The Chinatown neighborhood in

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

( zh, t=屋崙華埠), is traditionally Chinese which reflects Oakland's diverse

Chinese American Chinese Americans are Americans of Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans have ancestors from mainland China, Hong Kong ...

, and more broadly

Asian American Asian Americans are Americans with ancestry from the continent of Asia (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of those immigrants). Although this term had historically been used fo ...

community. It is frequently referred to as "Oakland Chinatown" in order to distinguish it from nearby San Francisco's Chinatown. It lies at an elevation of 39 feet (12 m). Chinese were the first Asians to arrive in Oakland in the 1850s, followed by Japanese in the 1890s, Koreans in the 1900s, and Filipinos in the 1930s and 1940s.

Southeast Asian Southeast Asia is the geographical southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Australian mainland, which is part of Oceania. Southeast Asia is ...

s began arriving in the 1970s during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

. Many

Asian languages Asia is home to hundreds of languages comprising several families and some unrelated isolates. The most spoken language families on the continent include Austroasiatic, Austronesian, Japonic, Dravidian, Indo-European, Afroasiatic, Turkic, ...

and

dialect A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...

s can be heard in Chinatown due to its diverse population. Chinatown is located in downtown Oakland, with its center at 8th Street and Webster Street. Its northern edge is 12th Street, and its southern edge is Interstate 880 (located approximately at 6th Street). It stretches from Broadway on the west to the southern tip of Lake Merritt in the east. Due to a combination of factors, some more broad-based related to difficult circumstances for Oakland itself, while other factors are more specific to this neighborhood, Oakland's Chinatown faces a struggle for survival.

Geography

Chinatown is located in

Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...

Oakland, bounded by Broadway to the west, Interstate 880 to the south, Fallon Street and

Laney College Laney College is a public community college in Oakland, California. Laney is the largest of the four colleges of the Peralta Community College District which serves northern Alameda County. Laney College is named after Joseph Clarence Laney. ...

to the east, and 12th Street to the north, although the City of Oakland considers the northern edge to be 14th Street. The historic commercial core of the neighborhood lies along Webster (between 7th and 9th) and 8th (between Franklin and Harrison). Many Chinatowns in America have added a formal entry gate (

Paifang A ''paifang'', also known as a ''pailou'', is a traditional style of Chinese architecture, often used in arch or gateway structures. Etymology The word ''paifang'' ( zh, c=牌坊, p=páifāng) was originally a collective term for the top two le ...

) since 1970, marking the entrance to the district, but Oakland has not; aside from the architecture,

bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...

street sign Traffic signs or road signs are signs erected at the side of or above roads to give instructions or provide information to road users. The earliest signs were simple wooden or stone milestones. Later, signs with directional arms were introduce ...

s are distinctive features of the neighborhood. The northern portals of the Posey and Webster Street Tubes, which carry traffic underneath the estuary between Oakland and Alameda, are on the edge of Chinatown. Unlike The neighborhood can be roughly divided into two distinct areas: # The western half, between Broadway and Harrison Street, is the

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

area, with busy streets lined with markets, restaurants, banks, and other businesses. # The eastern half, east of Harrison Street, is more residential in character with more apartments and condominiums, less crowded sidewalks, and a mix of retail stores that are more service and product oriented, with fewer groceries and restaurants. Though most commercial activity is south of 10th Street, there are nonetheless many retail shops, stores, and restaurants north of 10th Street and in other parts of Downtown Oakland which are owned by Chinese and Korean merchants. In particular at the edge of Chinatown, 14th street between Webster and Harrison is a block which features numerous Korean restaurants and businesses, especially on the north side of the block. Recent immigrants have also moved south into "New Oakland Chinatown" in the San Antonio neighborhood along International Boulevard (formerly East 14th Street) and Eastlake business district on East 18th Street. Owing to a combination of multifactorial issues, some more generally tied to socioeconomic difficulties afflicting Oakland itself, while other factors are more specific to this neighborhood, Oakland's Chinatown faces a struggle for survival and is shrinking.

Notable landmarks

* Bill Louie's Corner - 8th and Franklin

Chinese Community United Methodist Church

The ''Chinese Community United Methodist Church'' (CCUMC), which was initially the ''Chinese Methodist Church'' was founded in 1887. The church was established as part of a chain of Methodist Chinese Missions by the Rev. Dr. Otis Gibson. The two primary missions of this ministry was schools and refuge for women escaping slavery and prostitution. This church has close connections with the Women's Missionary Society of the Pacific Coast in San Francisco. In the early days, the Chinese Methodist Church held worship service and Sunday School. Then to serve the needs of the growing Chinese community, an English school for immigrants, and a Chinese school for the American-born Chinese also operated. The early days of the church was sustained by courageous workers, both Chinese- and American-born as there were strong anti-Chinese sentiments in California at this time. The church was located at several sites in Oakland Chinatown. Chan Hon Fun was the pastor from 1900 to 1909 and established the church's current location in 1905 at 321 8th Street Oakland, CA 94607. In 1913, a fire devastated the building and a new building was erected. But by the 1940s, the church outgrew even this building. Under the leadership of Rev Edwar Lee, a new church and the current main sanctuary was built in 1952. With more growth, more space was needed, and a new social hall and classrooms annex was built in 1970. Today, the Chinese Community United Methodist Church conducts both a Chinese (Cantonese and Mandarin) language worship service and English worship service on Sundays.

Pacific Renaissance Plaza

A mixed use complex built by Hong Kong investors in 1993, this plaza with a central fountain with seating is often viewed as the center of Oakland Chinatown. The first and second floors are mixed retail/office/civic spaces; it consists of many restaurants, jewelry store, banks, ice creamery, and other retail and health services as well as the Asian Branch Library and Oakland Asian Cultural Center. There are also residential condos/rentals on three sides of the plaza above the second floor: a 13-story residential building on the west side and two 4 story buildings on the south and east side. Underneath is a 3 level parking lot.

Parks

File:Chinese Garden Park, Oakland 4.jpg, Chinese Garden Park has a small

pagoda A pagoda is a tiered tower with multiple eaves common to Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most often Buddhist, but some ...

File:Lincoln Park 7.jpg, Junk-themed play structure at Lincoln Square Park File:Dragon at Wilma Chan Park.jpg, The small sand playground at Wilma Chan Park is encircled by a concrete dragon There are three city parks in Chinatown, all east of Harrison and occupying one block each: * Chinese Garden Park (bounded by Harrison, Alice, 6th, and 7th). This formerly was named Harrison Railroad Park, which displayed Southern Pacific 2467 and several historic cars for thirty years until 1990. The building was designed by Henry Chang Jr. * Lincoln Square Park (bounded by Harrison, Alice, 10th, and 11th). The mural on the recreation center was painted by LuQman. * Wilma Chan Park (bounded by Jackson, Madison, 8th, and 9th). This was formerly Madison Park, renamed in 2022 for Alameda County supervisor Wilma Chan, who died after being hit by a driver while walking her dog.

History

Early days

Oakland Chinatown dates back to the arrival of Chinese immigrants in the 1850s, making it one of the oldest Chinatowns in North America. By 1860, the census of Oakland included 96 "Asiatics" among a total of 1,543 (6.2% of the city's population). More Chinese arrived to help build the Central Pacific Railroad western portion of the

First transcontinental railroad America's first transcontinental railroad (known originally as the "Pacific Railroad" and later as the "Overland Route (Union Pacific Railroad), Overland Route") was a continuous railroad line built between 1863 and 1869 that connected the exis ...

during the

Coolie Coolie (also spelled koelie, kouli, khuli, khulie, kuli, cooli, cooly, or quli) is a pejorative term used for low-wage labourers, typically those of Indian people, Indian or Chinese descent. The word ''coolie'' was first used in the 16th cent ...

slave trade during the 1860s. The Chinese immigrants first settled in shrimp camps on the

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime enviro ...

of Oakland at 1st Street and Castro in the 1850s, near the Point in West Oakland which was referred to as "Chinese Point", and at 4th and Clay streets. The Chinese settlement at

Telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...

between 16th and 17th streets burnt down in 1867 and was relocated at the San Pablo Avenue Chinatown between 19th and 20th streets; it is now known as Oakland's Old Uptown Chinatown. Other areas with prominent Chinese populations included 14th Street between Washington and Clay, and the Charter line (22nd Street) between Castro and Brush Streets.

Present location

Fears of the

Yellow peril The Yellow Peril (also the Yellow Terror, the Yellow Menace, and the Yellow Specter) is a Racism, racist color terminology for race, color metaphor that depicts the peoples of East Asia, East and Southeast Asia as an existential danger to the ...

and local exclusion laws forced the Chinese population to resettle to its current location centered at 8th Street and Webster Street in the 1870s. The first Chinese in Oakland fished in the

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay (Chochenyo language, Chochenyo: 'ommu) is a large tidal estuary in the United States, U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the cities of San Francisco, California, San ...

for

shrimp A shrimp (: shrimp (American English, US) or shrimps (British English, UK)) is a crustacean with an elongated body and a primarily Aquatic locomotion, swimming mode of locomotion – typically Decapods belonging to the Caridea or Dendrobranchi ...

similarly to the Chinese at China Camp near San Rafael. In 1868, Chinese laborers built the Temescal Dam in Oakland providing water for the East Bay as well as the Lake Chabot Dam in 1874–75. They worked in canneries, cotton mills and fuse and explosive factories as well as farms. In the 1880s, discriminatory laws made it difficult for Chinese immigrants to own land or even find work. They found work as

laundry Laundry is the washing of clothing and other textiles, and, more broadly, their drying and ironing as well. Laundry has been part of history since humans began to wear clothes, so the methods by which different cultures have dealt with this u ...

workers,

cook Cook or The Cook may refer to: Food preparation * Cooking, the preparation of food * Cook (domestic worker), a household staff member who prepares food * Cook (profession), an individual who prepares food for consumption in the food industry * C ...

gardener A gardener is someone who practices gardening, either professionally or as a hobby. Description A gardener is any person involved in gardening, arguably the oldest occupation, from the hobbyist in a residential garden, the home-owner suppleme ...

s, houseboys, or as

vegetable Vegetables are edible parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. This original meaning is still commonly used, and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including edible flower, flo ...

peddler A peddler (American English) or pedlar (British English) is a door-to-door and/or travelling vendor of good (economics), goods. In 19th-century United States the word "drummer" was often used to refer to a peddler or traveling salesman; as exem ...

s. The

Chinese Exclusion Act The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was a United States Code, United States federal law signed by President Chester A. Arthur on May 6, 1882, prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers for 10 years. The law made exceptions for travelers an ...

severely limited the further immigration of Chinese in 1882. By 1900, the Chinese in Oakland numbered less than 1,000. Settlers from other Asian countries began arriving after the Chinese Exclusion Act. Japanese immigrants began settling in Oakland in the 1890s mostly in West Oakland around Market Street. Later, hundreds were living in the section between Harrison and Oak streets south of 8th Street. They owned several stores in Chinatown. After the

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Empire of Japan on the United States Pacific Fleet at Naval Station Pearl Harbor, its naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu, Territory of ...

in 1941, all

Japanese American are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian Americans, Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 United States census, 2000 census, they have declined in ...

s were sent to

internment Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without Criminal charge, charges or Indictment, intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects ...

camps. The Masuda family had posted a large "I Am An American" sign outside their Oakland grocery store, Wanto Company, at 8th and Franklin streets which was photographed by Dorothea Lange. Many did not return to Oakland after the war ended. The Buddhist Church of Oakland is one of the few institutions remaining of Oakland's

Japantown is a common name for Japanese communities in cities and towns outside Japan. Alternatively, a Japantown may be called J-town, Little Tokyo or , the first two being common names for Japantown, San Francisco, Japantown, San Jose and Little ...

. Filipinos immigrated to the area in the early 1900s. Oakland Chinatown was the center of commerce and community gathering for Filipinos in the East Bay during 1940–1960.

Earthquake alternative

The

1906 San Francisco earthquake At 05:12 AM Pacific Time Zone, Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated Moment magnitude scale, moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli inte ...

and fire destroyed most of San Francisco's Chinatown and more than 4,000 Chinese survivors found refuge in Oakland. Even while San Francisco Chinatown was rebuilding, many stayed in Oakland, bringing the Chinatown population to about 2,500. Because of continuing immigration restrictions barring Chinese women and children, a bachelor society was created. In the 1920s, Oakland Chinatown grew from 10th Street to the waterfront from Broadway to Harrison. Even in 1940, the Chinatown population grew only to about 3,000. With the United States involvement in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and the fact that China was an ally, the

was repealed in 1943, however the immigration quota was maintained at 105 immigrants per year.

Post-war growth

In 1950, Chinatown had grown to a population of 5,500, but local housing was lost due to the construction of Interstate 880, which runs through 8 blocks between 5th and 6th streets and serves as a transportation artery for some of Chinatown's commercial activity,

(8 blocks) and later in the late 1960s, the

Bay Area Rapid Transit Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area in California. BART serves 50 stations along six routes and of track, including eBART, a spur line running to Antioch, and Oakland Airport Connecto ...

headquarters and Lake Merritt station (2 blocks) and

Oakland Museum of California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

(4 blocks). Oakland Chinatown was economically stagnant for many years, especially after multigenerational Chinatown residents began moving to the suburbs in the late 1960s.

Contemporary pan-Asian center

Chinatown saw much steady development during the 1980s and 1990s as Chinese American merchants relocated from San Francisco to Oakland, and due to increased immigration from mainland China,

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

, and

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

. During this time period, many ethnic Chinese Vietnamese and Chinese Cambodians began opening new small businesses, essentially replacing many of the older

Taishanese Taishanese (), alternatively romanized in Cantonese as Toishanese or Toisanese, in local dialect as Hoisanese or Hoisanwa, is a Yue Chinese language native to Taishan, Guangdong. Even though they are related, Taishanese has little mutual i ...

-dominated businesses. Also, investors with Hong Kong backgrounds constructed the Pacific Renaissance Plaza in the early 1990s. Chinatown still retains the traditional aspects and characteristics of an older Chinatown. Oakland's Chinatown also includes a historic and still thriving

fortune cookie A fortune cookie is a crisp and sugary cookie wafer made from flour, sugar, vanilla, and sesame seed oil with a piece of paper inside, a "fortune", an aphorism, or a vague prophecy. The message inside may also include a Chinese language, Chines ...

factory. However, Oakland's Chinatown is now shrinking and faces an existential threat to it survival, due to macroeconomic ills afflicting Oakland as a whole, in addition to its aging infrastructure and residential inhabitants.

People and culture

The residents of Oakland Chinatown include Chinese,

Hispanic and Latino Americans Hispanic and Latino Americans are Americans who have a Spaniards, Spanish or Latin Americans, Latin American background, culture, or family origin. This demographic group includes all Americans who identify as Hispanic or Latino (demonym), ...

African Americans African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa ...

, Vietnamese, Korean, Filipino, Japanese, Cambodian, Laotian, Mien, Thai, Polynesian and others. Consequently, many languages and dialects can be heard, including

Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...

, Cebuano, English, Spanish, Chiu-Chow, Ilocano, Japanese, Khmer, Khmu, Korean, Lao, Malay, Mien, Tagalog, Taiwanese, Thai, Toishan, and Vietnamese. The Oakland Asian Cultural Center offers cultural programs including performances, workshops, festivals, school tours, classes, and exhibitions.

Annual cultural events and fairs

Chinese New Year Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival (see also #Names, § Names), is a festival that celebrates the beginning of a New Year, new year on the traditional lunisolar calendar, lunisolar Chinese calendar. It is one of the most important holi ...

(also known as Lunar New Year or Vietnamese

Tết Tết (, ), short for (; ), is the most important celebration in Vietnamese culture. Tết celebrates the arrival of spring based on the Vietnamese calendar and usually falls on January or February in the Gregorian calendar. is not to be co ...

) *

Dragon boat race A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

s are held annually at Jack London Square or Treasure Island, California. *The Oakland Chinatown StreetFest has been held on the 4th weekend of August annually since 1988. *

Mid-Autumn Festival The Mid-Autumn Festival (for other names, see § Etymology) is a harvest festival celebrated in Chinese culture. It is held on the 15th day of the 8th month of the Chinese lunisolar calendar with a full moon at night, corresponding to mid- ...

(also known as Moon Festival or Vietnamese Tết Trung Thu)

Performing arts

Chinese opera Traditional Chinese opera (), or ''Xiqu'', is a form of musical theatre in China with roots going back to the early periods in China. It is an amalgamation of various art forms that existed in ancient China, and evolved gradually over more tha ...

was one of the first traditional Chinese art forms in Oakland. In 1907, a Chinese Theater at 9th and Franklin streets opened which could seat 500 people and had a company of 30 full-time actors from China. Today, three styles of Chinese opera clubs are active in Oakland: Cantonese opera,

Beijing opera Peking opera, or Beijing opera (), is the most dominant form of Chinese opera, which combines instrumental music, vocal performance, mime, martial arts, dance and acrobatics. It arose in Beijing in the mid-Qing dynasty (1644–1912) and became ...

, and

Kunqu Kunqu (), also known as Kunju (), K'un-ch'ü, Kun opera or Kunqu Opera, is one of the oldest extant forms of Chinese opera. It evolved from a music style local to Kunshan, part of the Wu (region), Wu cultural area, and later came to dominate ...

Libraries

Oakland Asian Cultural Center and Oakland Public Library Asian Branch

The Asian Branch Library is one of many of Oakland Public Library's branches and is located in Chinatown's "Pacific Renaissance Plaza." The Asian Library is unique among public library branches in the United States as it houses eight Asian languages (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Cambodian, Tagalog and Laotian) in major reference titles and general subject titles, an Asian Studies collection, in addition to an English-language Asian American collection. The Asian Community Library was founded in 1975 as part of a Federal Library Services Construction Act grant to create a model library serving the Asian community in Oakland with multilingual staff and collections. It shared space with the Park Boulevard Branch at 1934 Park Blvd which was 1.5 miles from Chinatown. To improve access to Asian patrons it operated the Asian Bookmobile in Chinatown and Berkeley. In 1978, it moved to the Main Library about 0.5 miles from Chinatown. In 1981, it moved to a

storefront A storefront or shopfront is the facade or entryway of a retail store located on the ground floor or street level of a commercial building, typically including one or more display windows. A storefront functions to attract visual attention to a b ...

among Chinatown shops and food stores in the 15 story City Center Plaza condos building at 449 9th Street at Broadway becoming the Asian Branch Library. The current location in the Pacific Renaissance Plaza opened in 1995.

Notable natives and residents

* Amy Tan, author * Ben Fong-Torres, journalist, author, radio personality *

Bruce Lee Bruce Lee (born Lee Jun-fan; November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973) was an American-born Hong Kong martial artist, actor, filmmaker, and philosopher. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy which was formed from ...

, martial artist, actor * Dong Kingman (1911–2000), watercolorist, created paintings for ''

Flower Drum Song ''Flower Drum Song'' was the eighth musical theatre, musical by the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein. It is based on the 1957 novel, ''The Flower Drum Song'', by Chinese-American author C. Y. Lee (author), C. Y. Lee. It premiered on Broadway the ...

'' and '' The World of Suzie Wong'' *Dr. Charles Goodall Lee (1881–1973), dentist, first licensed Chinese dentist who financed the lodge building of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance in Oakland *

Frank Chin Frank Chin (born February 25, 1940) is an American author and playwright. He is considered to be one of the pioneers of Asian-American theatre. Life and career Frank Chin was born in Berkeley, California on February 25, 1940. His grandfather wo ...

, writer * Fred Korematsu resisted, and then challenged in court, the forced internment of Japanese Americans during World War II (See '' Korematsu v. United States'' for more information.) * Lew Hing (1858–1934), tycoon, founded successful cannery building an empire in banking, shipping, and real estate * March Fong Eu, politician * Matt Fong, politician * Maxine Hong Kingston, writer of '' The Woman Warrior'' and ''China Men'' * Joe Shoong, founder of the National Dollar Stores and philanthropist *Derrick Soo, homeless advocate; 2022 Oakland mayoral candidate * Rodney Yee, yoga instructor * Wendy Yoshimura, watercolor artist * William Wong, journalist and author

Government

Representatives

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

represented by

Laphonza Butler Laphonza Romanique Butler ( ; born May 11, 1979) is an American labor union official and former politician who served as an interim United States Senate, United States senator from California from 2023 to 2024. Butler began her career as a union ...

and

Alex Padilla Alejandro Padilla (born March 22, 1973) is an American politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from California, a seat he has held since 2021. A member of the Democrati ...

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

District 13 represented by

Barbara Lee Barbara Jean Lee (; born July 16, 1946) is an American politician who has served as the 52nd mayor of Oakland since 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Lee previously served as a United States House of Repr ...

California State Assembly The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature (the upper house being the California State Senate). The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento, Califor ...

District 18 represented by Mia Bonta **

California State Senate The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature (the lower house being the California State Assembly). The state senate convenes, along with the state assembly, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. ...

District 9 represented by Nancy Skinner ***

Alameda County Alameda County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,682,353, making it the 7th-most populous county in the state and 21st most populous nationally. The county seat is Oakland. A ...

District 3 (Chinatown, Jack London, Fruitvale, and San Antonio portions of Oakland, Alameda, San Leandro, San Lorenzo, Hayward Acres) represented by Lena Tam. ****

Oakland City Council The Oakland City Council is an elected governing body representing the City of Oakland, California. Since 1998, Oakland has had a mayor-council government. The mayor is elected for a four-year term. The Oakland City Council has eight council me ...

District 2 ( Grand Lake-Chinatown) represented by Nikki Fortunato Bas. ****Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao.

Police and fire

The Oakland Police Department's Administration Building is located at 455 Seventh St. Chinatown is in Oakland Police Department's Beat 3X. The Community Services Section hosts the Asian Advisory Committee on Crime and the Asian Youth Services Committee. The Chinatown Neighborhood Crime Prevention Council for beat 3x, a neighborhood community-policing board meets monthly. Meetings are conducted in

and are open to all. Oakland Fire Department, Fire Station No. 12 is located at 822 Alice Street at 9th Street.

Fire Engine A fire engine or fire truck (also spelled firetruck) is a vehicle, usually a specially designed or modified truck, that functions as a firefighting apparatus. The primary purposes of a fire engine include transporting firefighters and water to ...

12 is assigned to this

fire station __NOTOC__ A fire station (also called a fire house, fire hall, firemen's hall, or engine house) is a structure or other area for storing firefighting apparatuses such as fire apparatus, fire engines and related vehicles, personal protective equ ...

. The citizens of Oakland and the Oakland Fire Department will remember the service and sacrifice of Oakland Engine Company No. 12. Hoseman Tracy Toomey who died in the line of duty on January 10, 1999 in a 2-story building collapse after responding to a 6-alarm fire on upper Broadway.

Infrastructure

Transportation

Located at the crossroads of the 880 freeway, the tubes linking Alameda and Oakland, and downtown, Oakland Chinatown bears a significant burden imposed by automobile traffic that dates back to the 1950s. The traffic on I-880 exceeds 100,000 cars per day. Weekday and everyday commerce in the area creates thousands of peak period private automobile trips daily and resulting air pollution adversely affects the health of the neighborhood's elderly residents. Over 20,000 shoppers and tourists use its sidewalks every weekend. The neighborhood is connected to I-880 at an off-ramp (at 6th and Oak) and a corresponding on-ramp (at 5th and Oak); it also is connected to I-980 at off-ramps (at 6th & Broadway and 5th & Jackson) and an on-ramp (at 6th and Jackson). Oakland's Public Works Agency reconfigured travel lanes on Jackson Street to separate traffic travelling south on Jackson from traffic merging into Jackson from the slip lane of eastbound 7th Street. This effectively eliminated any possibility of the lost art of the alternating "zipper" merge, initially through signs and later updated with flex posts added around 2014. The volume of automobile traffic travelling away from the core of Chinatown on 7th Street towards these

freeway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway, and expressway. Other similar terms ...

connections remains heavy and unrelenting, resulting in numerous instances of drivers striking pedestrians. In fact, Chinatown has the highest concentration of automobiles colliding with pedestrians and bicycles in the City of Oakland; 30% of Chinatown's streets are on Oakland's

High Injury Network A high injury network (sometimes shortened to HIN) is a way of identifying parts of an urban street network with higher rates of traffic injuries or fatalities, typically with a goal of prioritizing these streets for safety interventions. High inj ...

, defined as the 6% of streets city-wide that see 63% of severe and fatal crashes. A safety campaign resulted in the first pedestrian scramble system in Alameda County, implemented in 2002 at the intersection of 8th and Webster to reduce pedestrian fatalities and injuries; it subsequently was expanded to four intersections (8th/9th and Webster/Franklin) in 2004. In addition, the I-880 Oakland Alameda Access Project, sponsored by the Alameda County Transportation Commission (CTC), is intended to improve connectivity between I-880/I-980 and Alameda, via the Posey and Webster Street Tubes. Currently, motorists must travel along busy Chinatown streets between the tubes and the freeway, and a more direct connection will reduce conflicts between cars and pedestrians.

Caltrans The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is an Executive (government), executive department of the U.S. state of California. The department is part of the Government of California#State agencies, cabinet-level California State Tran ...

and Alameda CTC propose to remove and reconfigure the freeway off-ramps in the area to reconfigure traffic flows. Until recently, California Auto Insurance company actuarial models charged higher rates to residents in the Chinatown's zip code under a practice known as territorial rating, or zip code profiling. The insurance actuarial theory behind this market practice purports that drivers residing or "principally garaging" their cars in a certain area face a greater loss and accident ratio. This practice was outlawed by California voters in 1988 by Proposition 103 on the statewide ballot. The law made its way through the courts for 18 years before several insurance companies settled with California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi in 2006 to put an end to the practice. Chinatown residents are twice as likely to take transit as residents city-wide, and 38% of households do not have access to a private motor vehicle. Many visitors to the neighborhood also use nearby mass transit connections. Oakland Chinatown is served by several

AC Transit AC Transit is the main Public transport bus service, bus transit operator in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, California. AC Transit is the third largest bus operator in California, serving the western portions of Alameda and C ...

bus lines which run on 7th, 8th, 11th, 12th, Broadway, and Franklin Streets, including Line 1T (Tempo) bus rapid transit service along 11th/12th, with Chinatown stops straddling Madison, Harrison, and Broadway. The neighborhood has two

BART Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area in California. BART serves List of Bay Area Rapid Transit stations, 50 stations along six routes and of track, including eBART, a spur line running t ...

stations nearby: 12th Street Oakland City Center station on its northwest corner, and Lake Merritt station at its eastern edge.

Education

Public schools

Residents of Chinatown are zoned to schools in the

Oakland Unified School District Oakland Unified School District is a public education school district that operates a total of 80 elementary schools (TK–5), middle schools (6–8), and high schools (9–12). There are also 28 district-authorized charter schools in Oakland, ...

. Zoned schools includ

* Lincoln Elementary School (Oakland, California), Lincoln Elementary School (K-5) *Westlake Middle School *

Oakland Technical High School Oakland Technical High School, known locally as Oakland Tech or simply "Tech", is a public high school in Oakland, California, United States, and is operated under the jurisdiction of the Oakland Unified School District. It is one of six compre ...

American Indian Public Charter School II, a charter school campus of the American Indian Model Schools system, is located in Chinatown.Murphy, Katy.
Oakland charter schools get high marks and skepticism
" '' The Oakland Tribune''. Monday November 3, 2008. Retrieved on September 11, 2011. It caters to students living in the Chinatown and Lake Merritt areas. In 2008 it shared a campus with Oakland Charter Academies (now Amethod Public Schools). The Lighthouse Community Charter School was established in Oakland's Chinatown in the 2004 – 2005 school year with grades K-2 and 6–8 and later expanded to serve grades K – 12. In the 2009–2010 school year, the school relocated to a facility close to the Oakland airport. Yu Ming Charter School, a Mandarin immersion charter school, currently serves grades K through 4. It will eventually grow to K through 8 by adding a grade every year. Formerly located at 321 10th Street, the school moved to 1086 Alcatraz Avenue in February 2013.

Colleges and universities

is a

community college A community college is a type of undergraduate higher education institution, generally leading to an associate degree, certificate, or diploma. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an open enr ...

located at the south end of Chinatown. Course offerings include Asian and Asian American Studies, Chinese language, Japanese language, and Chinese Opera (Music Department). It is a part of the Peralta Community College District. * Cal State East Bay has the Oakland Professional Development and Conference Center at Broadway and 11th Street.

Continuing education Continuing education is the education undertaken after initial education for either personal or professional reasons. The term is used mainly in the United States and Canada. Recognized forms of post-secondary learning activities within the d ...

courses includes a certificate program in ''Teaching Chinese as a Heritage or Other Language''.

Other education services

*The Mun Fu Yuen " Chinese school" has after school and weekend classes in Cantonese and Mandarin to promote the Chinese language and culture at the Shoong Family Chinese Cultural Center on 9th Street at Harrison. The Center was established in 1953 by philanthropist Joe Shoong with the support of the Oakland Chinese community. It is the original and longest established Chinese school in Oakland with graduates that have contributed much towards the welfare of our Oakland community.

Healthcare Services and Options

A source of healthcare for the surrounding community include Asian Health Services. Since 1974, they have provided the densely populated Asian community with health services including mental health, dental care, advocacy and opportunities to participate in community leadership. "To serve and advocate for the medically underserved, including the immigrant and refugee Asian community...", is an integral part of their mission statement. There are several Asian Health Services buildings in Chinatown, centered on 8th and Webster, including: * Chenming & Margaret Hu Medical Center (818 Webster) * Rolland & Kathryn Lowe Medical Center (835 Webster) * ARC Clinic (817 Harrison) * Main Dental Clinic (345 9th) * Mental Health (310 8th)

References

Books

* * Collins, Willie R. (Ed.) (1994). ''Chinese traditional arts and folklore in Oakland''. City of Oakland Cultural Arts Division's Traditional Arts Program. * Ma, Eve Armentrout and Ma, Jeong Huei (1982). ''The Chinese of Oakland: Unsung Builders'' Oakland Chinese History Research Committee. * National Park Service History
A History of Chinese Americans in California
Retrieved June 7, 2005. * Wa Sung Community Service Club. ''Oakland Chinatown Community Directory 2005''. * Wong, William (2004). ''Oakland's Chinatown'' (Images of America: California).

Arcadia Publishing Arcadia Publishing is an American Publishing, publisher of neighborhood, local history, local, and regional history of the United States in pictorial form.(analysis of the successful ''Images of America'' series). Arcadia Publishing also runs th ...

AsianWeek reviewSan Francisco Chronicle review
*Fong Torres, Ben (1994). ''The Rice Room: Growing up Chinese-American—From Number Two Son to Rock 'n' Roll''.

Websites

*
Shoong Family Chinese Cultural Center: Chinatown, Oakland

External links

Oakland Chinatown History
overview, personal histories, and photos
Oakland Chinatown Chamber of CommerceTaste More Than China In Oakland's Chinatown
SF Chronicle August 9, 2000

AsianWeek Sept 2, 1999

press release

Library of Congress' American Memory website
Oakland Asian Cultural CenterOakland Chinatown Oral History Project
– inter-generational oral history project to collect and preserve the ongoing narrative of community life in Oakland Chinatown {{Authority control Asian-American culture in Oakland, California Neighborhoods in Oakland, California Chinese-American culture in the San Francisco Bay Area

Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...