Our Island Neighborhoods: Chinatown

Wafting up to greet you as you enter Honolulu’s Chinatown, is a heady mix of sweet char sui, fragrant flower lei and Chinese herbs and incense. Explore the area for a day and Hawaii’s diversity becomes palpable. Here, yesterday and today, meld. Old buildings stand next to new ones and yesterday’s immigrants from China keep shop next to today’s immigrants from Thailand. Intermingled in the mix are shoppers with colorful plastic bags hunting for the cheapest and freshest produce and lei, alongside serious eaters on their way to a stomach full of dim sum.

It all began back in 1788, when Honolulu received her first Chinese ships into port. In the 1800’s this first community of Chinese immigrants laid the foundation for what was to become today’s Chinatown. In 1886, Chinatown suffered through a disastrous fire that decimated eight city blocks and burnt out of control for three days. History would later repeat itself when in 1899, the first cases of bubonic plague were discovered and nearly 7,000 Chinatown residents were quarantined. The Board of Health made the historic decision to do a controlled burn of some buildings suspected of housing the disease:

“On January 20, 1900, the Honolulu Fire Department started a fire, intending to burn the wooden buildings on the mauka (inland) side of Beretania Street between Nuuanu Avenue and Smith Street. All went while for the first hour, but the wind suddenly shifted, and the fire began leaping from building to building, eventually devouring 38 acres nearly all of Chinatown. Four thousand residents were left homeless.” Aloha-Hawaii.com

Needless to say, Honolulu’s Chinatown has survived through the years to allow new generations of islanders to experience its uniqueness. The old standards are still comfortingly present, such as the Oahu Market on the corner of King and Kekaulike Streets, and the Wo Fat Building—once Hawaii’s most popular restaurant. Meanwhile, the new and newly restored— The Hawaii Theatre and The Arts District — continue to make Honolulu’s Chinatown a vibrant and ever interesting place to visit.

Do you have an experience to share about Honolulu’s Chinatown? Recommend a must see shop or restaurant and you may just see it featured here on Hawaii Traditions!

Resources and Information about Honolulu’s Chinatown:

• General Information about Honolulu’s Chinatown
• Dining in Chinatown
• Guide for a Self-Directed Walking Tour
• Image Gallery
• The Arts District
• Chinese Chamber of Commerce
• Chinese Chamber of Commerce Culinary Tour
  Anthony Chang’s food tour of Chinatown
  Every Monday, departing at 9:30a.m.
  42 N. King St., Chinese Chamber of Commerce
  $10; no reservation needed, just show up
  (808) 533-3181 for more information

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