ABSTRACT
Los Angeles Chinatown presents an intriguing case study of the removal and renewal of an ethnic enclave through changing historical stages of U.S. capitalism. The chapter comprises two main parts, a historical overview of the urban developmental experience of Los Angeles Chinatown, followed by an examination of the contemporary period. I distinguish three stages in the history of Los Angeles Chinatown, from the frontier era of the pueblo and imperialist driveto-maturity period of industrialization, through the period of fordist industrialization and into the contemporary era of the global postfordist city. I found that Chinese Americans were subject to segregation and ethno-violence in the phase of westward expansion; then their community was subject to removal for the building of Union Station during the period of fordist urban renewal. Despite this oppression from white supremacists and eviction by the urban growth machine, the Chinese Americans regularly reached out to the general public through the prism of touristic cultural attractions, such as dragon parades and Lunar New Year parades. They built a New Chinatown and China City, complete with public plazas fringed by Chinese vernacular gateways, Chinese curio shops, and restaurants. Chinatown tourism has served
both economic and political motives, at times serving as gestures of local cultural diplomacy to promote community interests, generate consent, and create public “good will” in the larger geopolitics of U.S.–Chinese relations.
