The First Suburban Chinatown: The Remaking of Monterey Park, California

by Timothy P. Fong

Monterey Park, California, was dubbed by the media as the First Suburban Chinatown. This book reports on how pervasive anti-Asian sentiment fueled a series of initiatives intended to strengthen community control. It also explores how race and ethnicity issues are used as political organizing tools and weapons.

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

Reviews

[Sheldon Chau · Rating 4 out of 5]

Straightforward recap of the evolution of Monterey Park from a classic “American” suburb to one where the immigrant population now thrives. It’s a journey filled with racism and classism, but one worth reading about. The writing takes a more stats-based approach, so it’s not the most exciting writing style, but the fact that this is about the neighborhood I grew up in notches it some bonus points.

[Jimmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some reviews of book deserve to be a full hour conversation rather than a written blurb. This is one of them though I will keep it brief. I started to read this because local history fascinates me and the work's focus on how Monterey Park became a Chinese suburb made it even more interesting. I appreciated the author giving some historical background of Monterey Park itself before talking about the immigration of ethnic Chinese, which gave me an appreciation of what Monterey Park was like before the 1970s rush of Asians. Here the author gave interesting bits of information along the way, such as how Monterey Park in the 1920s had an agreement among real estate agents to only sell property to white people and that in April 1924 there was a KKK meeting inducting new members in Garvey Avenue that had 20,000 people coming out to see it. History is ironic, today Garvey Avenue is where people get cheap Chinese food and no doubt the God of History has a sense of humor in this irony. It was also a book that gave me some background to who Repetto was, and the story behind the Cascade waterfall and the current Chamber of Commerce building. But the gist of the book was focused on the conflict of old time locals who were into "slow growth" of the city versus those who were new and freshly immigrated. I admit I haven't had the best experience of Asian American studies literature in the past but this is one of the better works--and I must also say I enjoyed it. The author's explanation of things was not simplistic and his historiography was able to combine interviews critically along with statistics and a good amount of citation of local newspapers and election fliers. Fong points out that driving behind all the back and forth rhethorics of accusation of racism was really a competition of interests--between land developers and those who wish to retain their property values, etc. I appreciated his explanation for the sudden immigration of Chinese to Monterey Park was due to influences in the International scene of American diplomacy under Nixon with China and the UN recognizing the PRC rather than Taiwan as the legitimate Chinese state as the source of instability of the future that prompted many to move to America. That, and coupled with a man who decided to buy land in Monterey Park and sell ads in Hong Kong and Taiwan that Monterey Park is the "Chinese Beverly Hills." I also thought his explanation for the economic phenomenon of cheap Chinese shops was quite sound: due to the huge jump in real estate value due to land speculation in Monterey Park, most businesses could not afford to stay in Monterey Park and thus when there's no money to be made with loss businesses, land owners would decide to cater to have many smaller businesses in order to make their money; these smaller businesses would barely get by and with the increase of many competitors would then be lowering their prices with free in-house family laborers to get by financially. This of course, wouldn't do the city any good in collecting tax revenue, prompting greater conflict in the city in the midst of a large cultural change. As I said before, there are so much to say about this book. Even as I read the work I was conscious that this book was written 20 years ago--and that has also brought other developments in Monterey Park as well. At the same time, it made me think of memories of my childhood growing up in Monterey Park. This work was also interesting for me to see names that I recognize in Monterey Park politics and law enforcement and their younger political and/or community beginnings. Excellent work in social, economic and historical analysis.

[Travis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was of particular interest to me as a Monterey Park resident and local political-watcher. However, Fong's deep dive into the political and economic tides of the city - and the San Gabriel Valley more broadly - in the decades following World War II present an important case study for suburban communities nationwide in this time of accelerating demographic change.

Monterey Park was the first majority-Asian American community in the continental United States, it elected the first Asian American woman mayor in 1982, and was dubbed "the Chinese Beverly Hills" as early as the 1970s . Though the city has been on the leading edge of Asian American political empowerment, now 40 years later, its diversity is far from unique among America's big city suburbs. For that reason, the early travails of a city in flux are just as instructive now as they were in the mid-1990s when this book was first penned.

Note that this book in not just about Asian America or even demographic trends writ large. It is about the future of suburban life - the debate of growth vs preservation; big box retailers vs mom and pop shops; assimilation vs separation - all against the backdrop of growing inter- and intra-ethnic tensions. It is interesting 26-years after the publication of this book, that the city's politics are still very much animated by the cleavages that Fong describes. At the precipice of generational shift in local leadership, here's hoping that a new cohort of leaders in our city - and cities like ours - can help heal old wounds and, with an eye on inclusion, vitality and sustainability, begin once again to remake our communities.