Old Chinatown, Los Angeles

Symptoms of a corrupt Los Angeles discolored the public's view of Chinatown; gambling houses, opium dens and a fierce tong warfare severely reduced business in the area.

Several businesses and a Buddhist temple lined Ferguson Alley, a narrow one-block street running between the Plaza and Alameda.

Some decades later, the Lugo Adobe became the original home of Loyola Marymount University, and later, it was rented to Chinese-Americans who ran shops on the ground floor and a lodging house upstairs.

[13] "The original Chinatown's only remaining edifice is the two-story Garnier Building, once a residence and meeting place for immigrant Chinese," according to Angels Walk – Union Station/El Pueblo/Little Tokyo/Civic Center guide book.

[10] In the late 1950s the covenants on the use and ownership of property were removed, allowing Chinese Americans to live in other neighborhoods and gain access to new types of employment.

[16] Most are the possession of the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California but some old bottles and similar items were incorporated into a fountain in the underground subway lobby of Union Station.

In 2021, the author Lisa See, whose family has roots in Los Angeles’ Chinese-American community dating to the 19th century, donated a collection of glass-plate negatives of photos of Old Chinatown to the Huntington Museum in San Marino, California.