Drove up and back to Santa Cruz in one long day. But, it gave me the opportunity to add the 30th Chinatown - Salinas, California - to the long-term Chinatowns project.
A Chinatown in transition. Site of many homeless. A sense of loss exacerbated by the gray marine layer that often permeates this "island in a sea of lettuce."
There have been neighborhoods in other cities, first inhabited by other cultural immigrants, where the Chinese have moved in... a Jewish temple in an old part of downtown Toronto that is now a Chinese day care/youth center comes to mind. The American and Canadian cultural fabric is always in a state of flux and there are spaces where ethnic or cultural identity was strong and then newer generations weave into the larger identity and the next wave enters.
Salinas is one of those spaces for the change is happening right now as one views the architecture of a culture not really there anymore, altered and then abandoned. But the City is working along with the community to revitalize and there is already a community garden, modern temples and gathering places. I hope to return next year when the Lunar New Year celebration brings many residents there and reminds one of another era.
A great thanks to the Salinas Police Department for making me feel a little more secure as I wander here for a brief time .
