Local Event! - Chinatown 71st Anniv. Fest Thing

What T'Was:

7-11pm last night in the Central Plaza, dancing, retro 1940's lounge muzak live, martial arts show (missed that dangit), speeches (missed that yay), endless fortune cookies, small fireworks show, etc.

What T'Was Encountered:

Biked into Chinatown 'round 9:45 or so to catch the tail end of whatever the celebration wound up being. A small fireworks show launching off the LA River was just finishing up, caught enough of it to make me smile, then rounded the corner into that uber-tacky but oh so awesome Central Plaza where the fest' was taking place. A lone spotlight was rigged up at the entrance, I really wanted to climb onto it and make a shadow-puppet-bat but alas the security was too tight. Too bad.

Inside the neony plaza, which for those who haven't been is basically the China exhibit at EPCOT Center airlifted from Disney World & plopped into an LA warehouse district, was a solid crowd of all ages, mostly middle aged, swinging and watching others swing dance to the live Sinatra-esque lounge band on stage. The neighborhood was founded in the late 30's so they (the Chinatown Business Improvement Board or something) were appropriately going for that classy WW2-era retro theme.

After having my fill of jazz I started poking around the plaza a bit more. There were some candle-lit dinner tables set up here and there for VIP guests, pamphlet booths advertising the local Chinese American Museum and other attractions, a fortune teller (tacky!) and heavier than usual foot traffic in all them little souvenir shops. The outside of the Hop Louie Jazz Club was the greatest attraction though: two vintage mobster cars and a makeshift outdoor casino! The casino was obviously the main awesomeness there. Alas though I had no money to gamble. The atmospheric also-retro Mountain Bar, the best reason to come to Chinatown on a normal weekend night, was disappointingly dead 'cause of all this other cool stuff going on outside.

Strutted out of the plaza's rear, across Hill St and into Chung King Alley, an art gallery row where various hipsters were doing their art gallery thing. It was cool for a minute or two. The random strutting and poking around continued for the ensuing few minutes... mostly strutting because I could still hear the live blues from here and, you know, there's just something about that vintage saxophone lounge music that just makes you feel on top of the world. This music continued playing in my head on the (very downhill slopish) bike ride back, during which I got cocky and crossed said slope way too fast, lost control of the steering and... was biking one minute, rolly-pollying across the ground the next. Owie.

Bike Ride! - Chinatown

Downtown: Chinatown
via 8th > Alameda
ETA from 23rd St = 30min

Click for map

Rode north beyond Little Tokyo on Alameda St, past Union Station. The road lead straight to the Chinatown Metro Rail stop, two blocks to the side of which was a long strip of knick-knack shops, potent incense fumes and banks shaped like pagodas. The area was run-down but full of character. Was asked by a salesman if I wanted "Lady Boom Boom" (see Vietnam blog), then asked by another if I wanted a "free" Chinese medicine reading. Regrettably I turned him down.

Turned down a small covered alleyway lined with clothing stores to find that it was the entryway into a vast, convoluted flea market of sorts built into the alleys between the two main streets. Most of the booths were clothing sellers, one of whom had scantily-clad ladies poll-dancing in front of his shop.

Farther east, I came upon what I think was named "Central Plaza," Chinatown's main landmark and the filming location of Big Trouble in Little China. Tis a neon-lit small plaza designed like a medieval section of Shanghai & draped with red paper lanterns. Old Chinese men playing Mah Jong around picnic benchs and random white tourists split its population. Every building here had a Taiwanese (not Chinese) flag fluttering above, thought that was sorta interesting. There was a bar in this plaza staffed by a particularly gorgeous bartender who will one day become my royal mistress. One day.

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Verdict = Quirky, slightly sleazy & bustling neighborhood that makes for a good destination if you want more of an adventure than Little Tokyo but don't have time to go too far.
Difficulty = Easy
Discoveries = Secret Swap Meet, Medicine Shop Row