Los Angeles Chinatown
A few Chinese immigrants came to Los Angeles before 1850. They settled along the Calle de Los Negros, near the central plaza. Their numbers increased when the Southern Pacific began to construct a railroad from San Francisco in the 1870s. Chinese farmers leased land from the estates of Juan Apablasa and Benjamin Wilson. The Los Angeles Chinatown grew up next to Sonoratown, Little Italy and Frenchtown. There were slaughterhouses to the south, railroad yards to the east, the Old Spanish Plaza to the north and a growing downtown to the west.

Religion Was Central to Chinese Life
While some Chinese gravitated to the Christian missions, most immigrants were either Buddhist or Taoist. Cai Shen, the god of wealth, Guan Gong, the protector and god of war, and Guanyin, the goddess of mercy, were the images most often seen in shrines and temples. Many of these buildings were quite elaborate, with carved wood interiors, embroidered banners, votive hangings, tables with offerings of fruit and meat, cast-bronze altar vessels and incense burners.

Scene of two men walking toward Chinatown building. Los Angeles Street Courtesy of Seaver Center for Western History Research, Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History

Chinese patriarchal customs and immigration laws in both China and the United States kept most Chinese women from immigrating, except the wives of a small merchant class. In 1910, Chinese women numbered only 5% of the total Chinese population. Anti-miscegenation laws meant that few Chinese men married Caucasian women, so Chinese communities were mostly made up of bachelors. Chinese men worked long hours with very little free time. Lonely and isolated from their homes and families in China, many spent their leisure time indulging in escapist activities such as gambling, music, visiting prostitutes and sometimes smoking opium. Letter writers helped men compose letters to their families, which often included money and photographs.

Underground Opium Den. H.F. Farny. Bachelors visited opium dens to socialize and spend their free time. These places were also popular with non-Chinese - both as customers and as tourist attractions. Courtesy of California Historical Society, FN-31954

Woman behind caged door Immigration laws kept most Chinese women out of the United States. In 1910, Chinese women numbered only 5% of the total Chinese population. Therefore, men frequented prostitution houses.  Courtesy of Colorado Historical Society

Stores and Cafes Catered to Workingmen
By the 1880s most Chinese men in Los Angeles were growing fruits and vegetables on small tracts of land leased along Adams Street, Pico and West Washington. Chinese peddlers sold nearly all the produce consumed in the city. After work, these men frequented the cafe in Chinatown to get a hot meal of noodles or rice with vegetables. They visited the dry-goods shops to stock up on simple provisions and to exchange gossip, play cards, and catch up on community news.

Young Produce Company, Los Angeles.  When City Market opened, many Chinese involved in the produce wholesale moved into that Los Angeles area. Courtesy of Photo Collection, Los Angeles Public Library.

Chen Yip Leong, Vegetable Merchant, Los Angeles. Courtesy of Photo Collection, Los Angeles Public Library.

Aliso Street, Los Angeles.  Before Chinese food became acceptable to western palates, curio shops established a legitimate reason to visit Chinatown. They were safe for American ladies and children. Courtesy of Photo Collection, Los Angeles Public Library

Fong See and Letticie Moved to Los Angeles in 1897
Considering Los Angeles a safer place to raise a family, Fong See and Letticie moved their business from Sacramento in 1897. They bypassed Chinatown when they first arrived, instead opening a store on First Street, between Spring and Broadway. They still sold underwear and curios, but soon expanded the business to include Asian antiquities.

Mon Chong & Company, Apablasa Street, Los Angeles. Courtesy of Seaver Center for Western History Research, Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History.

Chinese Ritual and Procession, Los Angeles.  The Chinese maintained traditional practice of wedding and funeral processions in Chinatown. Note Bunker Hill in the distant scenery. Courtesy of Seaver Center for Western History Research, Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History.

Five Children were Born before 1910 Anna Mueller, a German midwife, delivered Milton (Ming Fook) See in 1898. Ray (Ming Hong) followed in 1900. Bennie (Ming Loy) was born in 1903. Eddy (Ming Quan) arrived in 1906, and Florence (Jun Oy) in 1909. All of the children attended American schools, where the older boys especially felt discrimination. Fong See expected his children to obey Chinese traditions. For Florence that meant no playing or roller-skating and lots of embroidery practice. For the boys, it meant working in the family business, selling merchandise door to door, "antiquing" sewing baskets and decorating them with tassels, beads, and Peking glass rings. See Family Portrait, 1914.  Top Row: Ray and Milton. Bottom Row: Eddy, Fong See, Florence, Letticie and Bennie. Courtesy of Leslee See Leong. Eddy, Florence, and Fong See. Courtesy of Leslee See Leong

F. Suie One Attracted Customers from Outside Chinatown   Auction at the F.Suie One Company, circa 1910 - 1915      The Sees conducted auctions to sell silks, embroideries,  screens, bronzes, teak furniture, porcelains, and antiques. Courtesy of Leslee See Leong.   F. Suie One merchandise evolved toward antique porcelains, bronzes, furniture, silks and embroideries. The Sees arranged curios near the front, with both the price and quality of goods increasing as customers moved deeper into the store. Soon they were holding auctions, traveling to China, displaying at international expositions and adding new locations in Long Beach, Ocean Park and Pasadena. Patrons included wealthy tourists wintering in Pasadena, Hollywood celebrities like Mae West and Edward G. Robinson, famous architects including Frank Lloyd Wright and Charles and Henry Greene and collectors such as Avery Brundage and dealers like Grace Nicholson, who built the gallery that later became the Pacific Asia Museum. Fong See Outside Los Angeles Street Store, circa 1906.  Courtesy of Leslee See Leong.

Buying Trips to China In 1919, Fong See again traveled to China, this time taking his entire family. He wanted his children to meet their relatives and see his home village, Dimtao. He wanted to teach the older boys how to buy. On this trip, Fong See realized that in America he had to limit his expectations, but that in China he could be an important man owning a hotel and factories. When Fong See announced that Eddy should remain in China and take care of these enterprises, Ticie cut the trip short, returning to Los Angeles with all her children in January 1920.
	Sehwan temple foo dogs Photograph by Susan Einstein Courtesy of the Autrey Museum of Western Heritage
		Temple hanging with tassles. Photograph by Susan Einstein Courtesy of Autry Museum  of Western Heritage

Learning What to Buy
Americans had generally followed European tastes in Chinese antiques until 1911, when the revolution in China flooded the market with Imperial artifacts. Ming porcelains and scrolls, palace appointments and court robes were a bargain for Fong See. He purchased whatever people were willing to sell: ancient bronze ritual vessels, family heirlooms dating back to the Sung Dynasty; tomb figures from the Han, Tang, Wei and Sui Dynasties. The F. Suie One Company tried to offer something for all tastes from the discriminating collector to the person who wanted an inexpensive curio as a memento of a visit to Chinatown.