Gridskipper
Once spread out over nine city blocks, Washington DC's Chinatown now comprises a minuscule area that laugh-it-up hipsters refer to as "Chinablock." Even though the community dates back to the 1850s, the most recent census only counted 700 Chinese residents in the neighborhood, making DC the smallest Chinatown in all America. Gentrification happens, right? In 2006, the city of Washington DC spent $200 million to make Chinatown safe and nice for tourists and Virginians. Subsequent side effects included Chinatown becoming much more expensive, really cheesy, and a lot less Chinese. Now it's that place by the metro to grab lunch before the game at the Verizon Center or a way to break up a day of shopping. It's also the place to buy a condo if you happen to be a millionaire who wants a room without a view. It's all quite tragic really, but even more worrisome is the thought that DC Chinatown is the proverbial sparrow in the mineshaft. Will our want of safety and shopping erase the ethnic hoods we love? Let's discuss!
Less China, More Town
Newsflash: Chinatown isn't Chinese anymore. Less than twenty Chinese-owned businesses are still open and operating in Chinatown, while dozens and dozens of strip-mall franchises have invaded the area. The latest casualty in the war on Chinatown was the closure of the beloved Da Hua Chinese Market. Honestly, shopping for soy sauce will never be the same. After a long stint as a campaign headquarters, the market will open next month as the newest location of the German/Italian fast food craze Vapiano's. Urban planning demands that each new shopfront carry it's own smug sign in Chinese, paving the way for linguistic disasters not unlike the mistaken Chinese character tattoo meme. According to one reliable Chinese-speaker, the Urban Outfitters sign says "Man, Woman, Household Goods".
District of Columbia = British Columbia?
Washington's Chinatown Revitalization Council was founded in 2007 in order to gentrify Chinatown even faster but without scaring away all the Chinese (please write on their FREE blog). The council's chosen slogan is "DC Chinatown — the most important Chinatown in the most important city in the world." Catchy, and just one more reason for New Yorkers to ridicule Washingtonians. The proposed revitalization plan is a shameless copy of Vancouver's new and improved Chinatown, with the dream of turning "Eye" street into the "Silk Road" of Washington DC. No matter that Vancouver counts some half-million Chinese residents versus Washington's hundreds — like a phoenix rising from the ashes, DC Chinatown will flutter its butterfly wings and bring double happiness to all the yuppie foreign devils.
The Forbidden City
For those seeking the real Chinatown, a few ramshackle snippets remain. The north side of H street between 5th and 6th streets NW is row of ancient townhouses where you can still get Fujianese-style seafood, acupuncture, a cheap flight to China, and a good bottle of rice wine. Also, the top left side of 6th Street between H and G is a cluster of fantastic restaurants and a martial arts video store, while the right side 6th between H and "Eye" streets is a melancholy nostalgia of historic homes now boarded up with painted Chinese signs. One resident tells me that new immigrants still arrive here from China but leave for the suburbs within two years. Housing has become too expensive. The remaining heart of the community is holed up in the subsidized Wah Luck House, and while some of the newer condos feature Disney-esque nods to Chinese design, there's a reason it's called a facade. Apparently Rockville, Maryland, is the new real Chinatown.
The Future
Basically, I miss the old Chinatown. I miss the smells of roast duck and weird fish and jasmine incense. I miss the pick of restaurants and the knowledge that Washington wasn't all black and white. Maybe the new Chinatown lets you go bowling followed by Haagen Daz, but my comfort lies in the fact that the Chinese Cultural Centre still offers ping pong tournaments and classes in Chinese brush painting. Also, thank goodness for the Chinatown buses that keeps us in touch with the second most important Chinatown in the world. Good thing that safety concerns will never lead to their eradication. Anyway, Happy Year of the Rat everybody. See you at the parade.
Comments
Hmm, Pittsburgh might rival D.C. for the smaller Chinatown, claiming two venues and NO Chinese people living in the area. But, it's always funny to point out Chinatown on the tour I give friends of my hometown.
[www.post-gazette.com]
DC's Chinatown: it's also a good place to catch a cheapo Chinatown bus to NYC, outside a funky little lottery shop near the Starbucks.
Sorry. I'm a tech writer and an editor. The cliche is "canary in a mineshaft." Miners used canaries, not sparrows.
@knickers: Yes, but sparrow is the Chinese equivalent. We pay great attention to cultural sensitivities around here. Please read: [en.wikipedia.org]
@Saint Andrew: Hey Andrew. The reason I apologized was for my nitpicking. I hate when people do that in the comments section but couldn't help doing so myself.
Now, for my own education, I'd like to understand this better. I actually can't find anything on Google stating that the sparrow is the Chinese equivalent of the canary, neither in the fact that they are kept as pet song birds or the fact that they are/were used by miners to alert them of gas leaks.
And lastly, by the tone of your article, I have to assume that Washingtonians are your intended audience, not native Chinese. So wouldn't the substitution be lost in translation anyway?
@Saint Andrew: @knickers: As former tech writer and an editor and a nitpicker and a Southerner, I must point out that the proper usage is really "canary in a coal mine." To more entertainingly misappropriate the phrase for this usage, I might have suggested (or edited) "song thrush in the jade quarry," but perhaps that would stretched the limits of intelligibility.
Not to stray from the conversation about canaries and sparrows...I think this is a really important issue. Gentrification in DC is out of control. I work for a non profit organization that wants to open a new office in Northeast, near the PG County border. We've found that 75% of the city is owned by developers who refuse to sell to anything other than retail or restaurants. They're simply sitting on the land until it becomes a viable real estate sell, which eventually it will. With the rent cap removed last October, what does this mean for our city's poorest residents?
@Chris Mohney: would HAVE stretched. damn, choked at the hoop.
@jann9884: What does gentrification mean for poor people in the city? That they're screwed. Or rather, noting my salary in relation to the average in this city, that we're screwed.
At least with U Street, there's still some hint of character - lots of the new stores and places are independently owned and pretty cool. Chinatown, however, looks like a suburban mall vomited all over it. Only redeeming factor: that new Chop't salad place that just opened. It is deeelicious.
@jann9884: What it means for the city's poorest residents? They get to create new ghettos in the most inconvenient burbs, just like the banlieu of Paris. The sad paradox of urban life is that developers have all the land yet no taste, while the people who have taste have no land. DC will become the nations' food court.
@knickers: And I'm gonna stick with sparrow in the mineshaft because not only is it a Bush-esque gaff on my part and therefore slightly hilarious . . . but the canary of DC gentrification died in 2003 and we've had to use sparrows ever since. Once they're all dead we'll move on to pigeons.
As a New Yorker, I must ask the question: There are hipsters in DC? Ha.
Smacking chinese characters on Clydes does not make an area "Chinese". Go to NY's Chinatown and see what a real Chinatown is.
PLEASE don't gentrify U Street. It's the only area in this entire city and all surrounding areas that has ANY character.
Guys... guys... thanks so much for taking my stupid nitpicking and turning it into something funny and entertaining.
and @Chris Mohney: That "song thrush in a jade quarry" literally made me chuckle out loud. Nice one.
So all that aside and back to the actual topic, I agree whole heartedly with all your issues with gentrification. I've been a DC resident for 12 years now, so I've watched both Chinatown and U Street transform. And DIMICCOT, too late! U Street is so very gentrified now. I used to hang out at Stetson's 10 years ago when that bar used to be a blue collar hang out instead of a Hill rat hang out. There wasn't a whole lot of shiny hip restaurants and coffee shops and condos. It's nothing but gentrification. At the very least, I am happy that the Velvet Lounge is still there... even if I hardly ever frequent that place. Also, I'm very happy that Dukem is still there - good food AND free live music. In that sense I suppose I should be happy that Bar Nun is still a familiar face in the crowd... even if I'm not a swinger.
And I agree about Chinatown. It looks more like the inside of the Pentagon City mall than the former location of the 9:30 Club. And to me, that's a bummer. I actually work in Chinatown and the only things that I'm happy about are the WSC and the Verizon Center. Oh, and the movie theater. I do like movies.
On a side note, how's this Rocket Bar? I just heard about it yesterday. I'm sure I'll be massively disappointed, but I'm still curious.
When I moved here in '95, I did so as a poor college student. I settled in Brookland with an ex-girlfriend and felt right at home with other working class people, even if I was one of the token white people there. I certainly felt more at home in Brookland than in some place like Van Ness. And even though the white population in Brookland has grown drastically and they put in a new recreation center and a Yes! Organic Market, it seems that Brookland really hasn't changed that much. I'm actually scrambling to get a down payment together to buy a house in the area. I even found a tiny section that I believe can't and won't be developed any further. Here's hoping!
Of course immigrants don't come to the District. Why would you start, say, a family-owned restaurant in the District, when their property taxes are so much higher than Virginia or Maryland? That's why if you want real authentic Chinese food in this area you have to go to Maryland, or if you want real authentic Vietnamese food, you have to go to Eden Center in Falls Church, Virginia.
The DC city government with its over-taxing ways are just as much to blame for gentrification as the developers.
@stateofnature: those high taxes, however, also help DC provide public healthcare to the city's poorest residents. DC is one of the few places in the United States with Universal Healthcare, which is one of the city's greatest assets.
@stateofnature: False about authentic Chinese food!!!
Charlie Chang's in Van Ness serves authentic Chinese! But you don't know it unless you either ask for the special menu or they hand it to you thinking you're Chinese (like they did to my Korean girlfriend). Apparently this is how authentic restuarants work here and in NYC. You either need to look the part or speak the language... and then do some digging!
Sadly, I stuck to General Tso's that night because I was not feeling adventurous. She on the other hand had a pork dish that was not very tasty and a duck tongue appetizer. Did you know ducks have bones in their tongues???
Chinatown still has a little charm the farther away you get from the Verizon Center. There is a great Chinese place that is on G street a block down from the arch, I think. It has great handmade noodles and hanging ducks in the window.
Also, the Eden Center rocks. Falls Church and Annandale are full of authentic Korean, Vietnamese and Thai food. There the special menu is the one in English.
@jann9884: Yes, I am sure every dime of those property taxes goes to worthwhile health care programs. It's not like there has ever been any evidence of massive waste and fraud in the DC government, right?
I agree that DC government is to "blame"... meaning, it has the opportunity to make things better and it consistently drops the ball; and taxes are ridiculous.
HOWEVER... they did start a campaign called "Chinatown Cultural Development Strategy" being led by the office of planning and the Mayor's Office of Asian and Pacific Islanders, whose exec. director is Soohyun 'Julie' Koo. (see the link in Wash. Business Journal below). It would be interesting to follow the progress of this campaign. Will it really change anything? And if anyone has strong opinions, they should contact the official, Ms. Koo.
[washington.bizjournals.com]
On a personal note: I think 7th St.has become totally cheesy. And it kills me that one authentic Chinese restaurant after another closes its doors. A big blow was whan Da Hua (food store) closed. At least Chinatown Express is still there (where you can watch them preparing fresh noodle in the window display).
@knickers: I did not know ducks had tounges in the first place, let alone bony ones.
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