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Chinatown Quotes

Streets, roots, and memory

These Chinatown quotes come from people Born into the neighborhood, tracing how a single block of a city can shape a whole childhood.

Chinatown is tremendously interesting... It's a part of the city that hasn't really been explored in crime literature or in any general literature. It's as though Chinatown didn't exist. People write about New York without mentioning Chinatown at all.

Quotes by S. J. Rozan

I was born in San Francisco's Chinatown in 1948 but grew up in a black neighborhood. During elementary and middle school, I commuted to a bilingual school in Chinatown. So I did not confront white American culture until high school.

Quotes by Laurence Yep

As a child growing up in San Francisco in the 1950s, I sometimes met insults when I ventured outside of Chinatown or my neighborhood. I have even been spat on and threatened with a knife. I could have let my...

Quotes by Laurence Yep

The trouble with that movie is that you had to see Chinatown the day before you saw The Two Jakes.

Quotes by Eli Wallach

American Culture Quotes

Having spent many years working in New York's Chinatown restaurants early in my career, I have the utmost respect for the history and connection New Yorkers have with Chinese cuisine.

Quotes by Andrew Cherng

For the first year I lived in New York, I never ate out. I literally just ate lentils and brown rice at home. Sometimes I'd treat myself to this half chicken from Chinatown that cost $3.50.

Quotes by Ali Wong

Frequently Asked Questions

What themes run through these Chinatown quotes?
They mostly center on Chinatown as a real place someone grew up in, describing it as endlessly interesting yet strangely absent from crime and general literature. Several speakers connect the neighborhood to their own family history rather than treating it as a backdrop.
Did any of these speakers face discrimination growing up in Chinatown?
Yes. One speaker recalls that venturing outside the neighborhood in 1950s San Francisco sometimes brought insults, and even being spat on or threatened. It is described as a real cost of crossing into unfamiliar streets as a child.
Was anyone actually born in Chinatown?
One quote comes from someone Born in San Francisco's Chinatown in 1948 who then grew up in a nearby Black neighborhood, commuting to a bilingual school back in Chinatown for elementary and middle years.
Is a movie mentioned in these quotes?
Yes, one line jokes about the awkwardness of watching the film Chinatown only the day before seeing its sequel, The Two Jakes, suggesting the pairing did the sequel no favors.
How does Chinatown connect to broader American identity here?
One quote situates Chinatown within American Culture more broadly, arguing the neighborhood deserves more attention in fiction than it typically receives.

Others place Chinatown within the wider sweep of American Culture, from overlooked crime fiction to a famous film sequel.