New Chinatown

By the 1910s Old Los Angeles Chinatown was in decline. Besides the Chinese Exclusion Act curtailing immigration, there were constant rumors that the Chinese would be forced out of Old Los Angeles Chinatown to make way for redevelopment. The Old Los Angeles Chinatown property was leased land since Chinese could not own land in America. Eventually, on May 19, 1931, a California Supreme Court decision upheld land condemnations and the construction of the new Union Station on the site of Old Los Angeles Chinatown. Beginning in December 1933 part of Old Los Angeles Chinatown east of Alameda Street was condemned and razed to make room for today’s Union Station
The landmark organizational meeting to build a New Los Angeles Chinatown took place on April 22, 1937 at Soon Doon Quon’s restaurant, Tuey Far Low, on Alameda and Marchessault Street. By this time Soon Doon Quon was recognized as an eminent Chinatown leader and restaurateur. At this monumental meeting the Los Angeles Chinatown Project Association (later called The Los Angeles Chinatown Corporation) was formed to own the land upon which New Los Angeles Chinatown would be relocated between North Broadway and Castelar Street. The company sold shares, and the Chinese community invested $100,000. No bank financing or loans were used to acquire the land upon which the New Los Angeles Chinatown was to be build.
On June 25, 1938 public ceremonies proclaimed the official opening of the New Los Angeles Chinatown.