Chinatown

Residential and commercial section of downtown San Francisco on the east of Nob Hill, southeast of North Beach and northwest of the Financial District. It grew around Portsmouth Square, the site of the 1846 US takeover of the city; Grant Avenue is its main thoroughfare. It was the USA's first real Chinese community.

Chinatown was created by Cantonese miners during the 1849–50 gold rush, and expanded during the 1860s–70s with thousands who came to work on the Central Pacific Railroad. Hostility from whites in the 1870s–80s reinforced the community's separateness. Surviving many vicissitudes, including the 1906 earthquake, it remains the vibrant commercial heart of the Bay Area's Chinese community, although there is a New Chinatown in the Richmond District.

Chinatown

Commercial and residential district in lower Manhattan, New York City, USA, on the Lower East Side, traditionally bounded to the north by Canal Street, but expanding into Little Italy in recent years. Its main commercial streets include Mott and Mulberry.

Although most of New York's Chinese immigrants and longtime residents now live in such other areas as Flushing and Sunset Park, the Manhattan neighbourhood continues to be a marketing and entertainment centre. Heavy immigration from Hong Kong in the 1980s strained housing capacity.

Chinatown

Commercial and former residential section of northern Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, just south of Gastow, north and east of the modern Downtown and centred on Pender Street. A tourist and business zone, the Vancouver district is one of North America's oldest and largest Chinatowns.

Chinese miners were in the province by the time of the 1858 Cariboo gold rush. The area swelled in the 1880s with Canadian Pacific Railway workers; until 1947 its residents faced restrictions on living elsewhere in the city. Much of Vancouver's Chinese population lives in other sections, including Strathcona, in the East End; among recent arrivals are many emigrants from Hong Kong, who have brought wealth and other resources to the city.

Chinatown

Commercial section of Los Angeles, California, USA, at the northern edge of Downtown, between El Pueblo de Los Angeles to the south and Chavez Ravine to the north. Vietnamese immigrants, many of Chinese descent, now also live in the community. A larger Old Chinatown to the east was destroyed in the 1930s to make way for Union Station.

Chinatown

Largely commercial neighbourhood centred along Dundas Street West, in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, northwest of Eaton Centre and City Hall, and extending onto North–South Spadina Avenue. Its businesses represent several East Asian cultures.

Chinatown

Mixed residential and commercial neighbourhood in northwest Portland, Oregon, USA, between Union Station to the northwest and Old Town to the southeast.

Chinatown

Commercial and residential neighbourhood in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, northeast of City Hall. Centred on a few blocks north of Market Street, it is home to both Chinese and Vietnamese immigrants.

Chinatown

Small commercial district, the Quartier chinois (French for ‘Chinese Quarter’) in Montréal, Québec, Canada, along and near Rue de la Gauchetière, just north (officially; actually to the west) of Vieux-Montréal, near the Place d'Armes.

Montréal's Chinese, here since the 1860s, now mostly live elsewhere in the city.

Chinatown

Commercial area in northwestern Washington, DC, USA, about 1.5 km/1 mi northeast of the White House, in the East End, near the Washington Convention Center.

Chinese businesses moved here when the Federal Triangle was developed in the 1930s.

Chinatown

Neighbourhood in downtown Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, east of Honolulu Harbour. A mixture of rundown storefronts, artists' galleries, and boutiques, this section is now populated mainly by Vietnamese and Filipinos.

Chinatown

Residential and commercial neighbourhood on the Near South Side of Chicago, Illinois, USA, just southwest of the Loop.

It has been the centre of the local Chinese community since the 1920s.

Chinatown

Commercial and residential district in downtown Boston, Massachusetts, USA, southeast of Boston Common. The area was created from mudflats in the 1830s. Chinatown was always a traditional immigrant area housing, successively, Irish, Italians, Central European Jews, Syrians, Lebanese, and since 1875, Chinese. Over 90% of the residents are of Chinese extraction, about a third of them are recent immigrants, and many are ethnic Chinese from Vietnam.