Mabel Hong (second from right, standing) at Chinese American Citizens Alliance picnic, 1950s. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.
Y. C. Hong and the Chinese American Citizens Alliance, 1928. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.
Electrical Products Corp. (artist unknown), Neon lighting concept for New Chinatown, ca. 1936. © Courtesy of Federal Heath Sign Co., LLC. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
Erle Webster (1898-1971) and Adrian Wilson (1898-1988), architects, Building rendering for Mr. You Chung Hong, ca. 1936. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.
Artist Tyrus Wong paints a dragon mural on building exterior in Chinatown Central Plaza, 1941. Los Angeles Public Library, Harry Quillen Photo Collection.
Mayor Tom Bradley and community leader and restaurateur Mama Quon celebrate the 50th Anniversary of New Chinatown, 1988. Los Angeles Public Library, Herald Examiner Photo Collection.
Sanborn Fire Insurance Atlas showing New Chinatown, 1950. Los Angeles Public Library Map Collection.
Children singing in traditional dress, ca. 1940. Los Angeles Public Library, Harry Quillen Photo Collection.
Young women in traditional Chinese dress with lanterns at Moon Festival celebration, 1940. Los Angeles Public Library, Harry Quillen Photo Collection.
Mei Wah Drum Corps led by Drum Majorette Barbara Jean Wong Lee, 1940. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.
Peter SooHoo Sr. working at a drafting table, 1920s. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.
Lion dance for Chinese New Year in New Chinatown Central Plaza, 1940s. Los Angeles Public Library, Harry Quillen Photo Collection.
Joy Yuen Low restaurant and Phoenix Bakery in the Central Plaza, 1950. Los Angeles Public Library, Harry Quillen Photo Collection.
Y. C. Hong outside his immigration law office in the Central Plaza, 1940s. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.
"Stories and Voices from L.A. Chinatown" launches May 1, 2021
Project draws on the collections of the The Huntington and Los Angeles Public Library to bring history to life through the memories and reactions of community members
SAN MARINO, Calif.—The history of Los Angeles’ Chinatown, the first community in North America to be planned and owned by people of Chinese descent, will be explored and celebrated beginning May 1, 2021, in a new online exhibition titled “Stories and Voices from L.A. Chinatown,” and in a fence-wrapped installation at a vacant lot in the heart of the community. The project is the first in the series Archive Alive, a new collaboration of The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens; the Library Foundation of Los Angeles (LFLA); and the Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL). The installation and online exhibition coincide with the beginning of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
For “Stories and Voices from L.A. Chinatown,” curators at The Huntington and LFLA selected dozens of photographs, documents, illustrations, restaurant menus, and maps drawn from The Huntington’s and LAPL’s vast collections to tell the story of New Chinatown, which was created in downtown Los Angeles in 1938. The online exhibition is organized in six thematic sections: Exclusion, Resilience, Vision, Opportunity, Community, and Tradition. In each section, archival materials are interpreted through video interviews with 10 community members who share their personal connections, memories, experiences, thoughts, and reactions. Interviewees include Pat SooHoo Lem, daughter of Peter SooHoo Sr., the leader of the group that created New Chinatown; Nowland C. Hong, son of Y. C. Hong, a prominent immigration attorney and another of New Chinatown’s founding members; Eugene Moy of the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California; Kathryn Chan Ceppi and Kelly Chan, second generation owners of the legacy business Phoenix Bakery; and Cindy Yan, a college student who grew up in Chinatown and received a scholarship from the Friends of the Chinatown Library.
For the site-specific part of the project, a 250-foot-long fence-wrap surrounds a vacant lot in Chinatown on North Hill Street, between the pedestrian streets Gin Ling Way and Lei Min Way. The wrap’s bold design highlights community members’ quotes that add meaning to the archival materials reproduced along the length. It also invites passersby to visit the “Stories and Voices from L.A. Chinatown” website to view the video interviews.
Through the new Archive Alive series, The Huntington, LFLA, and the LAPL aim to activate history with site-specific installations and displays, online exhibitions, and interviews with community members whose personal reflections and connections bring the archives to life. Future Archive Alive projects are in planning stages.
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Contacts
The Huntington - Thea M. Page, 626-405-2260, tpage@huntington.org
LFLA - Leah Price, 213-292-6240, leahprice@lfla.org
LAPL - Brenda J. Breaux, 213-228-7558, bbreaux@lapl.org
About The Huntington
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, a collections-based research and educational institution, aspires to be a welcoming place of engagement and reflection for a diverse community. The Huntington is located at 1151 Oxford Rd., San Marino, Calif., 12 miles from downtown Los Angeles. Visitor information: huntington.org or 626-405-2100. (Check huntington.org for updates during this period for new visitation protocols due to COVID-19.)
About the Library Foundation of Los Angeles
The Library of Foundation of Los Angeles provides critical support to the Los Angeles Public Library resulting in free programs, resources, and services available to the millions of adults, children, and youth of Los Angeles. Through fundraising, advocacy, and innovative programs, the Library Foundation strengthens the Los Angeles Public Library and promotes greater awareness of its valuable resources. For more information, please visit lfla.org.
About the Los Angeles Public Library
A recipient of the nation’s highest honor for library service—the National Medal from the Institute of Museum and Library Services—the Los Angeles Public Library serves the largest and most diverse urban population of any library in the nation. Its Central Library, 72 branch libraries, collection of more than six million books, state-of-the-art technology accessible at lapl.org, and more than 18,000 public programs a year provide everyone with free and easy access to information and the opportunity for lifelong learning.