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Houston's Chinatown is definitely one of my favorite. It is clean and the food is good. As a Chinese, I hate those dense gritty Chinatowns, although I have to agree that the food in New York is amazing and authentic. China goes dense because it simply has no land, not that it wants to. If you put those old Chinatown buildings in a China big city today, they will be hated there too, at least by the middle class. They constantly remind me of the look of the ghetto in a small town of China, so drastically different from the places that I want to hang around in my home. I have to admit that they do represent *some* character of parts of China, but definitely not the desired parts.
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Originally Posted by Backyard
Your comments seem very self-indulgent to me. They are all about what you want, and not what the people who live and work in a community want. Seems to me that what you really want is a zoo or a theme park. Houston's Chinatown, though strip mall based, is at least as vibrant as Chinatown's I've been to on both coasts. It is vibrant not because of the ARCHITECTURE, but because of the PEOPLE. They are friendly, hard-working and building a life as immigrants in a freewheeling, boomtown city, which is what Houston is. You may wish to consider EPCOT Center at Walt Disney World. I suspect that they can provide the Chinatown experience you're after. If I am wrong and what you're really interested in is interacting with Chinese immigrants who are friendly and hard at work making a go of it in a new country with a new way of life, Houston is hard to top.
Last edited by fashionguy; 08-17-2009 at 11:45 AM..
obviously san franciscos. ive been to chicago's "chinatown", l.a's, oakland, nys... not close
SF's chinatown is the biggest in the country, and the city has the highest percentage of chinese population in terms of total population... plus its the closest state to china other than hawaii.
If you put those old Chinatown buildings in a China big city today, they will be hated there too, at least by the middle class. They constantly remind me of the look of the ghetto in a small town of China, so drastically different from the places that I want to hang around in my home.
So I guess all of Europe is a "ghetto" because it's old?
NYC Chinatown has $1,000 per square foot rents, or even higher in new residential buildings. It's much more expensive and desirable than suburban Chinatowns.
In fact it's so expensive that it has spawned two large new Chinatowns in Brooklyn and Queens, each larger than the Manhattan Chinatown. There's also some smaller new Chinatowns, like in Elmhurst, Queens, or on Avenue U in Brooklyn.
I wasn't describing what I want, I was describing what I have seen as the traditional Chinatowns.
Orrrrrrr maybe I'm just thinking about the style of neighborhood which I've observed in cities like Boston and New York.
I agree people are what make a neighborhood, not the architecture. I guess I was just talking about Chinatowns in an aesthetic sense.
Again, I'm not sure why you're so convinced I'm looking for a Disney World-esque community. This is the type of community I was describing
That's in NYC, and in my opinion is a picture-perfect Chinatown. It's dense, gritty, etc. Why does me preferring a traditional Chinatown over a strip-mall Chinatown mean I'm self-indulgent and I'm expecting a Disney World neighborhood?
Neighborhoods in older cities where people live, work and play are more vibrant than cities based around strip-mall development. I don't see why its a problem that I would believe the same to be true regarding Chinatowns.
Call me crazy, but I'd say that pic of NY's Chinatown looks slightly more vibrant than this pic of Houston's Chinatown:
That's one thing about Chinatown Houston, you can't judge it based off pictures because during the day people are actually out walking and riding bikes. At night lots of clubs and bars are open,
That's one thing about Chinatown Houston, you can't judge it based off pictures because during the day people are actually out walking and riding bikes. At night lots of clubs and bars are open,
I'm by no means calling Houston's Chinatown a ghost town. I'm sure there's a lot of activity there. However I wouldn't put it toe-to-toe with Chinatown in New York City or San Francisco, would you? That seems what Backyard is claiming.
Europe is not just old, it is also clean, well maintained and well planned. I think it is also different culture. Americans love "character". China has so many problematic *character* areas because of historic reasons that every middle class is striving to get out of that and people are desiring a new, clean and fresh atmosphere, at least for people born after 1980. NYC Chinatown is expensive mostly because of its prominent location, not because of its *character* I think. I really don't like the fact that Chinatown is usually one of the filthiest places in a city. It gives people the wrong idea that China has the habit of being filthy and being rundown. Currently in fact though China's air quality is still not good, they put heavy efforts on street cleaning and maintaining infrastructure now. The major streets are nothing like the old Chinatowns in America.
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Originally Posted by Osito57
So I guess all of Europe is a "ghetto" because it's old?
NYC Chinatown has $1,000 per square foot rents, or even higher in new residential buildings. It's much more expensive and desirable than suburban Chinatowns.
In fact it's so expensive that it has spawned two large new Chinatowns in Brooklyn and Queens, each larger than the Manhattan Chinatown. There's also some smaller new Chinatowns, like in Elmhurst, Queens, or on Avenue U in Brooklyn.
Last edited by fashionguy; 08-17-2009 at 01:08 PM..
SF's Chinatown is smaller than the three main NYC Chinatowns, and is smaller than the S.G.V. Chinatown outside LA.
oh ok let's compare 3 chinatowns to 1. because that makes sense
and comparing s.gabriel valley's chinese strip mall to the authentic chinatowns in SF and NY is a joke. there are several chinese shopping centers in the south bay area, huge and very spread out. but that's what they are.
but yea, which looks more like a chinatown, and which looks more like a shopping plaza/mall
The authentic Chinese food are all in the suburban new Chinatowns. Old urban Chinatowns are usually highly Americanized, except for flusing in New York. If you want authentic Chinese food, no place is better than Vancouver in North America. Vancouver doesn't really need a Chinatown because Chinese food is so ubiquitous. But if you want to experience vibrancy and crowdedness, it is a complete different story.
I really don't see how you can pair density and authenticity. Authentic food is easy to find anywhere with dense ethnic populaces. That's not the point, though. Have you ever been to SF Chinatown? If you haven't, you should. You'd be surprised. It is truly the most authentic Chinatown in North America; it even has alleyways that resemble the Hutong.
That's the big difference between Manhattan Chinatown and SF. In NYC, you can tell you're in New York; there are a number of tourists, and while it is certainly more diverse, you can still tell you're in an American Chinatown. In San Francisco, there are many points where you could truly get mistaken for Hong Kong. Stockton Street, nothing but a sea of black heads.
I like the fact that SF has Hui Lau Shan, a Hong Kong based ice cream shop which can't be found elsewhere in US, even NYC and LA. But apart from that I honestly don't think the food is very authentic. Does it remind me of parts of the Wanchai district of Hong Kong? Absolutely, except that the buildings are shorter. Is that part of Wanchai very desirable by middle class of Hong Kong? I don't think so.
Density is not paired with authenticity. However, most newer restaurants are more authentic than the old ones because now Americans seem to show an interest toward what Chinese really eat instead of being treated with Americanized Chinese food such as Sesame Chicken (Not to say that the old Chinatowns only have sesame chicken. It was just too difficult for them at that time to keep in business not catering to the Americanized flavor), and also Chinese immigrants are increasing in numbers, and also the chef of new restaurants tend to be more in line with the modern cooking skills in China. And most of those new restaurants choose a suburban location either because the dense areas are saturated or because they don't like the atmosphere there, or most Chinese immigrants working in technology and engineering live in the suburbs. I said flushing of NYC is very authentic, although it is also dense.
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Originally Posted by Backstrom
I really don't see how you can pair density and authenticity. Authentic food is easy to find anywhere with dense ethnic populaces. That's not the point, though. Have you ever been to SF Chinatown? If you haven't, you should. You'd be surprised. It is truly the most authentic Chinatown in North America; it even has alleyways that resemble the Hutong.
That's the big difference between Manhattan Chinatown and SF. In NYC, you can tell you're in New York; there are a number of tourists, and while it is certainly more diverse, you can still tell you're in an American Chinatown. In San Francisco, there are many points where you could truly get mistaken for Hong Kong. Stockton Street, nothing but a sea of black heads.
Last edited by fashionguy; 08-17-2009 at 01:17 PM..
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