Hanging from the lamp-posts along Chinatown’s streets are Chinese-language
banners proclaiming goodwill thoughts of health, happiness, and prosperity.
The window display of the national-chain drugstore CVS gives passersby a
quick lesson in the meaning of four Chinese characters. Chinese writing may
be seen on the façades and signage of most of the commercial establishments
in the neighborhood. Some Chinese linguistic and architectural types date to
the establishment of Chinatown in the 1930s, some appear on small businesses
from before the large-scale corporate gentrification in the 1990s, and others
are located on the national and international chains that were part of that
gentrification.
