![]() But experts say they were likely here even before that. ![]() ![]() The arrival of Chinese immigrants in the region is often tied to the expansion of the railroad system across the country including this part of the West. "The start of the riot was a group of men walking into a bar and intentionally trying to instigate a fight with a couple of Asian people who were playing pool," Martinez explained. "These people had a bigger intent though, they didn't just want to start fight, they really just wanted to raise hell." Another would go around 18th & Wazee, where the riot began, while the third would honor the death of Look Young, the one riot death of official record on Arapahoe Street & 19th. The first will take the place of the current plaque at 20th & Blake, they want to replace it and send the original to History Colorado. One of their initial goals is to provide accurate information with markers at three different locations. Martinez and Wei are also a part of the group. Medeiros-Tuilaepa is on the Denver AAPI Commission and asked other leaders from the community to create a nonprofit advising the process of replacing that plaque and envisioning a new Chinatown. William Wei, a professor of history at the University of Colorado Boulder. "They faced all kinds of challenges in their lives and nevertheless, they persevered because they wanted to support their families." "It's titled Hop Alley, and the very term Hop Alley indicated that it was most associated with the smoking of opium," said Dr. But experts say it fails to respectfully account for this part of Denver's history, beginning with the terms used on it. A plaque located near 20th & Blake and across from Coors Field tries to acknowledge the crimes of the past. "It was a wonderous place, a wonderful place, people would go there on tours back then," said Dennis Martinez, a guide for historic walking tours who has studied Denver's Chinatown. "There was romance here, there was drama and intrigue here."įor decades, the story of Chinatown has been reduced to a place for visitors to pursue their vices away from home and the inaccurate telling of the 1880 Anti-Chinese Race Riot that destroyed much of what the community had built over several years. Not just a collection of businesses but also a residential area many immigrants called home. It was growing at a time when cities across the country were seeing rapid change in their size. ![]() Wazee is the word where Dug Creek comes from, the name for Denver's Chinatown. "There's a whole ton of different ethnicities that are under our umbrella and we need to, especially now more than ever, we need to be more supportive of each other and have a collective voice." (credit: CBS)Ī neighborhood that covered several blocks, Chinatown included 14th Street to 17th Street and Blake Street to Wazee Street as part of its perimeter in Lower Downtown. "Creating a space for our Asian American communities specifically to feel safe, to feel proud, and to be supported during such tumultuous times," said Shauna Medeiros-Tuilaepa, a member of Colorado Asian Pacific United. ![]() They hope to create a more inclusive AAPI business district that accurately tells the story of Chinese Coloradans and provides a brighter future for all cultures to be celebrated in downtown. DENVER (CBS4) - Asian American and Pacific Islander community leaders in Denver want to revive the historic Chinatown that played a major role in the development of the city in the 19th century before its eventual decline decades later. ![]()
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