New Years 2.0: Chinatown

Second Street Jazz

Festivities begin on February 2nd with a midnight ceremony, which will include performances by traditional lion dancers. – Photo by Andrew Tessandori

by Katherine Davis

Downtown L.A.'s historic Chinatown prepares to celebrate the Year of the Rabbit

Downtown L.A.’s Chinatown is always a lively cross-section of history, diversity, and culture, and this month it will become even livelier. According to the Chinese lunisolar calendar, February marks the beginning of 4708, Year of the Rabbit. Chinese New Year, the most important holiday in Chinese tradition, will officially take place on the 3rd, but the celebrations in L.A.’s Chinatown will last almost two weeks.

“There’s something for everyone,” says event organizer Christopher Louie on Chinese New Year celebrations. “We’re encouraging people to rediscover Downtown and rediscover Chinatown.”

Festivities begin on February 2nd with a midnight ceremony at Chuan Thien Hau Temple, which will include blessings by Buddhist and Taoist monks, performances by traditional lion dancers, and a display of fireworks.

The Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Los Angeles has organized several more events for the weekend following the New Year. On Saturday, February 5th at 1 p.m. the Golden Dragon Parade will make its way around Chinatown’s Hill and Broadway Streets. Celebrating its 112th year, this parade draws a crowd of over 100,000 spectators, converging from across Southern California. Accompanying the parade on the 5th and continuing into the 6th is the Golden Dragon Festival, which will include stages with live performances throughout the weekend.

Chinese New Year organizers do not want anyone to feel alienated by foreign traditions. Chinese Chamber of Commerce President Chester Chong emphasizes that these events are for everyone. When it comes to celebrations, he explains, “It doesn’t matter where you come from.”

Creating an atmosphere that encourages people of different backgrounds to get to know Chinatown was the main idea behind the Firecracker Run, held on February 12th and 13th.

Edmund Soohoo of Firecracker’s Board of Directors jokes, “People don’t have to feel awkward – it’s a running event! Everyone is just sweating together.”

The Firecracker Run, a non-profit event organized by a group of dedicated volunteers working year-round, is expected to be bigger than ever this year. The event begins on Saturday with the Firecracker Bike Ride, a 30-mile ride stretching from Chinatown to Griffith Park and back. The following morning, the lighting of 100,000 firecrackers will kick off a 5k run, a 10k run, and a kiddie run.

To help maintain the festive mood, Firecracker Run organizers also host the Nite n’Day Festival in Chinatown’s Central Plaza from 10am to 6pm on the 12th and 10am to 1pm on the 13th. The Nite n’Day Festival is free to the public and offers live music, food, and a beer garden. There will also be special events for kids, including a Year of the Rabbit rabbit petting zoo.

Chinese New Year events like the Firecracker Run are important for promoting and supporting the Chinatown community. “But at the end of the day,” says Soohoo, “it’s just fun.”

He is being modest. By donating all of its proceeds back to the Chinatown community, the Firecracker Run has raised over half a million dollars for the neighborhood’s schools, elderly people, and historical society in its 33-year history.

In addition to raising money with its events, Chinese New Year is also an important business-booster for Chinatown establishments old and new. After the festivities, visitors can eat at the Phoenix Bakery, which dates back to the 1930s, or at new favorite Via Café. Participants have the option of ending the night with a drink in the landmark five-tiered pagoda at the historic Hop Louie Restaurant or under the dim red lights at trendy nightspot The Mountain Bar.

With its diverse assortment of businesses, Chinatown reflects the rich history of L.A.’s Asian community, but also bears the signs of a changing, modern neighborhood, a phenomenon of which Chinese New Year organizers are not unaware.

Soohoo explains, “There’s been this explosion of cultural blending and merging, but people also like to know where somebody’s roots are. When you come to Chinatown you get a sense of, ‘Oh! There are some roots here, people here have some real histories!’”

And those histories are not just Chinese. “We want to showcase all the different faces of Chinatown,” Louie adds.

Chong agrees, saying this year’s New Year events, like years past, will include not just one set of traditions, but traditions from across China, Asia, America, and the globe. Participants will come from all parts of Los Angeles, representing the city’s many different ethnic backgrounds.

“We’re trying to really create this as not just a Chinatown event, but an L.A. event,” Louie says.

Chinese New Year organizers are happy to promote their history, but even happier to look to the future, welcoming diversity and change. Though the festival is built on tradition, the most important tradition of Chinese New Year, after all, is celebrating the arrival of something new.

 

Chinese New Year Celebrations take place from Feb. 2nd to the 13th. All events are open to the public. Parking will be available in parking lots throughout the neighborhood, or you can catch a ride on the L.A. Metro Gold Line, which stops in the center of Chinatown.

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