Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.

That line ended the 1974 film, Chinatown, one of the great psychodramas of all time.  Inspired by the catastrophic disputes over land and water that embroiled Southern California politics in controversy during the early 1920s, Chinatown should be on your must-see list if you have yet to watch it.

 

It's funny how that term, Chinatown, is part of our American conscience.  Part of it is that when about 1 in 5 of the earth's population has roots in that region, you are bound to run into a Chinatown, or at least a cluster of Chinese restaurants and businesses.  You shouldn't miss San Francisco's Chinatown when visiting, though the real joy of this neighborhood is exploring its back alleys like Ross and Waverly.  New York's Chinatown is vibrant and full of cheap eats in a city that's notorious for assaulting your wallet.  Los Angeles still has a Chinatown, but drive a few miles east to towns like Alhambra or Rosemead if you want truly authentic food and a good foot massage.  When traveling through Europe, walking into a little Chinese restaurant in Paris or Prague gives you a break from the backpacking bread-and-cheese routine; plus they are often the only restaurants that are open late or on Sundays in that region.   Even Shanghai has a Chinatown, which I know seems ridiculous considering that city's location, but when I first visited years ago, locals told me not to miss it.  Apparently way back when the European powers dominated Shanghai, that was the area at which local Shanghainese were relegated for conducting everyday business.

 

When it comes to sustainability and eating healthy, some may take issue with this, but the best place to buy fresh produce and good teas are in Chinese neighborhoods or markets--fresher, cheaper, and just better quality overall. 

 

But there is one Chinatown I wish I could have visited at its heyday.  It has fallen into steep decline, but slowly it is making a comeback.

 

And it's in Fresno.

 

Fresno's historic Chinatown is about as old as the city itself.  Evidence suggests it first developed in the 1880s, literally on the wrong side of the tracks.  It was probably the first genuine American "diverse" and "multicultural" neighborhood before those terms were even used:  Italian delis, Japanese publishers and retailers, a Mexican theater, an Armenian hotel, and a Basque restaurant were only a few of the various businesses that made up these six city blocks.  The neighborhood was densely populated and vibrant:  surviving insurance maps from the nineteenth century suggest a crowded and bustling district surrounded by farms and ranchland. 

 

Like other southern Fresno neighborhoods, Chinatown fell into decline and disrepair in the 1960s and 1970s as the city's developers cemented their stranglehold on local politics.  The city's population moved more and more north towards the San Joaquin River bluffs.  Many of the buildings in Chinatown were lost, serving only as treasured memories to those who had fond memories of growing up in the area.

 

But now the neighborhood is making a comeback.  In 1994, local activists, residents, and business owners founded Chinatown Revitalization Inc. of Fresno, and succeeded in having several of the buildings listed on historic registers.  The Central Fish Company, an Asian grocery store and seafood retailer, is now the anchor of this neighborhood, and restaurants have opened, hoping to lure business from baseball fans who attend games at the new downtown minor league ballpark.

 

What's fascinating about this neighborhood was that while the neighborhood was humming with business during the day, there was a vicariously salicious and seedy side to Chinatown at night.  Many of the stories were just dismissed as folklore or urban legends, but in 2007, the neighborhood gained national media attention for the discovery of the secret tunnels that linked the buildings.  Believed to have been built to serve as cold storage during the intense summer heat, the tunnels often served as speakeasies during Prohibition, among other nightly activities that I'll leave to your imagination. 

 

Chinatown is definitely worth a quick visit if you're passing through Fresno or happen to be in town for a few days.  The retro signs alone are fun to check out.  Refurbishing this neighborhood will be an uphill battle:  most of Fresno's entertainment is farther north, where the population is.  Renewed efforts to revitalize downtown Fresno and nearby neighborhoods end up stalling.  The ballpark has not brought in the number of customers for which local businesses had hoped.  And many locals just do not want to venture to southern Fresno, notorious for crime and social ills that people feel can be dealt with by just moving farther and farther away.

 

But there is hope in this group of activists and business owners that want to do some good.  Perhaps the tunnels can be restored, offering some more visitors and revenues to this neighborhood that just beckons you to explore.  It would be a shame if what is left of Fresno's Chinatown is lost.