Chinatown

Chinatown was awesome. plain and simple, awesome. The "new center" was purely commercial, like an outdoor mall. The shops were two stories tall, facing Chinatown Square, or one of the inner corridors. The area was very lively, with lots of people. Towards the river, there is a new urbanist style development with townhouses and condos. After that, the large Ping Tom Memorial Park hugs the river. South of all of this, the old Chinatown appears. Graceful old building such as the Pui Tak Center adorn the streets of the older part of Chinatown, as well as standard late 19th century brick buildings. The area is extremely Chinese, with many storefronts in all or mostly Chinese, not English. (I'm not sure whether it's Mandarin Chinese or Cantonese predominately spoken in the Chicago Chinatown.) The future of Chinatown is uncertain. Its proximity to the Loop may force many of its inhabitants to move elsewhere, and it will be hard to grow outwards, as the Chicago River, the Dan Ryan Expressway, and the Stevenson Expressway bound it into its current shape. A wonderful and extremely active ethnic neighborhood!