Harry Quillen; and others
Photographic Postcards of the Competing LA Neighborhoods New Chinatown and China City, c. 1938
Silver prints (16)
Each 3 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches
Most with Quillen's credit in negative.
Most with Quillen's credit in negative.
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Further images
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After Los Angeles’s original Chinatown was demolished in 1935 and replaced by Union Station, the city’s Chinese community purchased a plot of land and began work rebuilding what they had...
After Los Angeles’s original Chinatown was demolished in 1935 and replaced by Union Station, the city’s Chinese community purchased a plot of land and began work rebuilding what they had lost. The endeavor was spear-headed by Peter SooHoo Sr., an engineer who had grown up in Old Chinatown and was the first person of Chinese descent to graduate USC’s school of architecture.
At the same time, preservationist Christine Sterling began work across the street from New Chinatown on a different development called China City. Sterling, coming off the success of Olvera Street, a tourist-centric recreation of “Old Los Angeles,” described China City as an “American promoted, Chinese operated amusement center designed to attract tourists.” SooHoo and Sterling at one point attempted to collaborate, but this proved untenable and both projects opened in 1938.
Architecturally-inspired by Beijing’s Forbidden City, New Chinatown supported Chinese-owned businesses on Chinese-owned property. China City, by contrast, was constructed as a “walled city” and utilized leftover sets from the 1937 blockbuster “The Good Earth.” China City did not receive input from the Chinese community and was mostly funded by non-Chinese benefactors.
Commercially successful for about ten years, China City burned down twice and was basically non-existent by 1949.
Included are five photographs of China City and eleven of New Chinatown. The majority of the photographs were shot by Harry Quillen. Originally a circus photographer, spent many decades photographing the Chinese community in Los Angeles.
At the same time, preservationist Christine Sterling began work across the street from New Chinatown on a different development called China City. Sterling, coming off the success of Olvera Street, a tourist-centric recreation of “Old Los Angeles,” described China City as an “American promoted, Chinese operated amusement center designed to attract tourists.” SooHoo and Sterling at one point attempted to collaborate, but this proved untenable and both projects opened in 1938.
Architecturally-inspired by Beijing’s Forbidden City, New Chinatown supported Chinese-owned businesses on Chinese-owned property. China City, by contrast, was constructed as a “walled city” and utilized leftover sets from the 1937 blockbuster “The Good Earth.” China City did not receive input from the Chinese community and was mostly funded by non-Chinese benefactors.
Commercially successful for about ten years, China City burned down twice and was basically non-existent by 1949.
Included are five photographs of China City and eleven of New Chinatown. The majority of the photographs were shot by Harry Quillen. Originally a circus photographer, spent many decades photographing the Chinese community in Los Angeles.