chinatown of Melbourne lies within the Melbourne Central Business District and centers on the eastern end of Little Bourke Street. It extends between the corners of Swanston and Exhibition Streets. Melbourne's Chinatown originated during the Victorian gold rush in 1851, and is notable as the oldest Chinatown in Australia. It has also been claimed to be the longest continuously running Chinese community outside of Asia, but only because the 1906 San Francisco earthquake all but destroyed the Chinatown in San Francisco in California.[56][57][58] Sydney's main Chinatown centers on Sussex Street in the Sydney downtown. It stretches from Central Station in the east to Darling Harbour in the west, and is Australia's largest Chinatown. The Chinatown of Adelaide was originally built in the 1960s and was renovated in the 1980s. It is located near Adelaide Central Market and the Adelaide Bus Station. Chinatown Gold Coast is a precinct in the Central Business District of Southport, Queensland, that runs through Davenport Street and Young Street. The precinct extends between Nerang Street in the north and Garden Street/Scarborough Street east-west. Redevelopment of the precinct was established in 2013 and completed in 2015 in time for Chinese New Year celebrations. There are additional Chinatowns in Brisbane, Perth and Broome in Australia. Chinatowns in Australia and Oceania Paifang at Sydney Chinatown   Paifang at Bendigo Chinese Precinct   Adelaide Chinatown   Melbourne Chinatown entrance at Little Bourke Street Europe Main article: Chinatowns in Europe Several urban Chinatowns exist in major European capital cities. There is Chinatown, London, England as well as major Chinatowns in Birmingham, Liverpool, Newcastle, and Manchester. Berlin, Germany has one established Chinatown in the area around Kantstrasse of Charlottenburg in the West. Antwerp, Belgium has also seen an upstart Chinese community, that has been recognized by the local authorities since 2011.[61] The city council of Cardiff has plans to recognize the Chinese Diaspora in the city.[62] The Chinatown in Paris, located in the 13th arrondissement, is the largest in Europe, where many Vietnamese – specifically ethnic Chinese refugees from Vietnam – have settled and in Belleville in the northeast of Paris as well as in Lyon. In Italy, there is a Chinatown in Milan between Via Luigi Canonica and Via Paolo Sarpi and others in Rome and Prato. In the Netherlands, Chinatowns exist in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and the Hague. In the United Kingdom, several exist in Birmingham, Liverpool, London, Manchester and Newcastle Upon Tyne. The Chinatown in Liverpool is the oldest Chinese community in Europe.[63] The Chinatown in London was established in the Limehouse district in the late 19th century. The Chinatown in Manchester is located in central Manchester. European Chinatowns Map of Chinatown Milan   Gate of Chinatown, Liverpool England, is the largest multiple-span arch outside of China, in the oldest Chinese community in Europe   Wardour Street, Chinatown, London   Chinese Quarter in Birmingham, England   Chinese new year celebration in Lyon, France. In popular culture Chinatowns have been referenced in various films including The Joy Luck Club, Big Trouble in Little China, Year of the Dragon and Chinatown. Also, many films in which Jackie Chan appears reference locations in Chinatown, particularly the Rush Hour series with Chris Tucker. Chinatowns have also been mentioned in the song "Kung Fu Fighting" by Carl Douglas whose song lyrics says "... There was funky China men from funky Chinatown ..."[64] The martial arts actor Bruce Lee is well known as a person who was born in the Chinatown of San Francisco.[65] Other notable Chinese Americans such as politician Gary Locke and NBA player Jeremy Lin grew up in suburbs with lesser connections to traditional Chinatowns. Neighborhood activists and politicians have increased in prominence in some cities, and some are starting to attract support from non-Chinese voters. See also flag China portal icon Society portal Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Chinatown (category) Africans in Guangzhou, the largest people of the African diaspora living in China Chinatown bus lines Europe Street, a street in China dedicated to European culture Jack Manion San Francisco's Chinatown squad List of U.S. cities with significant Chinese-American populations Koreatown Japantown Little Saigon Little Manila Little India List of named ethnic enclaves in North American cities Chinatowns in Asia Chinatowns in Europe Chinatowns in the United States
  • Condition: Used
  • Listed By: Dealer or Reseller
  • Type: Photograph
  • Color: Black & White
  • Original/Reprint: Original Print
  • Date of Creation: 1936
  • Region of Origin: US
  • Framing: Unframed
  • Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
  • Original/Licensed Reprint: Original
  • Subject: CHINATOWN

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