Los Angeles Chinatown
Remembered Project

The Chinatown Remembered Project documents the lives of Chinese Americans who came of age in Los Angeles during the 1930s and 1940s. Like others in their generation, these Chinese Americans lived through the Depression and then served their country in World War II. Yet unlike other Angelinos their age, Chinese Americans also dealt with the destruction of their community. Beginning in the early 1930s, much of Old Chinatown was destroyed to build Union Station. The old neighborhood was replaced by China City and New Chinatown. The Second World War also brought changes to the region. New industries and new residents arrived in Southern California, while tens of thousands Japanese American residents were forced into wartime incarceration camps. Chinese American youth in Los Angeles negotiated this changing social and political landscape. This project retells their story.

Community Members

Explore the profiles of the generation of Chinese Americans who grew up in the 1930s and 1940s.

Neighborhoods

Visit the major neighborhoods that made up the Chinese American community of LA in the 1930s and 1940s.

Youth Activities 

Read about the activities this generation of Chinese Americans took part in for fun during the 1930s and 1940s.

World at War

Learn how the outbreak of a world war during the 1940s affected Chinese American individuals living in LA.

About

Read more about the development of the Chinatown Remembered Project.

The Gum Saan Journal

Gum Saan Journal is the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California’s (CHSSC) annual publication. We explore the historical, cultural, and humanistic aspects of Chinese American experiences – particularly relating to Southern California – as well as contemporary issues of relevance to the Chinese American community.

Read the 2010 issue of Gum San Journal devoted to the Chinatown Remembered project.

This project was made possible, in part, by a grant from the California Council for the Humanities as part of the Council’s statewide California Stories Initiative. The Council is an independent non-profit organization and a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. For more information on the Council visit: https://calhum.org/.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in the Chinatown Remembered Project do not necessarily represent those of the California Council for the Humanities or the National Endowment for the Humanities.