[URBAN NOTE] On East Chinatown

[rfmcdonald]

Over at Spacing Toronto, I've come across a post ("The Melancholy of East Chinatown"), by OCAD students Kevin Liu, Jennifer Yim and Houtina Chim, describing the numerous existential problems facing one of Toronto's Chinatowns, arguably one of the least prominent now, East Chinatown located at the intersection of Broadview Avenue and Gerrard Street, on the east side of the Don River. They are not positive about the area's future.

Any true Chinatown is an experience for all senses. You smell a concoction of everything from live fish, cardboard boxes full of bok choy, to whiffs of barbecue-sauced pork. You hear the grocery store workers boast of discounts in thick rural Chinese accents, and you see an array of amateur signage in a jumbled assortment of colours and languages. We walk through the intersection of Broadview and Gerrard often, passing by without a second glance. Chinatown is Chinatown, we think to ourselves. But take a closer look into East Chinatown, and you’ll realize that although signs may be up, the interiors are largely empty—reminiscent of what was once a much livelier neighbourhood.

You’ll begin to notice the shops that are left. These mostly tend to be grocery stores and Vietnamese restaurants. The ones that aren’t Vietnamese have remained relatively unchanged for over a decade.

The tale of East Chinatown is one of decline that accelerated ten years ago during Toronto’s bid for the 2008 summer Olympic games. Proposals to build the Olympic village near East Chinatown raised its surrounding property values. But as we all know, in 2001, Toronto lost that bid to Beijing; and in turn, down went the property values until the development of the film studios by the southern Portlands. As land value rose again, the Chinese living in the community took the opportunity to sell their houses for more than double what they originally bought them for and with the returns moved up north amongst the new generation of established Hong Kong immigrants.

Today, you don’t have to go to a Chinatown to get kai lan (Chinese broccoli) or Hoisin sauce. They can be found in T&T Supermarkets or smaller chains of Chinese grocers all across the city. Even some Western grocery stores may stock a good amount of specialized Asian food ingredients.

While the demographic of the surrounding area has changed, the stores largely have not. The newer Chinese generation, the few that are left in the area, are more attracted to the clean and friendly T&T Supermarket on Cherry Street. Many of the new residents that have since moved in have no interest in pirated Hong Kong television dramas, or phone cards, or kai lan. They’re also given an array of food options outside the immediate area that are in direct competition with East Chinatown. They can eat on the Danforth. They can dine, drink espressos and visit galleries on the gentrifying Queen Street East. Or they can drop by the renovated stores at Gerrard Square. For many who walk through East Chinatown, it’s not their intended destination, but the in-between transition zone to a destination.

The discussion in the post's comments are enlightening, pretty much everyone agreeing with the assessment of Chinatown, many arguing that locals just aren't interested in the neighbourhood, many saying that the area needs drastic investment in its appearances and in its sidewalks (among other things) to attract people. A Google search surprisingly few high-quality hits, just links to restaurant reviews and articles describing Toronto's various Chinatowns of which this is only one. My own experience of East Chinatown is vaguely positive, some place near where friends used to live, some place with nice restaurants despite shabby exteriors, but that's really it. The area could certainly use some investment, but it definitely needs some kind of web presence if it doesn't want posts like this one and Spacing's to be all that's out there on the Internet.