Scenes from Chinatown

During our visit back in late May, I snapped a few shots while on our way to see the Bruce Lee statue at the Cultural Plaza, passing by interesting signs such as this...

I bet "United Foods" looks really cool at night time...

One of the coolest things I saw was a giant rooster..

on top of the building for Superior Poultry.  A few things about this - Superior Poultry has been here for fifty years! The giant rooster standing proudly atop the building is made by International Fiberglass which is also the maker of those giant Muffler Men (or Lumberjacks) that you sometimes see on the roadsides. Apparently there are a BUNCH of these giant roosters all over California (we would see one during our Central Coast trip). The roosters are about eight feet tall and weigh about 100 lbs.

One thing for sure, you can't miss this landmark!  A quick walk past the establishment revealed a mostly empty room with a few people in line to buy their chicken (and ducks) from a window. You could also tell that poultry were sold here. It had that certain stench odor.   Note to selves - the nec, head, and legs are still attached so have fun chopping those off!

One of the many benevolent associations found in the district...

The Cultural Plaza is also in an area known as the New Chinatown, which used to be LA's Little Italy. This area was built in the 1930's and was made to be a tourist attraction. The buildings were built by Hollywood set designers and depicted 'romanticized' versions of Shanghai.   Many of these buildings have the curved roofs and colorful exteriors.

The Dragon mural (obscured by the trees, sorry) was painted by Tyrus Wong, a Chinese American artist (born in 1910) who worked for Disney and Warner Brothers. His most famous work was "Bambi" where he was the lead artist.  The mural was restored 30 years ago. Amazingly, Tyrus Wong is still alive at the age of 103!

I found this video of Tyrus and his arrival to America quite moving and also inspirational.


View of the East Gate (also known as the Broadway Gate) through the red fence, plus a cool gate, building facades and a wishing well dating from the 1930's.






The West Gate (facing  Hill Street) is on the other side of the plaza.

If you look past the gate, you will see Foo Chow's restaurant's claim to fame...

This whole area seemed a bit "contrived" and overly "exotic" (perhaps at the time when it was first built), but now it seems artificial and a bit hokey.

One last look at the Broadway gate...

We were across the street at a Vietnamese place where we would have a small meal before making the drive back to San Diego.

More on Chinatown:
www.chinatownla.com
oldchinatownla.com

A few weeks later, Cathy and I would be up in this area...