The Homecrest neighborhood is considered to be the second Brooklyn Chinatown, with the first one located in Sunset Park. Avenue U is the main street of the Homecrest Chinatown area, probably because it is a large commercial area and it runs through in the center of Homecrest. This area of Brooklyn began expanding as a Chinatown approximately in the early 1990s and is still expanding today.

This map shows the boundaries of Homecrest and the color coding represents the percent of foreign-born residents of this area. Some of these sections (yellow) show as much as 69% foreign-born residents.

Here is the same map (with a slightly different zoom) that shows the percentage of the Chinese population in this area according to the 2010 US Census.

The boundaries of this neighborhood are Coney Island Ave on the left side, Knapp Street on the right side (both shown in in this map), Kings Highway on top and Avenue X on the bottom (almost identical to top and bottom boundaries of this map). The darker the red color, the higher the percentage of Chinese people living in that area. The darkest red shows 90% to 99% and the slightly lighter shade 75% to 90%. The bright orange represents 60% to 75%.

D and Q trains connect this area to the Manhattan Chinatown. The population of Homecrest is 71,096 people. It is more at risk for hurricanes than the US average, but not by much. The natural force this neighborhood is most at risk for is wind, with its risk higher than national average by 135%.

The median age for people in this neighborhood overall is early 40s, while the median age for Asian people is slightly younger than that: most would be in their late 30s. Most households in this area, usually 65% and higher, are households without children. Households with children are approximately 1/3 of the households here.

Sources:
http://www.weichert.com/search/community/neighborhood.aspx?hood=5689
http://www.city-data.com/neighborhood/Homecrest-Brooklyn-NY.html
http://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/22/nyregion/neighborhood-report-sheepshead-bay-new-language-and-a-new-life-for-avenue-u.html
socialexplorer.com

Chinatown in New York City is the largest Chinese enclave in the United States. It began with a few migrants from China and grew as the workers that were displaced after the completion of the transcontinental railroad moved east to avoid antagonism from white laborers. In New York City, the majority of the Chinese population was men. The ratio of men to women was so large that prostitution was rampant. Gangs developed to run these brothels. They also provided the city with services, such as sanitation, which the city neglected to provide the area. Although the Chinese were faced with hardship, they brought their unique culture to the city. They main unit of their community was the shop. There they gathered to talk about news from China as well as to receive and to send letters back home to their families.

Today Chinatown is still a very busy community that exhibits a rich and diverse Chinese culture. As a major tourist attraction, there are stores specifically geared towards non-Asian customers, in addition to stores that are mainly visited by residents. Chinatown is also sometimes known for the smells coming from the fish markets and the garbage on the streets. This, however, is only a small part of Chinatown. Open stores and stands can be seen selling vegetables and there are bakeries nearly on every street. There is a Chinese School on Mott Street and several public schools throughout the community. Restaurants with food from different provinces can also be found, offering a wide range of cuisine options for any visitor to Chinatown.

In addition to a diversity of places to visit, there is a diversity of people living in Chinatown. The majority of the people living in Chinatown, however, are working age adults. Yet, with this statistic, one third of the people living in Chinatown live below the poverty line. This shows that although Chinatown is one of the largest Chinese communities in the New York City, it is also where a large number of impoverished Chinese live.

http://www.ny.com/articles/chinatown.html

http://www.aafny.org/cic/briefs/Chinatownbrief.pdf

-Wendy Li

Chinatown is never stagnant, and always changing, much like the rest of New York City. As different ethnic groups come and go, they leave a part of themselves behind. Just like how the Italians left their Italian culture in the form of food, the Chinese have left their culture as well. After the Exclusion Act was lifted in 1943 and a quota was given to China, the immigrant population in Chinatown began to increase. After the quita was abolished in 1968, the immigrant population shot up. As a result, Chinatown expanded and even today, Chinatown is still expanding.

In today’s Chinatown, majority of the population is still Asian. However, there are still other races evident living in Chinatown. As seen in the picture, majority is still Asians who live alone compared to the other races. The percentage of single-mother households among all households in Chinatown is 3.0%, whereas New York is 12.5%. There is a rather large difference of around 9.5%, which is interesting. The percentage of people who speak English not well or not at all is 51.2% in Chinatown, and 12.2% in New York. That is not as surprising, since Chinatown is a place where immigrants gather. Most of the people who live in Chinatown work in Chinatown, since Chinatown is home to so many restaurants and businesses. Most of the residents walk as their mode of transportation. In respect with education, the percentage of students in K-12 schools is 14.5% in Chinatown and 19.4% in New York. The percentage of students enrolled in private schools is 6.7% in Chinatown and 18.8% in New York. The percentage of the population below the poverty line in Chinatown is 31.2% and 21.2% in New York.

http://www.city-data.com/neighborhood/Chinatown-New-York-NY.html

http://www.ny.com/articles/chinatown.html

The Chinatown in Manhattan is the largest Chinatown in the United States. It is als home to the largest concentration of Chinese in the western hemisphere, with a population that is estimated to be between 70 and 150 thousand. However, the Chinese are not the only immigrants that live there, and over the years others have moved in and out of the area. Chinatown’s history is rooted in Chinese traders and sailors who came to America, however the biggest rush of Chinese came after the completion of the Central Pacific Railroad and the Gold Rush. Much of Chinatown’s history also connects to the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882-1943) which attempted to keep as many Chinese out of the US as possible by not allowing women and only allowing the sons of those already here to come across. And although Angel Island is on the other side of the country, it also had its effects on who made it to Manhattan’s Chinatown. Chinatown was originally almost all tenement apartments; in modern times many families still live in close proximity, but the conditions are somewhat better (especially when the older generations die and leave the apartments to the hands of the owners). Chinatown is considered a tourist attraction, however its also an area that is called home to thousands and thus the same things that are important to those living further uptown are important to those living in Chinatown. (http://www.ny.com/articles/chinatown.html)

The 6 headings for newspaper articles on http://www.nychinatown.org are Gentrification, Neighborhood Issues, Civil Rights, Lifestyle, Crime & Punishment, and Historical. These headings show us only a bare minimum of issues that are important to people who live in Chinatown, they are also issues that should be important to those who live in other parts of New York City and the rest of the world.

The streets that are encompassed in Manhattan’s Chinatown are Allen Street, Baxter Street, Bayard Street, The Bowery, Broome Street, Canal Street, Catherine Street, Centre Street, Centre Market Pl, Elizabeth Street, Market Street, Chatham Square, Essex Street, Chrystie Street, Grand Street, Mosco Street, Division Street, Henry Street, Mott Street, Doyers Street, Hester Street, Mulberry Street, East Broadway, Kenmare Street, Orchard Street, Eldridge Street, Madison Street, Park Row, and Pell Street.

The following is a map from http://www.nychinatown.org, however another good map can be found at http://www.explorechinatown.com/PDF/explorechinatownmap.pdf

Manhattan’s Chinatown is rich in culture and its streets hold many museums and arts/cultural centres. These include the Asian American Arts Alliance, the Asian American Arts Centre, the Chinese Music Ensemble of New York, the Chen Dance Center, the Museum of Chinese in America (which we are all familiar with), the New York Chinese Cultural Center, and many more. http://www.explorechinatown.com/ is a good site to visit to learn more about how you can get the most out of your visit to Chinatown, as well as keeping those who visit the site up to date on the latest news in Chinatown.