We wandered a bit on Broadway before hitting up one of the plazas in LA's Chinatown...
There are two gates in Chinatown; This is the Golden Dragon Gateway towards the southern end...
Some of the businesses that we saw...
One of these is going to be a Starbucks (if I remember correctly)...
In the Far East Plaza, we saw these "photo opp" boards in a closed up store. Hmmm, those aren't culturally insensitive! Nice boobage and perpetuation of island people as cannibals.
Since we were here, I got Bert another Sriracha bar at Chego! (there really is an exclamaton point in their title; I'm not being 'overly enthusiastic' here). He liked it so much the first time so I wanted to get him a little food souvenir.
Stickers found in Chego! I liked that they had The Last Bookstore, which we visited back in February. The foil wrapped Sriracha candy bar is on that counter.
I also liked the "Mas tacos! Less Migra!" sticker!!!!
Cathy and I took a quick peek in here as well. There were lots of goodies at Queens Bakery. I read that they were known for their rice puff cakes, so I bought a couple of those for us along with a savory and sweet bun for later. I was expecting them to be crispt but the rice puff treats have finely shredded coconut in them and are very moist and sweet.
We also checked out the Wishing Well. One person threw a coin and made it in one of the receptacles (they have signs that say 'wealth', 'romance' etc) and it made a musical chiming noise!
The West Gate...
and near the Broadway Gate someone was putting up new red paper (plastic?) lanterns...
Behind the Broadway Gate is a statue of Sun Yat Sen, the first president and founder of the Republic of China.
And back by popular demand, our giant rooster friend from Superior Poultry!
Next door to the Velveteria is the Hoi Yeung Seafood Company where you can buy fresh fish, shellfish and FROGS!
We were lucky enough to catch both Caren and Carl at the Velveteria museum of black velvet paintings. The visit was "on the house" which was very generous of Caren. I was excited to be there again. It's the place to go if you want to see black velvet paintings of nekkid ladies, poodles, Liberace, sad faced children, black light masterpieces (devils, rock groups, wild animals ad such) and much more.
Fittingly, a doll of Bill Clinton was housed in the naked ladies room!
TC loved this little corridor. Up above (you can't see it but I have pix in my previous Velveteria post) are evil and good unicorns. Below on the floor is the "Unicorn Birthing Center" with tiny toy poodles and chihuahuas.
Let' not forget the sombreros too! It was nice to do a Velveteria revisit within weeks.
Previous visits back in May 2014:
Chego
The Velveteria
Queens Bakery
809 N. Broadway
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 622-9749
There is no website but here are the reviews from you know where
Our next stop would be in Little Saigon...
4 comments:
Ah yes, the number 4, which is why we never catch Yellow Cab in San Diego..... 444-4444.....
For us Filipinos, the number 4 has no meaning! So more parking spaces for us, haha! :)
I like those velvet paintings when they have the UV lights on them! I don't think I have visited Chinatown in LA... or if I have, I don't remember it. Lots of cool things to see! I didn't know about the #4 parking spot, either! How interesting.
hi mary - black velvet paintings are awesome. people think they are tacky, but they are really hard to paint. some of those paintings are really works of art - it's hard to paint on velvet that skillfully.
if you ever go to chinatown in l.a., definitely visit the velveteria!
that was a new one to me too, the #4 spot being empty! it doesn't matter for Filipinos, haha! we don't care!
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