This shopping reference guide will help you navigate through the Chinatowns of Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Toronto, and Vancouver like a local. Fluency in Chinese is not required. With an adventurous spirit and a few friendly hand gestures, you can locate and buy all of the ingredients and supplies described in Good Luck Life to observe the most popular Chinese holidays and rites of passage. Auntie Lao has personally visited the businesses listed below and they have earned her ho-ho (good-good) shopping and eating seals of approval.

          Los Angeles
          New York
          San Francisco
          Seattle
          Vancouver
          Toronto

LOS ANGELES CHINATOWN, CA, USA
Downtown LA Chinatown is referred to as “new” Chinatown because it was a community that was uprooted and rebuilt in 1938 to accommodate the city’s Union Station. The result is the only “planned” Chinatown in North America. With the recent waves of immigration, LA Chinatown now offers a diverse Asian experience that includes Vietnamese, Thai, Laotian, and other Southeast Asian restaurants and businesses in addition to Chinese. A good place to begin your visit is at Central Plaza between the East and West gates on Broadway and Hill streets. It’s the center for many cultural celebrations including the Chinese New Year and Mid-Autumn festivals. The greater Los Angeles area also has thriving Asian communities in Alhambra, Monterey Park, Hacienda Heights, and Rosemead.

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NEW YORK CHINATOWN, NY, USA
New York City’s Chinatown is located on Manhattan’s lower east side and loosely concentrated within two square miles along Kenmare to Worth from north to south, and Allen to Broadway from east to west. NY’s Chinatown thrives with boundless shopping, and exotic culinary fare that won’t dent your pocketbook.

For an insider’s guide to NY Chinatown’s culinary and cultural scene, native Jami Gong, of ChinatownNYC.com, offers an entertaining, personal walking tour where he reveals the best of Chinatown that only a local knows. Jami can be reached at www.ChinatownNYC.com. The Museum of Chinese in the Americas (MoCA) also offers seasonal Saturday walking tours.
Contact them at 212.619.4785 or www.moca-nyc.org for tour information.

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SAN FRANCISCO CHINATOWN, CA, USA
Auntie Lao’s heart will always remain in San Francisco’s Chinatown. This wise auntie is drawn like a magnet to Chinatown’s 22 square blocks because of its promise of shopping and eating bliss. Bordered between the streets of Bush and Broadway, and Powell and Kearny, this self-sustaining community hosts the largest Chinese New Year celebration in North America with the Miss Chinatown USA Pageant and widely attended Chinese New Year’s parade. Whether it’s the coffee crunch cake, a $3.95 rice plate, a temple visit, or a smooth piece of jade, San Francisco’s Chinatown continuously beckons its own to return time and time again.

For an insider’s tour of San Francisco’s Chinatown culinary and cultural world, Shirley Fong Torres and her team of experts from Wok Wiz can lead you through the streets and alleyways of Chinatown while regaling you with stories and insights on the old Chinese ways. For more information, contact Wok Wiz Chinatown Walking Tours at 654 Commercial, San Francisco, 415.981.8989, www.wokwiz.com.

The San Francisco Public Library’s City Guides Walking Tours offers a free weekly walking tour that meets at the flagpole in Portsmouth Square on Saturday mornings at 10 a.m. For more information call 415.557.4266 or visit www.sfcityguides.org.

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SEATTLE CHINATOWN INTERNATIONAL DISTRICT, WA, USA
Seattle’s International District is truly a pan-Asian cultural village and experience. This is where Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, and Southeast Asians live, work, eat, and shop. As one of Seattle’s oldest and most distinct districts, it borders between 4th and 12th avenues, and Main and Lane streets. Near the King Street Station, the International District is a stone’s throw from Pioneer Square and Qwest Field. The demarcation between Chinatown and Little Saigon is the brightly painted columns on 8th Avenue and Jackson Street.

The Wing Luke Asian Museum is a must. It portrays the Asian American immigrant experience in a contemporary and innovative way, which has earned the Wing Luke a Pacific Northwest affiliation with the Smithsonian Institution. For a guided walking tour of Seattle’s International Village, call Chinatown Discovery Tours at 425.885.3085 or visit www.seattlechinatowntour.com.

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VANCOUVER CHINATOWN, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA
Vancouver’s Millennium Gate located at Taylor and W. Pender streets is the western gateway to Canada’s largest Chinatown. This historic district is loosely based from E. Pender to E. Georgia, and from Gore and Taylor. The most populated streets of Vancouver’s Chinatown are E. Pender, Keefer, E. Georgia, and Main. Richmond is another vibrant Asian community of greater Vancouver and many of the stores and restaurants in Vancouver’s historic Chinatown offer Richmond locations.

For an insider’s view of Vancouver’s Chinatown, take “A Wok Around Chinatown” with Canadian Chinese culinary expert Robert Sung. These walking tours provide an entertaining and comprehensive look at this Saltwater City’s historic district with some tasty morsels along the way. For more information call 604.736.9508 or visit www.awokaround.com.

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TORONTO CHINATOWN, ONTARIO, CANADA
Toronto’s traditional Chinatown is located at Dundas Street and Spadina Avenue where an array of stores and restaurants beckon with a feast for the eyes and the tummy. Recently, as the Asian population has expanded, many suburbs have sprouted several new Chinatowns consisting of enclosed climate-controlled shopping malls that offer contemporary Asian pop music, DVDs, and new forms of ginseng.

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