Chinatown

Summer Events Schedule

 

 

 

 

Chinatown: The what


August 5
Chinatown August Moon Festival
Chinatown gate
10 a.m.-5 p.m.
The stage is set for this annual event, one of Chinatown’s largest and most festive. Legend says that the Chinese overthrew the Mongol Yuan dynasty in 1368 with help from messages hidden in mooncakes, the tasty disc-shaped pastries filled with sweet bean paste. Savor Asian specialties such as dim sum and zung-ze, rice wrapped in leaves, and watch a traditional Lions Dance and Chinese martial arts performances.
Free
www.chinatownmainstreet.org

August 8
Chinatown Main Street Boston Harbor Cruise
Sets sail from Marriott Long Wharf Pier
Join your fellow neighbors on a harbor cruise organized by Chinatown Main Streets, the program part of Boston’s larger Main Streets initiative dedicated to bettering the local commercial districts. Hawaiian shirts are the attire. A few drinks and you’ll forget you’re wearing it.
$35 tickets include food and dessert
www.chinatownmainstreet.org

August 12
Chinatown Festival
Chinatown gate
10 a.m.-6 p.m.
Another Chinatown annual festival and it won’t disappoint. Expect to see traditional Asian arts performances, from Japanese drumming to Burmese dancing and Peking Opera. While predominantly Chinese, the neighborhood is also home to Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and Thai cultures and indulging in their cuisines at the event is a real treat.
Free

September 5-9
Films at the Gate
10 & 12 Hudson St.
Short films at 7 p.m., features at 8 p.m.
Spend an evening under the stars when an otherwise obscure lot is transformed into an outdoor theatre. Now in its second year, Films at the Gate presents free Chinese movies to the public and this year’s theme, comedy, is sure to provide for some great entertainment. Word is that one of the first Chinese films ever made will be featured. Don’t speak Chinese? No worries, all movies will have subtitles.
www.filmsatthegate.org

EVENTS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE.


Chinatown: The where

Beach Street Gate
The traditional gate, or paifang, welcomes visitors into the condensed but lively area that is Chinatown. Surrounded by lions, the archway is a decorative monument serving as the official entrance to the neighborhood and establishes an air of permanence to mark Chinatown as home to the largest population of Chinese in Boston. The gate can be seen exiting South Station and has therefore become a popular tourist destination, perfect for taking pictures.
Beach Street and Surface Road.

South Street Diner
Formerly the Blue Diner, this Boston mainstay has been cooking up food since 1947, originally built to serve factory workers in what we now call the Leather District. In a city that shuts down at 2 a.m., the diner breaks the rules and stays open all night, seven days a week. Praised consistently by the press, it’s where traditional diner food will always have a home. Through all the changes the city has seen, South Street has stayed the same. And that’s just how long-time patrons prefer it.
178 Kneeland St.
www.southstreetdiner.com

Quong Kow School
Chinatown businessmen founded this school in 1919 to preserve Chinese language, cultural traditions and history for the children of immigrants living in the area. Its original location was on Hudson Street in On Leong Merchants Association’s offices but moved to its headquarters on Oxford Street in 1931, remaining until 1984, when it relocated to its present location.
18-20 Oxford St.

Boston Dispensary Site
The first permanent medical institution in New England was formed in 1796 by a group of community-minded Bostonians to provide free medical care to the poor. The Dispensary established its original clinic in 1856 at this site and was the first in the country to provide its patients with a dental clinic, visiting nurse association, rehab clinic and well-child services. In 1918, it introduced the world’s first food and nutrition clinic. It would eventually merge with the Floating Hospital and Pratt Diagnostic Clinic in 1965 to form what we now know as the New England Medical Center.
Bennet and Ash Streets


Chinatown: The skinny

•  Fung Wah and Lucky Star bus lines remain popular with the cash-strapped crowd and provide service between Boston and New York. There are hourly departures, and tickets top out at just $15.
• The neighborhood was originally home to large Jewish, Italian and Syrian populations and the first Chinese immigrants, having settled in the area in the 1890s, lived alongside until they moved on to more prosperous neighborhoods.
• Chinatown began as a fashionable residential district, however its development was altered when South Station was built as a major railway terminus. The neighborhood became far more industrial, particularly in the factory district that we call now the Leather District, and many immigrants who found work in the factories sought residence in the area.