Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
While the re-branding of New York City neighborhoods might be a favorite pastime of realtors and developers,
some corners of Gotham have roots that burrow deep into the city's psyche. Chinatown and Little Italy are two
such areas, their myriad tales an indelible part of New York City lore.
Five Points
Beneath the verdant appeal of Chinatown's Columbus Park lurks a dark and dirty history. In the 19th century, the
site formed part of America's most wretched slum, Five Points. A diseased, unregulated jumble of slaughter-
houses, tanneries, taverns and brothels, its ill-repute drew a steady stream of high-end New Yorkers on voyeurist-
ic 'slumming tours'. Among the foreign visitors was English scribe Charles Dickens, who later mused: 'Debauch-
ery has made the very houses prematurely old'.
From Bust to Boom
The history of Chinese immigrants in New York City is long and tumultuous. The first Chinese people to arrive in
America worked on the Central Pacific Railroad, while others hit the west coast in search of gold. When pro-
spects dried up, many moved to NYC to work in factory assembly lines and laundry houses. Escalating racism led
to the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882-1943), which made naturalization an impossibility and largely squashed the
opportunity for mainland Chinese to find work in the US. With the introduction of the fairer Immigration and Na-
tionality Act of 1965, Chinese migration boomed, and today over 150,000 citizens fill the tenement-like struc-
tures orbiting Mott St.
Crooners & Mobsters
Unlike Chinatown, neighboring Little Italy has been steadily shrinking over the last 50 years. Despite the
changes, history looms large: Mulberry Street Bar at 176½ Mulberry St was a favorite haunt of the late Frank
Sinatra, and alcohol was openly traded on the corner of Mulberry and Kenmare Sts during Prohibition (leading to
its nickname, the 'Curb Exchange'), while 247 Mulberry St was once a hangout for infamous mobsters Lucky
Luciano and John Gotti.
