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LOS ANGELES ''Main article: Chinatown, Los Angeles, California '' The only Southern California Chinatown properly called ''Chinatown'' is located in the city of Los Angeles . It is the city's second Chinatown location, the first (demolished in the early 20th Century ) was on the site of what is now Union Station . RISE OF SUBURBAN "CHINATOWNS" IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA There are at least five touristless suburban "Chinatowns" east of the old Chinatown, all contained within the San Gabriel Valley . While they contain prominent Chinese-language signage, these communities do not feature the Chinese-style gateways found in Chinatown. They have become renowned for their varieties of Chinese cuisine. They are unlike the Chinatown, Los Angeles or Chinatown, San Francisco , in which the latter is undoubtedly still the largest in North America. Indeed this "Chinatown" tends to be suburban style strip malls and shopping centers and the amounts of them are fairly indicative of major Chinese diaspora population residing in the region. This has served as models for similar development in Chinatown, Las Vegas and Houston. Garvey Avenue in Monterey Park, Valley Boulevard in San Gabriel, and Colima Road in Rowland Heights are familiar landmarks to Chinese. What most have in common is they are generally anchored by various chains including 99 Ranch Market , Hong Kong Supermarket , Shun Fat Supermarket , Sam Woo Restaurant (which serve the ever-scrumptious roast duck), Lollicup , Tapioca Express , and Quickly . Many Chinese banks operate in these areas too. Talking about Chinese immigrant commerce in the region, Monterey Park served as the venue for the Larry Mantle program on the NPR radio affiliate KPCC . Monterey Park effect on tourist Chinatown, Los Angeles was featured on the Life and Times show on the Los Angeles PBS affiliate KCET . In the addition, San Gabriel Valley has also emerged as the main cultural center, as it is a media center for the Chinese diaspora population as well. Many Los Angeles editions of international Chinese language newspapers are based in the region, such as the World Journal (Monterey Park), International Daily News (Monterey Park), Sing Tao (Alhambra), the Epoch Times (San Gabriel), and the China Press (Alhambra), Zhong Guo Daily (El Monte) and other various publications as each was gearing towards a specific reader - for example the Word Journal for the '49er" Taiwanese and Mainland Chinese immigrants, and the Sing Tao is for Hong Konger and Chinese Vietnam immigrant, and one of the newspaper for the anti Kuomintang "native" Taiwanese. These newspapers sold also in Chinatown in Downtown Los Angeles. As well as the Guoyi-language, pro-Kuomintang and Cantonese-language radio stations are located and broadcast in Pasadena. MONTEREY PARK With efforts spearheaded by immigrant realtor and developer Frederic Hsieh , he purchased land in Monterey Park and resold them at inflated prices to other immigrant developers who developed new Chinese-oriented shopping centers or purchased existing ones. Beginning in the 1970s , well-educated and affluent immigrants from Taiwan began settling in the west San Gabriel Valley, primarily in the city of Monterey Park , in what would become the new "Chinatown" in Greater Los Angeles. In the 1980s , second- generation Chinese Americans tended to move out of the old Chinatown and into the San Gabriel Valley suburbs, joining the new immigrants from Taiwan and Mainland China. While there has been immigration directly to the old urban Chinatown, Monterey Park remains the top choice for Chinese immigrants. The city is now regarded as a starting point for new Chinese immigrants. It was dubbed the "first suburban Chinatown" by the Los Angeles Times . Developers continually built more shopping centers, storefronts, and homes throughout the 1980s and resumed in the 1990s, but by the 2000s, the construction boom in the city was slowed greatly. By this time, businesses operating in Downtown Chinatown began setting up shop in Monterey Park. in Monterey Park.]] Incidentally, in the mid-1980s, many Taiwanese American s also began to move out of Monterey Park due to perceived overcrowding and high property values but Mainland Chinese and Vietnamese of Chinese origin remained. Despite this movement, the city remains well-known for its great competing number of the Cantonese seafood restaurants, Hong Kong coffee shops, and various regional Mainland Chinese cuisines. Today, immigrants from Mainland China form the largest group in the city. The first satellite Chinatown of Monterey Park is composed of Atlantic Boulevard, Garvey Avenue, and Garfield Boulevard. Alhambra During the late 1980s, after a Moratorium against the building of new shopping centers took effect in Monterey Park, many Chinese immigrant developers turned north to Alhambra . Its vibrant satellite Chinatown includes many restaurants and other businesses that occupy a mixture of old storefronts and later-built strip malls on Valley Boulevard. SAN GABRIEL AND ROSEMEAD San Gabriel contains numerous Asian shopping centers and strip malls, also on Valley Boulevard and other businesses along San Gabriel Boulevard. While new developments in Monterey Park nearly came to a halt in the 1990s, newer shopping centers were being constructed in San Gabriel at a rapid pace. The long sprawling thoroughfare comprises of two- to three-story mini-malls as well as some large Asian supermarkets in the region. Among the oldest shopping centers is San Gabriel Square (anchored by 99 Ranch Market ), which has become the centerpiece for a new Chinatown. The awe-inspiring shopping center - the center piece for new "Chinatown" of sorts - was part a result of the Proposition 13 from California, which lowered the property tax statewide and then had the effect on the losing of potential city revenue, and hence the development of this massive mall was approved. Another grand shopping center opened in 2004 and is anchored by Hilton Hotel , and the popular Japanese noodle restaurant chain Ajisen Ramen opened its U.S. location there. San Gabriel is diverse with eateries offering Vietnamese pho, Mainland Chinese noodle and dumplings, Taiwanese drinks, and Hong Kong cafe specialties. The new "Chinatown" strip has now expanded into the Graffiti -scarred city of Rosemead , albeit on a smaller scale and predominantly Vietnamese and likely so, already with the U.S. branch of the Richmond, British Columbia -based Sea Harbour Seafood Restaurant. March 2005 marked the opening of the Rosemead Supermarket, which replaced a defunct Ralph's market. The new San Gabriel "Chinatown" served as the setting for the thriller novel ''The Jasmine Trade'', authored by Los Angeles Times reporter Denise Hamilton. ARCADIA AND TEMPLE CITY A newer Taiwanese commercial district is located south of Huntington Drive, on Baldwin Avenue in upscale Arcadia . The Din Tai Fung restaurant, which has its offices based in the Chung Hsiao district of Taipei, Taiwan, is particularly popular in Arcadia. In recent decades many Taiwanese families have established businesses along Las Tunas Drive in Temple City. A large portion of these businesses are Wedding shops. ROWLAND HEIGHTS Rowland Heights ' satellite "Chinatown" is on Colima Road and Nogales Avenue and is intermixed with a Korean community. Nearby in Hacienda Heights , Hsi Lai Temple - a Buddhist temple - was built in 1988 and the proposed development of the temple opposed by the local White People . Unlike the Rowland Heights, Hacienda Heights has just a small scattering of Chinese businesses, including a strip mall with a 99 Ranch Market. Rowland Heights remains the Chinese cultural center. REFERENCES
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