Asiatown, Cleveland

Did You Know?

• The Cleveland Asian Festival, co-founded in 2010 by Lisa Wong, Vi Huynh and Johnny K. Wu, drew more than 10,000 people its first year and expanded to draw more than 45,000 the following year.
• The Night Market, inaugurated in 2015, attracted more than 4,000 people on some nights by 2016, but took a year break in 2018 due to lack of funding and support.

Chinatown

Cleveland's first Asian residents were Chinese who came to the United States to work on the railroads and moved to Cleveland to escape racism on the West Coast. Their numbers were small, with only 23 in 1880 and 96 by 1900. Initially they settled on Ontario Street between Lakeside and St. Clair Avenues, but by the 1890s the enclave was dissolving and Chinese-run shops were scattered downtown. Rapid development of downtown Cleveland, especially the Terminal Tower complex beginning in 1926, displaced these residents eastward.

By the end of the 1920s a larger enclave formed around Rockwell Avenue and E. 22nd Street, and the name Chinatown came into use. The enclave was largely confined to Rockwell Avenue between E. 21st and E. 24th Streets. The On Leong Tong merchant association opened a building at 2138–2136 Rockwell Avenue on January 4, 1931, with ground-floor retail and restaurant space and second-story offices and residences. The area thrived in the 1930s with popular restaurants like Shanghai Restaurant (opened 1931), Red Dragon Café (1932), and Golden Gate (1933) drawing white Americans with dishes such as chow mein and chop suey.

Most Chinatown restaurants stayed open until 4 A.M. on weekends. The Chinese population rose significantly in the 1950s after the Chinese Communist Revolution. The Three Chinese Sisters restaurant opened in 1949 and became a Cleveland dining landmark.

AsiaTown

Cleveland saw a major influx of Koreans from 1960 to 1970, many of whom lived in Chinatown, and significant numbers of Vietnamese settled there from 1980 to 2000. As more Asian immigrant groups arrived, the enclave expanded eastward. By the early 1990s a new enclave had emerged bounded by St. Clair and Payne Avenues and E. 30th and E. 40th Streets. In 1986 the Chinese restaurant Bo Loong opened at 3922 St. Clair Avenue, anchoring the emerging Asiatown.

In 1991 Asia Plaza opened on the northwest corner of E. 30th Street and Payne Avenue, a modern shopping mall with extensive parking that drew new diners and was anchored by the Li Wah restaurant. New Asian grocery stores also opened. By 2002 a distinct Asian enclave had emerged in the new Chinatown. In 2006 merchants and developers began using the term AsiaTown, which was formally adopted by residents and the St. Clair-Superior Development Corporation in August 2007.

A second major shopping mall, Asian Town Center, opened in 2008 at Superior Avenue and E. 38th Street, housing Korean and Vietnamese restaurants, a large Asian grocery store, a dance studio, homeopathic medicine pharmacy, martial arts studio, and the Negative Space Gallery, which opened in 2010 with artist workspaces, a performance area, coffee bar, and exhibition space.