Chinatown, 1938

1938, Looking east along Marchessault Street from Alameda Street in Old Chinatown, with the framing of Union Station's new clock tower visible in the background.  Thank you to Jack Feldman.  See the comments in that link.  Jack provides the Water & Power Museum link.  Very cool.  The scene in the photo above is the location of Union Station.  

1937 vs. 2021, View looking east of what was then Marchessault Street, now entryway to Union Station, from Alameda Street.  This area was once part of Old Chinatown. 

Bob Chaparro gives some interesting background. 

Old China Town was wiped out by the construction of LAUPT [Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal]. In the process numerous tunnels were discovered. The Chinese residents built the tunnels to provide safe access to various business and homes after the riots and massacre of 1871. In October 1871, tensions were running high in Chinatown because of a feud between leaders of two rival Huiguan (mutual benefit associations) over the kidnapping of a young Chinese woman. A shootout between several Chinese men broke out in the middle of Negro Alley. The ensuing response by two police officers resulted in the wounding of one of the officers and the death of a civilian who assisted the officers, Robert Thompson. The shooters took cover in the Coronel Building. Word quickly spread that Chinese had killed Thompson, a popular former saloon owner. A mob of rioters quickly grew to 500 people, ten percent of the population of the city. The rioters forced the Chinese out of the Coronel Building and dragged the captured Chinese to makeshift gallows at Tomlinson’s corral and Goller’s wagon shop. When John Goller protested that his children were present, a rioter pressed a gun to his face and said, "Dry up, you son of a bitch." After Goller’s portico crossbar was filled with seven hanging bodies, the crowd dragged three more victims to a nearby freight wagon and hung them from the high side of the wagon. While there are varying accounts of exactly what transpired, there is no disputing the brutality and savagery of that night. The next morning, seventeen bodies were laid out in the jail yard, grim evidence of the horrific events of the previous night. The eighteenth victim, the first man hanged, had been buried the night before. Ten percent of the Chinese population had been killed. One of the Chinese caught up in the mob violence was the respected Dr. Gene Tong. In fact, of the killed, only one is thought to have participated in the original gunfight. Though a grand jury returned 25 indictments for the murder of the Chinese, only ten men stood trial. Eight rioters were convicted on manslaughter charges, but the charges were overturned on a legal technicality and the defendants were never retried.

1938, Looking toward City Hall from the southeast corner of Alameda and Marchessault, where the Tuey Far-Low Café stands.  Thank you to Jack Feldman.  Feldman links to the Water & Power Museum.