The Return

Wandering into Chinatown for a leisurely activity has long been off my to-do list. The last time I went into Chinatown for this purpose was circa 1998 to walk around the Dynasty Center and Lido Mall—centers that were considered new and Western amongst the old and dusty shops of Old Chinatown. My leisurely return, 10 years later, is far from these now out-of-date and crowded centers. It is now focused on those dusty and worn shops that I’d once dismissed as far from interesting. Something was different about this place, yet much of it was still very much inline with my memories of the past.

A couple of weeks ago, the mister and I headed west - no not the west of West Hollywood, it is actually east of that, but the west as in west of the San Gabriel Valley - for a Saturday jaunt to what I considered my return to Chinatown and his introduction to it. I say return not in a literal sense, because I come here every 3 weeks to accompany the mister for his hair cut, every 6 weeks for a hair dressing, and every so often to pick my grandma up from her weekly shopping trips. I say return in all its glory and symbolic sense—I have returned! Quite frankly it means I have found a cultural and nostalgic stimulus in returning to Chinatown for reasons other than cutting my hair, his hair or picking my dear grandma up. Oh what a sight it was, quietly nestled amongst the fragrant smell of Chinese food and the mah-jong filled benevolent associations in “Old Chinatown,” are some 20 odd art galleries, and no not the ones filled with cheap replicas of ancient Chinese paintings, but galleries exhibiting new kinds of art—new-aged furniture, neo-avant garde paintings and sculptures and artist collaborative fashion.


We stumbled upon one of these galleries within the first hour of its official opening. The Smockshop is a non-commercial artist run enterprise that travels all over the nation and fortunately enough for us Angelenos this summer it found its home in the heart of Old Chinatown. The shop’s layout is welcoming and open. It is part art gallery, part design studio, and part retail storefront. Artists from all parts of the world are invited to create their own interpretations of one standard and common pattern. I was quite fascinated with the innovation and creativity of the products.


Separated by a room filled with chain-smoking Chinese elders playing mah jong, resides Welcome Hunters, a low key and unassuming old Chinese jeweler shop plastered with messages of “Choose Chinatown”. The store is run by Jason and his girlfriend. He’s a Boston transplant artist turned fabulous fashion hunter of the unique and extraordinary, and she’s a former techie. Entering the friendly shop, the Mister was hypnotically drawn to a pair of KTZ Jungle slip-ons, while I was amazed by the freshness and rarities in the stores collection—Marjan Pejoski and Daniel Palillo to name a few. Unbeknownst to many, Marjan Pejoski is the creative mind behind Bjork’s 2001 Oscar dress/creature—The Swan—despite the notoriety that the dress allotted him, his AW-08-09 collection is quite beautiful, eloquent and completely practical! Welcome Hunters is one of a very select few, if not the only, retailers to carry Marjan Pejoski’s collection in the US, so the trip to Jung Jing Road in Old Chinatown is certainly worth the trip.




Across town (a few blocks, that is) The New High (M)art was on its last leg of its World Fringe exhibition captioned as “An ethno, boho, afro, pow wow” of all that is fringe. Entering the closet-sized storefront/art gallery, we were immersed with pieces from local and international design houses and cultural crafts—Society for Rational Dress (LA), Martin and Quetzal (MX) and Bitone Troupe (AFR), to sample the exhibit. The square footage of the gallery is deceiving—when making your first visit, don’t say you weren’t warned of the density of its exhibits. This pop-up store/gallery changes every 6 months to accommodate a wide range of exhibits. With the diversity of past pop-up stores including Alex & Chloe, Grey Ant, and Brian Lichtenberg, I am excited to see what the New High (M)art has in store next, and this is kept in a shroud of secrecy. Pop-in soon for the next pop-up store.


Chinatown is a diamond in the stones of hipster neighborhoods. There is no sign of commercial colonization as symbolized by Starbucks and Mcdonalds. In this sense it is pretty much untouched with openings of small collective art galleries sound-tracked by the sounds of mah-jong tiles clacking away. It is at peace, balanced by two very different worlds existing quite independently—the hipsters are enjoying the cultural backdrop of the old and the old Chinese grandpas and grandmas could care less of the new clothing boutique operating next door—Chinatown maintains its yin and its yang, and I hope it remains so.

- This post was created by Sharon Zhen, our guest contributing writer. She is currently a freelance trendspotter for Trendstop.com.