Place / Drawing

Dynasty Center: Exclusion and Displacement in Los Angeles’s Chinatown

The original Los Angeles Chinatown, now known as “Old Chinatown,” developed in the 1860s.

by Jean Young via Folklife on October 24, 2022

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Text: Monterey Park was advertised overseas as the “Chinese Beverly Hills” due to good schools, a good housing market, and close proximity to Los Angeles’s Chinatown.Many new immigrants, working class and wealthier bypassed Chinatown, as the economic and population center had shifted to the San Gabriel Valley. Today, families in Chinatown once again face evictions and displacement. This time, the threat is gentrification. Starting in the 1990s, a new bohemian arts and entertainment scene emerged and revitalized tourism and urban development in Chinatown.

Illustrated comic page. Top panel: A view of a street in New Chinatown. There are colorful shops on both sides and potted plants in front of the shops. Red lanterns are hung from building to building. Text: Traditional mom-and-pop Chinese American shop spaces that had been vacated by the population shift were filled with art galleries, design studios, bars and nightclubs, and upscale gift shops. Low-income residents who could not keep up with rising rents left for other neighborhoods, and middle- to upper-class professionals and artists moved in. Bottom panel: A portrait of Eugene Moy, an older Chinese Man wearing a button up shirt and standing in front of a store front. Text bubble: “Chinatown gentrification is a process that reflects rising economic investment and sometimes speculative profit. The new and renewed buildings represent the new generation of people, which can result in new economic directions, and sometimes displacement of residents and long-serving businesses. As you grow older, you look around and think, what’s next - what is new, what is missing?” Eugene Moy, community historian and member of the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California.

Text: The new businesses that attracted Chinatown visitors reflected the cultural tourism reminiscent of New Chinatown’s origins, but have replaced the full-service grocery stores and community spaces that older Chinatown residents relied on, making day-to-day life more difficult.

Illustrated comic page. Top panel: One of Dynasty Center’s entrances, with a staircase leading upwardand open shops displaying clothes and other goods on the bottom level. Trees planted on the sidewalks. Text: Dynasty Center is the last community shopping mall in Chinatown with businesses owned by low-income immigrants from Southeast and East Asia. The shops here provide services and sell goods that meet the practical and cultural needs of the community. Bottom panel: A small 3D model of Dynasty Center is demolished by a bulldozer. Four people holding boxes and moving away from Dynasty Center. Text: In July 2021, corporate developer Redcar purchased Dynasty Center. People became concerned about whether they would be able to remain or be forced to leave.

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