![]() This block was the site of the first Chinese general store, restaurant, Chinese-owned building, as well as home of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Society. Turn left and ascend tiny Mosco Street (one of lower Manhattan’s few remaining hills) to Mott Street, where Chinatown was founded in the 1870s. Most know it as the seedy setting inspiring the film “Gangs of New York.”Ĥ. The items, symbolic gifts for the deceased, are burned in traditional Chinese funeral practices.Īhead at Worth Street (look for the bland concrete towers) once stood the hub of the infamous Five Points, the most dangerous slum in NYC history. In the pavilion, folks practice Tai Chi and meditate.įor a great snack, head to Tasty Dumpling (54 Mulberry) for dumplings or pork buns (5 for $1.25!), and munch while enjoying the music in the park.Ī few doors down, look for Fook on Sing (44 Mulberry), part of Chinatown’s Funeral Row. The tiny store sells cardboard designer handbags, sports cars, flat screen TVs, mansions (complete with paper maids and security guards), plastic bottles of Cognac, even stacks of cash. The park is the town square for the community, and hosts local ensembles performing Chinese opera and traditional music, sports on its southern field, and old-timers gathered for intense games of Chinese Chess and poker. Photo by Jeff DobbinsĪt Bayard Street, you’ll come to Columbus Park, named for the famous explorer-and a sign that, yes, this was once an Italian immigrant community.Ĭolumbus Park was created in 1897, when the decrepit tenements of Mulberry Bend (described by Jacob Riis as a “vast human pigsty”) were razed. Lung Moon Bakery (83 Mulberry) bakes sweet and savory pastries that are very inexpensive. Take a right on Mulberry Street, where you’ll pass several stores selling imported gifts of jade, pottery, tea ware, an array of Buddhas, and miscellaneous tchotchkes. Along the sidewalks are food carts offering fruits and vegetables, including dragon fruit, lychee, longan, ginger, bok choy, bean sprouts and bamboo shoots.ģ. The block is lined with small restaurants and food shops selling fresh fish and seafood (including live lobsters and crabs!). There you’ll find the bright red Explore Chinatown Information Kiosk, which distributes maps, brochures, information, and has a handy neighborhood map on its sidewall. Continue east on Canal until it intersects with Baxter and Walker Streets. If you’re looking for the high-end “designer” fakes like Coach, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, or Rolex, you may be lured into a tiny back room-like at Phoenix Mall (246-250 Canal St., between Lafayette and Centre Streets), which is a warren of micro shops.Ģ. Begin by heading east on teeming Canal Street, which is lined with narrow shops and stalls selling T-shirts, scarves, jewelry, and “luxury” handbags, perfumes, and watches. Once you’ve gotten a sense of Chinatown’s history, it’s time to explore the neighborhood on foot!ġ. The wonderful museum features exhibits on the history of Chinese immigration to the U.S., artifacts from old Chinatown, a recreation of an old Chinatown general store, and rotating exhibits on aspects of current Chinese American culture. Note: Before exploring Chinatown, you may want to visit MOCA, the Museum of Chinese in America, at 215 Centre Street (located 1.5 blocks north of the subway stop). To get to Chinatown, take the N, Q, or R subway to Canal Street (at Broadway) or the 6 to Canal Street (at Lafayette Street). Chinatown expanded into Little Italy and the Lower East Side, becoming home to several Asian cultures, as well as to Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, and hipster New Yorkers. Chinese immigrants began flooding into New York City. ![]() immigration policies against Asian countries were amended. In the early 20 th century, New Yorkers in search of the “exotic” began to visit the neighborhood (particularly its restaurants). In the ensuing decades, tales of opium dens, prostitution, and murders between warring Tongs led to the notion of Chinatown being a dangerous, mysterious quarter. Thanks to outside bigotry and the cultural divide, the immigrant community was fairly separate from the rest of New York. A small Chinese community took root on Mott Street. In the 1870s, Chinese immigrants, fleeing persecution while toiling in the American West, began arriving in New York City.
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