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Chapter
- 5
When tourists visit Chinatown, they often remark: "It looks like a movie set." They don't know how right they are. In 1934, the city of Los Angeles evicted 3,000 Chinese residents from their homes in order to construct Union Passenger Station. These displaced Asiatics' subsiquent enclave was built with help from a Paramount Studios set designer, which meant lots of curved rooflines, octagonal windows and other Chinoiserie. "New Chinatown" opened on June 28, 1938, with 18 stories, a bean cake factory, and an enormous amount of neon. Much of the neon is still in situ, especially along Gin Ling way. One of the most important pieces-the Li Po Restaurant neon, animated to represent a man riding backward on a donkey- was saved from distruction, and is in the perminent collection of the Museum of Neon Art. ther has been much talk of late about "modernizing" Chinatown, which will most likely rob it of its neon, and its charm.
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