Quite a few of the buildings in the heart of old Chinatown have been painted colorfully for decades. This photo was taken in 2015.. The “After” photo, taken in 2017, is below.
In the melting pot that is Los Angeles two local holiday food traditions stand out.
One is eating tamales during the Christmas season which obviously is inspired by Mexico and the many Mexican restaurants around the city. Even one of the local fast-food hot dog chains offers tamales during the holidays.
The second tradition is going to Chinatown to have dim sum (Chinese bite-size noodle/pastries) for mid-day dinner on Christmas Day which seems to have originated in the Jewish community.
This new apartment complex called Blossom Plaza seems to have inspired other building owners in the area to paint bolder and bolder!
Other people, including my non-Jewish family, have begun doing Christmas-in-Chinatown, too. No long hours in the kitchen and no leftover turkey for us!
So if you decide to visit Chinatown for dim sum (or any other reason) and haven’t been there recently, you will see color gone wild on buildings around the area. I think that the new Blossom Apartments next to the Metro station instigated the painting craze.
This is the “After” version of the photo at the top of this post. I loved the many shades of green that it had originally, but this color combination of yellow and deep blue-ish purple is interesting, too.The bright yellow color on this brand new apartment building located on an alley hurts your eyes it is so garish. It is the latest addition to colorful buildings in Chinatown,Tucked back in an alley, the colors on this building are favorites of mine. I’ve always loved Chinese red. And those fake palm trees are a perfect L.A. touch.This building painted mustard gold with red pillars has been around for a while.Another building has colors inspired by Mexico, rather than China. Located on the main plaza it has been the brightest, most colorful building in Chinatown until recently.If you go to Chinatown on Christmas day you may not be able to find this altar which is hidden inside the Swap Meet building– which really isn’t a Swap Meet, BTW. All the little shops carry new and very inexpensive merchandise from China.
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
