A couple of days ago, I had never heard of China City. Now that I have read up on it, I find it fascinating.
A little history - When old Chinatown was being torn down in the early 1930's to build Union Station, people realized that a new Chinatown should replace it. One of these persons was Peter SooHoo, who put together a group of Chinese business people and planned to build a new Chinatown on Broadway. Another person was Christine Sterling, who had been the driving force behind the building of the Olivera Street tourist attraction. SooHoo and Sterling could never agree on a plan, so they built competing projects. SooHoo built New Chinatown up on Broadway (which is still there) and Sterling built China City on the block surrounded by Spring, Ord, Main, and Macy streets. China City opened in June, 1938.
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China City had three entrances. One by the corner of Macy and Main:
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One a little north on Main:
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And one around the corner on Ord Street:
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China City was full of nice shops and restaurants:
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They even set up the house from the 1937 hit movie The Good Earth, with actual props from the movie:
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Everything was going pretty well until February, 1939 when a large portion of the place somehow caught fire and burned down:
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Boy, that building across the street sure looks familiar...
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...HOLY CRAP, ITS PHILIPPE'S!
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I always assumed that Philippe's was there forever! Wow! A crusty machine shop was in there in 1939.
Anyway, to finish the China City story, they rebuilt the burned out portion and opened again in August, 1939.
They lasted until 1948, when another fire finished them off.
(Sounds like someone was playing a little rough to me.)
