You are currently browsing the stories about the Chinatown neighborhood
They Steal Young Girls
by Carol J. Binkowski 03/23/2009Neighborhood: Chinatown
“You can’t walk around here! They steal young girls and sell them as slaves.” Grandma’s voice hit a higher pitch with each syllable, her blue eyes sparking with agitation behind the dark rims of her glasses. I was momentarily stunned by her vehemence as much as by her words. We were in the backseat of [...]
A Blue Chicken, and My First Naked Lady
by Tom Diriwachter 06/22/2008Neighborhood: Chinatown
Growing up on Staten Island, a trip to Manhattan, while covering only several miles, and less than an hour away, was an adventure. There are things I remember about “going to the city” from my childhood. I remember holding my ears and laughing when the horn of the Staten Island Ferry sounded. I remember eating [...]
Moving with My Father
by Francey Russell 06/29/2006Neighborhood: Chinatown
My dad was helping me, his oldest daughter, carry a stuffed duffel bag up a dirty Chinatown staircase, in a dirty Chinatown building, with no-longer-usable brooms on the landings and cigarette butts on the sills. We could hear babies crying though the walls, drowning out television sets. He asked if I was sure I would [...]
I Hate New York, I Like Beijing
by Mike Connelly 06/04/2006Neighborhood: Chinatown
I am one of those people who can’t stand New York. The first time I was in New York I was mugged by a young Hispanic man wielding a Phillips head screwdriver. It was long ago, I was young, and not about to give him $20, all the money I had. We went into a [...]
Love and Money at Sun Lin Garden
by Tom Diriwachter 06/04/2006Neighborhood: Chinatown
It’s common practice for a bar/restaurant to save their first dollar and hang it on the wall. Sometimes it’s framed. Other times it’s taped. But it’s up there for luck. Or at least celebration. A sort of diploma from the school of capitalism. Some businesses even save their first dollar bill, five dollar bill, ten [...]
Foxy Kropotkin
by Bonny Finberg 10/20/2005Neighborhood: Chinatown
All night Foxy Kropotkin had thrown the covers on and off. It had been hours since she told Virginia to get her an orange soda. She thought to herself, Larry’s not cold yet three days—but I still have the credit card. In an instant she was out of bed. She pulled her coat over her [...]
TuCan: The $1 Kingdom
by Laurie Rosenwald 05/22/2005Neighborhood: Chinatown
I have given my neighborhood a trendy new name. TuCan. What does it mean? Too Close to Canal Street. My windows are over Canal Street, but my street is named “Lispenard.” Have you heard of it? Neither has any cab driver in New York City. Every day, I attempt to direct them to it. They [...]
Some Light, Some Don’t
by Pia Ehrhardt 03/10/2005Neighborhood: Chinatown
We are in Chinatown looking for a good price on a Zippo lighter. My son wants one with with no logo, no Elvis face, no Mets, no #1 Stunner in fancy script. Just plain silver, the size of a matchbox, when matchboxes were the size of matchboxes. He’s fourteen and still looks nervous striking a [...]
The (Chinese) Gangs of New York
by Mark Jacobson 03/08/2003Neighborhood: Chinatown
Late last year, the young Chinese couple who ran the Szechuan D’Or restaurant on East 40th Street were murdered. The incident sparked fear that the crime which had riddled Chinatown was moving uptown. Police launched a citywide campaign to wipe it out. The crackdown played havoc with established vice in Chinatown. Youth gangs, foot soldiers [...]
Why Won’t You Learn Chinese?
by Brenda Lin 02/01/2003Neighborhood: Chinatown
For a few months while I was writing my graduate thesis, I was a classroom instructor at an after-school program at P.S. 2, on the northeastern edge of Chinatown. From my apartment on the lower East side, I would walk south on Essex Street to go to work. It was a walk through New York’s [...]
Sunshine Travel’s Challenge (survive!)
by Jennifer Sears 12/12/2002Neighborhood: Chinatown
“Seats are left,” the man assures me over the phone, “but please, hurry, hurry.” Sunshine Travel Tours won’t take reservations but he provides me with directions to the agency in Chinatown. A frequent traveler to Boston, I was happy to see the ad in the Village Voice offering one way tickets for $15 compared to [...]
Bad Day in Chinatown
by David C. McAninch 12/02/2002Neighborhood: Chinatown
Everyone has bad days. But for some souls fate comes down hard and fast and delivers a load of bad luck so rotten that the events of that person’s life from that point on have to be filed into two categories: before the bad day and after. Around dinnertime on a still, muggy June evening, [...]
