Chinatown Archives | GothamToGo

Celebrate The Year of the Rabbit in NYC ~ It’s Lunar New Year 2023

This year, Chinese New Year ~ The Year of the Rabbit ~ falls on Sunday, January 22nd, with the celebrations lasting before and after. Even though we are firmly in Winter, this Holiday is also known as the Spring Festival, and is the longest Chinese Holiday, with celebrations up to 16 days. It is a time for praying to gods and fighting off monsters. Here are a few suggestions for celebrating The Lunar New Year in NYC, The Year of the Rabbit.

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Chinatown Recipient of 11 Transformational Projects as Part of Downtown Revitalization Initiative

Chinatown, Preservation

Governor Kathy Hochul today announced eleven transformational projects in Chinatown as part of its $20 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative Award. In Round 5 of the Downtown Revitalization Initiative, the Regional Economic Development Councils had the opportunity to award two communities $10 million each or one community $20 million. The New York City Regional Economic Development Council chose to award Chinatown a $20 million award in recognition of the specific and acute effects of the pandemic on Chinatown’s businesses and the wider Asian diaspora in New York City. With these revitalization projects, this historic community can thrive again and open its unique corridors, restaurants, businesses, parks and cultural institutions, becoming, once again, a place to visit and celebrate the ethnic diversity of the Chinatown community in the Lower East Side.

Take a look at a Story Map created by National Trust for Historic Preservation on Preserving Chinatowns in the United States (2022).

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Celebrating Lunar New Year 2022 in NYC ~ The Year of the Tiger

Chinatown, Lunar New Year

Best Chinatown USA Lunar New Year Parade 2018

Tuesday, February 1st is the first day of the 15 day Lunar New Year celebration. Events will take place throughout our five boroughs. Here are a few suggestions for the 2022 NYC Lunar New Year ~ The Year of the Tiger.

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‘Responses: Asian American Voices Resisting the Tides of Racism’ Opens at Museum of Chinese in America

AAPI, Chinatown, Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA)

Asians for Black Lives: An unnamed woman at a Black Lives Matter rally near the White House, Washington DC. She is holding a sign that says “Yellow Peril Supports Black Power.” Photograph by Mengyu Dong

The doors of The Museum of Chinese in America are back open after a fire that nearly devastated their collection. Responses: Asian American Voices Resisting the Tides of Racism will open on July 15th. It is an exhibit that helps to navigate through a plethora of targeted assaults across the country, and a way to explore solutions, including raising a collective voice against anti-Asian hate and violence.

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‘Rice Terraces’ by Dasic Fernandez the 2021 Doyers Street NYC DOT Asphalt Art Activations Street Mural

AAPI, Chinatown, DOT ARTS, Doyers Street, Murals, Street Art

New Street Mural on Doyers Street in Chinatown entitled Rice Terraces by artist Dasic Fernandez. Image via Instagram

Chilean-born New York street artist Dasic Fernandez was the commissioned artist for this year’s NYC DOT’s ‘Asphalt Art Activations‘ mural project on the historic Doyers Street in Chinatown. Her mural, which was unveiled this week, is entitled Rice Terraces and spans the entire 4,851 square feet, at 200 feet long. The artwork was unveiled this week.

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Assembly for Chinatown creates Vibrant Murals for Chinatown Restaurants

AAPI, Chinatown, Murals

Site #5: 388 Deli & Cafe ~ 1 Eldrige with mural by Sara Bao. Image via thinkchinatown.org

A women-led team consisting of Rachel Chaos of Chaos Built, A+A+A Design Studio’s Andrea, Ari and Ashley, and the mural artists, Kat Lam, Rose Wong, Jennifer Palomaa, sarula Bao, Jia Sung, Vanessa Nguyen and Chanel Miller, with Volunteer Coordinator, Alison Chi and On-Site Coordinator, Alice Liu, along with Yin Kong, project curator and producer joined forces with Think!Chinatown to launch ‘Assembly for Chinatown‘ ~ beautifully personalized open-air outdoor dining spaces on nine sites for thirteen businesses (and more to come).

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David Zheng: Where Did All The Flowers Go? a Three-Day Photographic Exhibition of Chinatown During the Pandemic

Chinatown, Photography

Photographer David Zheng presents his solo exhibition and the release of his new artist book, Where Did All the Flowers Go?, in a pop-up gallery in Chinatown, NY. The exhibition opens June 10 and continues until June 13, 2021, on 55 Chrystie Street, NY. The show will feature photographs taken in New York’s Chinatown during the initial three-month COVID-19 lockdown period. Additionally, the space will house portraits of the neighborhood’s residents, as a compilation of stories plays through audio in an enclosed room; all of which were captured during a series of community engagements hosted by the artist in the 4 weeks leading up to the show’s opening. The exhibition will be open to the public.

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NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission Designated the Kimlau War Memorial in Chinatown a NYC Landmark

AAPI, Chinatown, NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission, Preservation

Kimlau War Memorial at Kimlau Square in Chinatown. Image via NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

NYC Landmarks Preservation commission voted June 22, 2021 to designate the Kimlau War Memorial in Chinatown a New York City Landmark. The Kimlau War Memorial is significant for its association with the architect Pay G. Lee, and for its importance as a monument dedicated to the contributions of Chinese American veterans.

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Spread Love: Stop Asian Hate Mural Unveiled in Chinatown

Chinatown, Murals, Street Art

Stop the Hate mural by artist Bianco Romero. Image via CBS news.

The mural, Spread Love: Stop Asian Hate by New York-based Korean and Spanish artist Bianco Romero was unveiled on Saturday, May 22nd on the side of the building housing the New York Chinese Alliance Church.

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CITYarts Begins Mural Restoration in Chinatown’s St. James Triangle Park

Chinatown, CITYarts, Graffiti, Lower East Side, Murals, Street Art

CITYarts restoration of ‘Flowering Vine & Us’ mural in Chinatown’s St. James Triangle Park. Image credit: Shirt Paamony Eshel.

CITYarts, a not-for-profit that connects local youth with professional artists to collaborate on public art, recently began the restoration of their ‘Flowering Vine & Us’ in St. James Triangle Park, located in Chinatown. In keeping with social distancing measures, the painting is being done in small groups, masks required.

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Unveiling of Permanent Monument to Dr. Sun Yat-sen in Columbus Park, Chinatown

Chinatown, NYC Parks Department

Unveiling of Dr. Sun Yat-sen statue in Columbus Park. Image credit: Daniel Avila/NYC Park

On the anniversary of the 153 birthday of Dr. Sun Yat-sen ~ founder of the Republic of China ~ a permanent sculpture depicting the early 20th-century revolutionary figure was placed in the northern plaza at Columbus Park in Chinatown.

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Rendering for The Dragon’s Roar at The Gateway to Chinatown

Art Installation, Chinatown, DOT ARTS

In 2017, a Request for Proposals went out for a sculpture to be placed at the Gateway to Chinatown on a triangular plaza, where Canal and Walker Streets intersect.

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Get Ready for 2019 #SeasonalStreet on Doyers Street in Chinatown NYC

Chinatown, DOT ARTS, Street Art

Doyers Street, Chinatown looking toward Nam Wah Tea Parlor

Artist Dan Monteavaro aka #MONCHO1929 has been commissioned to create the #AsphaltArt for this season’s mural on Doyers Street in Chinatown.

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Celebrating The Chinese New Year 2019 ~ The Year of the Pig

by AFineLyne, Chinatown, Lunar New Year

February 5th officially kicks-off the Chinese Lunar New Year ~ The Year of the Pig. It is said that those born in the Year of the Pig (1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019) are realistic, energetic, enthusiastic and a little materialistic.

There are so many ways to celebrate. Here are just a few suggestions…..

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Chen Dongfan: The Song of Dragon and Flowers on Doyers Street in Chinatown

Chinatown, DOT ARTS, Street Art

The Chinatown BID, NYC DOTart, Fou Gallery and ArtBridge have come together to present the street mural Chen Dongfan: The Song of Dragon and Flowers.

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