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I'm surprised there's even 300 left. I feel like I never even see Chinese people in Chinatown. Interesting article though -- most people don't know that Chinatown was a German neighborhood before it became Chinatown. There is actually a German-American Museum on 6th Street.
It might help if there was actually a DC staple Chinese restaurant in Chinatown ala Ben's Chili Bowl. The "historic" Chinatown Garden has 2.5 stars on Yelp. This is the main reason I've never eaten Chinese Food in Chinatown.
On a side note, I saw the Wizards created an alternative jersey with Chinese Lettering on it. It made me laugh -- what a sham.
This sounds like what is all left are those in Section 8 housing, so they didn't have the incentive to move out when the neighborhood started gentrifying and got more expensive.
This reminds me of Old Town Alexandria, where there are like 800 public housing units and much of the African American population in Old Town are in Section 8 housing. Working and middle class African Americans moved away in the 1980's and 1990's.
I know several business owners that own retail in Chinatown. They all live in Rockville.
It's the same for Italian Village in Manhattan. All the owners live in New Jersey or Brooklyn.
As mentioned, we have -- they're just outside the District line, since DC would fit inside New York City six times over.
Also, I agree that DC's office mid-rises squeeze out a lot of character, but the very small size of the District -- and its sharp density gradient, from downtown to single-family (row)houses just blocks away, with few intervening mid-rise residential areas -- perhaps make this inevitable.
Yeah, the DC MSA is clearly a major immigration hub. It is just not much represented in the city. Sure, you can argue that NYC is so much bigger that is isn't a good comparison. But, SF and Boston are both smaller (and equally or more expensive cities) and they have managed to maintain "immigrant neighborhoods." While we have some immigrant hubs in the city, mostly Ethiopian and Salvadorians, we are below SF and Boston on a per capita basis.
According to the 2010-14, ACS estimates:
DC is 14% foreign-born
Boston is 27% foreign-born
San Francisco is 36% foreign-born
So the small geographic size and the relatively expensive real estate do play a role. But, DC's social history (lack of intact "pre-1920 immigrant" neighborhoods to transition to post-65 immigrant neighborhoods, perceptions of crime, etc), probably plays an equally large part for why we aren't on par with say Boston.
At the end of the day, this is one of those things that is what it is. DC's never going to have gritty organic "immigrant neighborhoods." Going forward, immigration growth in DC is mostly going to be centered among relatively affluent higher skilled immigrants who are less likely to cluster in ethnic enclaves.
Yeah, the DC MSA is clearly a major immigration hub. It is just not much represented in the city. Sure, you can argue that NYC is so much bigger that is isn't a good comparison. But, SF and Boston are both smaller (and equally or more expensive cities) and they have managed to maintain "immigrant neighborhoods." While we have some immigrant hubs in the city, mostly Ethiopian and Salvadorians, we are below SF and Boston on a per capita basis.
According to the 2010-14, ACS estimates:
DC is 14% foreign-born
Boston is 27% foreign-born
San Francisco is 36% foreign-born
So the small geographic size and the relatively expensive real estate do play a role. But, DC's social history (lack of intact "pre-1920 immigrant" neighborhoods to transition to post-65 immigrant neighborhoods, perceptions of crime, etc), probably plays an equally large part for why we aren't on par with say Boston.
At the end of the day, this is one of those things that is what it is. DC's never going to have gritty organic "immigrant neighborhoods." Going forward, immigration growth in DC is mostly going to be centered among relatively affluent higher skilled immigrants who are less likely to cluster in ethnic enclaves.
The history of our city will answer every aspect of this discussion:
Yeah, the DC MSA is clearly a major immigration hub. It is just not much represented in the city. Sure, you can argue that NYC is so much bigger that is isn't a good comparison. But, SF and Boston are both smaller (and equally or more expensive cities) and they have managed to maintain "immigrant neighborhoods." While we have some immigrant hubs in the city, mostly Ethiopian and Salvadorians, we are below SF and Boston on a per capita basis.
According to the 2010-14, ACS estimates:
DC is 14% foreign-born
Boston is 27% foreign-born
San Francisco is 36% foreign-born
So the small geographic size and the relatively expensive real estate do play a role. But, DC's social history (lack of intact "pre-1920 immigrant" neighborhoods to transition to post-65 immigrant neighborhoods, perceptions of crime, etc), probably plays an equally large part for why we aren't on par with say Boston.
At the end of the day, this is one of those things that is what it is. DC's never going to have gritty organic "immigrant neighborhoods." Going forward, immigration growth in DC is mostly going to be centered among relatively affluent higher skilled immigrants who are less likely to cluster in ethnic enclaves.
DC is the entire metro area. It is not limited to the city boarders.
This is a silly mistake people constantly make when talking about DC. People need to remember that DC is the only city in the country that is not part of a state. If DC was in the state of MD or VA then it would expand to include those areas.
Well done...DC has a massive population group that served the same function as the immigrant groups in those other cities
But even that's disappearing at an alarming rate, along with other cities around the U.S. Back to Chinatown. Not the biggest, but it was definitely a little thriving Chinatown at one time. Now look at it. More sterile blandness.
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