Chicago's Chinatown Is Flourishing, Bucking National Trend (Canton, Manhattan: live, restaurants)

[emathias]

Originally Posted by UC18

These are not mutually exclusive.

To the extent that gentrification means a changing in the ethnicity of neighborhood, yes, they are mutually exclusive.

[Kamms]

Originally Posted by williepotatoes

I'm not buying the hoopla here. Every summer my trips to C-town reveal to me a sad decline around the old
Wentworth strip. Aged storefronts, smaller crowds and the all too often stench of rotting garbage are a far cry from what it once was. Chinatown square on the north end is it's saving grace and also it seems to be the
place favored by the young Chinese.

After checking the source of the article, I'm with you. I am suspect of any local ''hoopla'' story coming from Chicago's media. Completely discounted when I read the source. Chicago's own Pravda.

[Kamms]

Originally Posted by Ace Rothstein

The only problem I have with development in Chinatown is that over the last 20 years, the overwhelming majority of it has been ****.

There was tons of sh** construction in Chinatown; I know, hard to believe, right? Maybe some of that Chinese drywall was used but I recall seeing lots of ''chalk'' on the sides of those new residential structures. ''Chalk'' indicating water issues.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by williepotatoes

I'm not buying the hoopla here. Every summer my trips to C-town reveal to me a sad decline around the old
Wentworth strip. Aged storefronts, smaller crowds and the all too often stench of rotting garbage are a far cry from what it once was. Chinatown square on the north end is it's saving grace and also it seems to be the
place favored by the young Chinese.

I'm not necessarily going to say it's booming there, but "smaller crowds?" I am there quite a bit and there's always a lot of people there, especially when there's probably 10,000 people who live in the actual commerce area of Chinatown.

[UC18]

Originally Posted by emathias

To the extent that gentrification means a changing in the ethnicity of neighborhood, yes, they are mutually exclusive.

Gentrification is defined by development/growth and injection of $ into a neighborhood. Change in racial makeup (which is what I think you really mean rather than "ethnicity") is a common effect, but isn't always the case.

[UC18]

Originally Posted by marothisu

I'm not necessarily going to say it's booming there, but "smaller crowds?" I am there quite a bit and there's always a lot of people there, especially when there's probably 10,000 people who live in the actual commerce area of Chinatown.

I agree. If anything I've seen crowds gradually increase there over the last decade or so. It seems to have become more of a destination for people from around the city and metro for dinner, and I've even known a few middle class Asian people who have moved back there after having fled to the suburbs a generation ago. It's not unlike what you see with middle class African-American families moving back to Bronzeville and Hispanic/Latino young professionals/creatives moving back to Pilsen.

[jonnynonos]

Originally Posted by williepotatoes

I'm not buying the hoopla here. Every summer my trips to C-town reveal to me a sad decline around the old
Wentworth strip. Aged storefronts, smaller crowds and the all too often stench of rotting garbage are a far cry from what it once was. Chinatown square on the north end is it's saving grace and also it seems to be the
place favored by the young Chinese.

I agree. I am actually kind of friends with one of the restaurant owners. He says all the traffic is at the mall. The remaining older restaurants on Wentworth are all in danger of closing.

I'm not questioning that the demographics may be favorable or the construction projects, but the part of Chinatown I care about definitely seems in decline.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by marothisu

I'm not necessarily going to say it's booming there, but "smaller crowds?" I am there quite a bit and there's always a lot of people there, especially when there's probably 10,000 people who live in the actual commerce area of Chinatown.

Originally Posted by UC18

I agree. If anything I've seen crowds gradually increase there over the last decade or so. It seems to have become more of a destination for people from around the city and metro for dinner, and I've even known a few middle class Asian people who have moved back there after having fled to the suburbs a generation ago. It's not unlike what you see with middle class African-American families moving back to Bronzeville and Hispanic/Latino young professionals/creatives moving back to Pilsen.

This is definitely my experience. I think the problem with some of the older Wentworth restaurants is that they offer "traditional" Cantonese food. I really don't know anyone who eats that stuff. Including Chinese. We had a Chinese nanny (Sichuan province), she found really good places down there, typically filled with young Chinese. One was on Wentworth just north of the highway, fancy loungey interior with really good food. Place was packed whenever we went there. We were the only non chinese in the place.

[williepotatoes]

Originally Posted by jonnynonos

I agree. I am actually kind of friends with one of the restaurant owners. He says all the traffic is at the mall. The remaining older restaurants on Wentworth are all in danger of closing.

I'm not questioning that the demographics may be favorable or the construction projects, but the part of Chinatown I care about definitely seems in decline.

It wasn't too long ago that the sidewalks on Wentworth were so crowded that people had to walk in the street. I haven't seen that in awhile though. The old strip has lost it's luster and not aged well in my opinion. We spend most of our time at the mall now too. It almost seems that the newer, young Chinese
are all over that part, while the older folks are holding on to the Wentworth strip.

[eating while walking]

Originally Posted by jonnynonos

I agree. I am actually kind of friends with one of the restaurant owners. He says all the traffic is at the mall. The remaining older restaurants on Wentworth are all in danger of closing.

I'm not questioning that the demographics may be favorable or the construction projects, but the part of Chinatown I care about definitely seems in decline.

I have this love-hate relationship with Chinatown. I hated it when I was a kid because my parents would always want to stop there during our trips into the city, thus wasting valuable video game playing time. Now as a grown-up I appreciate it a lot more.

I also remember Wentworth being much livelier when I was a kid, 20 years ago. It's a shame, as that is where the interesting Oriental architecture is. Now it gets kind of bleak after you pass 23rd st and then tapers off into nothing. I wish there were some kind of "anchor" at the south end of the street, like the big Chinese arch at the north end. Then somehow cram in an on/offramp to the Stevenson to provide another easy entry point to the strip, add another big Asian grocery store and parking area there. That might fuel a revitalization of the south end.