Chinatown

The Chinatown neighborhood in Oakland, California（）, is a pan-Asian neighborhood which reflects Oakland's diverse Asian American community. It is frequently referred to as "Oakland Chinatown" in order to distinguish it from nearby San Francisco's Chinatown. It lies at an elevation of 39 feet (12 m). Chinese were the first Asians to arrive in Oakland in the 1850s, followed by Japanese in the 1890s, Koreans in the 1900s, and Filipinos in the 1930s and 1940s. Southeast Asians began arriving in the 1970s during the Vietnam War. Many Asian languages and dialects can be heard in Chinatown due to its diverse population. Chinatown is located in downtown Oakland, with its center at 8th Street and Webster Street. Its northern edge is 12th Street, and its southern edge is Interstate 880 (located approximately at 6th Street). It stretches from Broadway on the west to the southern tip of Lake Merritt in the east. Oakland's Chinatown, is experiencing a prolonged recession primarily due to a citywide 30% minimum wage increase, forcing many small businesses that traditionally survived on low margin-high volume goods to shut down because of labor costs. Community planners are attempting a significant move towards gentrification (with higher-priced development), but are foiled by the declining quality of life and increase of crime, vandalism and graffiti left in the wake of a 45% storefront vacancy rate due to closed businesses.