Chicago's Chinatown Gateway — Attraction in Chicago

I recalled Chinatown back in 1960s was quite diverse with outsiders mixing in with the local Cantonese speaking Chinese that was not many, which I heard is over 25,000 Chinese in 2021, living within and around Chinatown and into Bridgeport.

Back in 1960s, there were restaurants like Chiam, Guey Sam, Lung Fung, House of Fong. Dai Tong, Chinatown Restaurant, Lucky Coffee Shop, The Junk, King Wah, Lee Canton, Won Kow, Garden Restaurant, Kai Kai, to name a few. Later, In the 1970s, we saw Three Happiness, Moon Palace, Mandarin, Wing Wah, Haylemoon, Hong Kong Restaurant, Royal Pacific and such expanding to about 60+ Chinese businesses covering part of Archer Ave, not far from Santa Fe Coach yard (now Chinatown Square and Ping Tom Park) to south 24th near I55 highway, once a big city park, according to the local.

And finally, Chinatown has an agreement with the state for a much needed parking lot, after Royal Pacific restaurant built their building ontop of the old Chinatown Parking Lot (one can still see that painted signage between the wall, of Lucky Coffee shop) near Lucky Coffee, not far from the Chinatown arch, now Triple Crown.

The 1990s, more newer restaurants came in, such as Emperor Choice, and a new one Furama on 26th, but it also the time when Chinatown Square added more business (over 120+ business in Chinatown at that time), such as Coa Coa, Lin Restaurant, Lao Tse Shuan, Joy Yee and even a Chinese run Kentucky Fried Chicken, which eventually closed in less then a year. Later, 21st century, Chinatown saw more diverse restaurant business, not limited to just Chinese food, such as Malaysian, Korean, Vietnamese, and even Japanese, but do not expect them to be run by Korean, Japanese, etc, but local Chinese who either speak Cantonese or Mandarin living in or around Chinatown, so practice your Korean, Japanese, etc somewhere else.

Citibank, Walgreen, and Starbuck are just a few outside non-Asian businesses that survive in Chinatown, when other such business as Baskin Robbins and KFC has failed inside Chinatown.

Chicago Chinatown might be considered homogeneous at time, but the community is a mixture of Italian, Irish, Swedish, Hispanic, and African American who live in this community. Initially, most Chinese in Chinatown were mostly Cantonese speaker from southern part of China or from Hong Kong. In the 1960, more Cantonese speakers came in during that period after the culture revolution to civil unrest in Hong Kong. Later decades, Chinatown begin to see more from China and Taiwan, and very soon more from Hong Kong after that unrest.

In recent decades. I noticed more Mandarin speakers from both Taiwan and China living within the community, with local Cantonese speakers soon to be a minority.

Chinatown is a great place to visit, almost like a taste of Hong Kong, minus the congestion and crowd. And, it is a great place to practice your Chinese if one is a Cantonese or Mandarin speaker. The local will be impress of one own...

There’s a ton of Asian food, products, drinks, and souvenirs you can see in the area and it’s honestly great to just walk around and window shop. I did find all the buildings while driving cool to look at as well. Make sure to come fairly early on Saturdays or Sundays especially since it gets packed really quickly in the parkling lot & restaurants if you’re planning on eating.

There’s 2 floors and majority of the bigger restaurants are on the 1st floor and the snacky shops, drink shops, and souvenir shops are on the 2nd floor. They’ve also got all the Zodiac animals in the small plaza area right outside of the store areas. Overall, an interesting place to go whether you’re Chinese or not to just explore and try...

Coming from outside of Chicago, this Chinatown is the most widespread and least packed. It is much busier at night with young adults hanging out or going on dates. Files are seen here to visit and grab dessert and dinner. The options in my opinions are very authentic and reasonably priced.

Though people can argue about the parking, this is THE most spacious Chinatown between all 3 NY Chinatown and Philadelphia. Theres a convient subway and a major parking lot thats right under it as well. The roads are wide, sidewalks are big as well. This doesn't mean that it's my fav Chinatown but it's not bad. I do think as a local it does need more fresh produce or a better grocery...