Upcoming Chinatown Events, Local News and More




Chinatown YMCA's Founders' Reception


You're invited to celebrate Good Jean Lau and EmblemHealth!

The Chinatown YMCA's Founders' Award honors those who have made a significant contribution in improving the lives of kids and families in Lower Manhattan.

  

Friday, December 5, 2014  |  6:00 pm - 9:00 pm

  

MOCA - Museum of Chinese in America
215 Centre Street, New York, NY 10013

 

Hors d'oeuvres and cocktails will be served.

  

Purchase tickets online. Support this event with your journal ad. 

  

For more information click HERE.
 

Smackdown: Battle of the Chinatowns - New York vs. San Francisco
(Vote For New York!)


Each week, Yahoo Travel pits rival destinations against each other to determine once and for all which one is the best. Up this week are two Chinatowns: San Francisco vs. New York City.


(Photo: Thinkstock)

San Francisco's Chinatown may boast historical significance, but the Empire State is where the story begins - when the Empress of China traveled from New York harbor to Canton in 1784 (tea party, anyone?). Despite the area's significant loss of its Asian population in the most recent census count, this Chinatown also claims to have the largest Chinese-American hub in the country. New York City's Chinatown is a lot more bustling and diverse, with more sensory experiences for urban adventurers. While the neighborhood's original Broadway-like-theaters are gone, the number of garment factories have declined, and the supply stores are scant these days on the Bowery, Chinatown is still active. If it's a lucky day, you'll pass a number of restaurants filled with weddings. How can you tell? Look for the party favor of choice sitting on the tables: a big Canola oil bottle topped with a bow. And yet, it's also becoming gentrified, with clashes of cultures forming contemporary intersections that may evolve into an entirely different picture in the future. 

To read full article click HERE.

 

Vision Zero - New 25mph Speed Limit FAQ

Click to Download Complete FAQ PDF




To view full size document click HERE.


Chinatown Street Closures:  Centre Street


On StreetCENTRE STREET
Cross Street OneHOGAN PLACE
Cross Street TwoWHITE STREET
BoroughManhattan
Start Date10/30/2014 02:25 PM
End Date11/21/2014 11:58 PM
PurposePLACE CRANE OR SHOVEL ON STREET
NoteSUBJECT TO CLOSURE
 
For more info, visit:  http://gis.nyc.gov/streetclosure/


Chinatown Welcome Gateway on opening scene every Saturday Night
SNL 40th Season New Opening
SNL 40th Season New Opening

The opening of SNL has a clip of our Chinatown Welcome Gateway.
Click on the video to check it out.


Small Business Saturday

BE PART OF AN AMERICAN STORY

SHOP SMALL IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD ON NOV 29

The story of America is written in every small business. It's written in the cafes where we meet our first loves. And in the boutiques where we buy our babies' clothes. On Nov 29, be there for the businesses that are there for you to help write the next chapter.

To find more information click HERE.

 
MOCAREADS: Into the Wilds of a Changing China with Val Wang


Join Val Wang as she shares her unique, not-quite-outsider's Chinese American perspective of life and the independent cultural scenes in contemporary China. She will read excerpts from her memoir, Beijing Bastard, and share film excerpts from China's Sixth Generation directors.

 

Val's humorous and moving memoir chronicles her coming-of-age journey and also discovery of a city rebelling against its roots. Raised by Chinese �migr� parents in the American suburbs, Val chafed against their rigid expectations for her to become a doctor or lawyer. After being inspired by seeing the underground Chinese film Beijing Bastards in 1995, she embarked on a unique form of rebellion: moving to Beijing with the secret ambition to become an artist. She worked as a journalist and became a subtitler and friend to a cohort of underground filmmakers who were telling previously untold stories about contemporary China. These so-called Sixth Generation filmmakers worked in opposition to the lavish costume dramas and the propaganda of the state-run media that extolled the virtues of the country's transition to capitalism. Instead they shot loose, observational documentaries and feature films that showed the effects of these social and economic transformations on everyday people.

 

At this event, Val will talk about the affinity that she as a second-generation American immigrant had with the Chinese filmmakers and read from Beijing Bastard, as well as screen clips from the works of seminal filmmakers such as Zhang Yuan (Beijing Bastards, Crazy English), Wu Wenguang (Bumming in Beijing), and Yang Lina (Home Video). Book signing to follow.

 

This program is co-presented by Asian CineVision (ACV).Lesley Yiping Qin, ACV's Program Manager, will be moderating. 

 

Admission: $12/Adult; $7/Student & Senior; FREE for MOCA Member

To register click HERE.

 
Memoir Writing Workshop
4 SESSIONS: MONDAYS NOV 17, 24, DEC 1, 8 FROM 11:00 TO 12:30
 

Have you been meaning to get your family story down on paper? Are there photographs and ephemera whose stories you want to record and pass down to the next generation? In this supportive classroom environment, share your family objects and anecdotes and be prompted to write about them in class. Each week you'll focus on a different family object or event, and the end result will be the beginning of a valuable family document.

$15 per class; $50 for all 4 classes - Space is limited and reservations are required.

 

 
To RSVP click HERE.


In Chinatown, 
Getting Auras to Say Cheese
nytimes.com / JACKIE SNOW


At Magic Jewelry, on Centre Street just off Canal, one can buy all manner of healing crystals and semiprecious stones. But most of the people who filed into the tiny shop on a recent rainy Saturday were there to have their auras captured.

 

Suzie Lechtenberg, 38, sat in front of a black cloth in the corner of the store and placed her hands, palms down, on metal sensors. In front of her was a bulky black box with wires running into it from the sensors. Debbie Chan, the store's feng shui master, explained that the sensors detected a person's energy and sent the information to the camera. Ms. Lechtenberg held still for about 10 seconds while Ms. Chan took a photo.

 

Ms. Lechtenberg was with her husband, Graham McKay, 38, who carried the hesitant air of someone unsure of just how this aura business was supposed to work. Ms. Lechtenberg had been through it before. She had posed for a similar photo a few months earlier, and was back again for her birthday.

"I think I want to come in every birthday," Ms. Lechtenberg said.

 

Magic Jewelry specializes in feng shui, crystals and horoscope readings, but it is the only company in the city that photographs auras. Next year, it will celebrate the 20th anniversary of its first location, in Flushing; in addition to that store and the Centre Street outpost, there is another Magic Jewelry in Chinatown as well as one in Brooklyn. While each store has an aura camera, the Centre Street location is the most popular for the photos; it attracts parents of newborns, work colleagues on their way to happy hour and a steady stream of tourists. The store says that as many as 500 customers come in each month.


To read full article click HERE.

 

City Living: 
Chinatown Stays Authentic Despite Changing City
amny.com / KARINA E. CUEVAS

(Credit: Anthony Lanzilote)

In a city like New York where change is inevitable, Chinatown strives to maintain its traditions and culture.

In 2010, out of the 500,000 Chinese residents in the city, 47,000 lived in Chinatown, according to the U.S. Census. The city currently has the largest Chinese American community in the country.

Generations of families have passed through its narrow streets and many more are welcomed every year as it continues to attract Asian immigrants.

"It's convenience really," Wendy Wong, 59, resident of Chinatown since 1969, said of why they come. "A lot of new immigrants come and they don't speak the language [English] and this is familiar to them."

Within Chinatown there are distinct groups made up of people from several regions in China and other Asian countries such as Thailand, Korea and Vietnam. It is one of the most diverse neighborhoods in Manhattan.

The first wave of Chinese immigrants in New York City started settling during the 18th century.

Around 1965, after the United States enacted the Immigration and Nationality Act allowing more immigrants from Asia to enter the country, the Chinese population grew considerably and Chinatown began to prosper.

In the 1990s, Chinese immigrants continued to arrive in droves and spilled farther toward the Lower East Side. By 2009, the Chinese population expanded over to East Broadway, growing the neighborhood's boundaries with them.

To read full article click HERE

 


NYC announced last year that its residents, including businesses and government entities, would be able to get a custom domain to match the place they call home -- something London has done as well. With the first two phases of the rollout now complete, which gave first dibs to city officials and trademark owners, it's finally time for the general availability of top-level domains for New York City. In order to qualify, you'll need to show proof that you live within one of the five boroughs (Brooklyn, Manhattan, Staten Island, The Bronx and Queens). To make things easier, NYC teamed up with over 50 registrars, among which are GoDaddy, Network Solutions, Domain.com and Name.com, with prices per domain ranging anywhere from $25 to $50. They're on a first come, first served basis, however, so hurry if you're interested.
 

I spoke to Jeff Neuman, vice president of registry services at Neustar, who is involved with the initiative, and he told me that this is a way for New York City to give its residents a digital space only for them. "It's an incredibly strong brand. We couldn't be more excited about this launch," Newman added. For those who live here in The Big Apple, the city is celebrating the launch by hosting a shindig at the Flatiron Plaza today, starting at 1PM ET, where there will be food, swag and an on-site registration process.

 

Bonus: GoDaddy doesn't want New Jersey to know.

 

[Image credits: Associated Press; John Minchillo/AP Images for GoDaddy]

To read full article click HERE


 

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TD Bank Volunteers Cleans Up Chinatown on November 15






Veterans Day Parade - Honoring Veterans









Key Club Volunteers Cleanup Chinatown, You Can Too, Contact Us to Find Out How
November 8, 2014