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| What 99.9999 percent of Chicagoans today think of as Chinatown |
Specifically,
the Chongqing Casin Enterprise Group wants to buy the stock exchange that has
been located in Chicago since 1882 as a way of getting themselves involved in
the U.S. financial markets.
A
FACT THAT may appall those of us more xenophobic individuals, but one which I
find ironic.
For
the stock exchange is located at LaSalle and Van Buren streets in the South
Loop neighborhood – not far from that tall, thin triangular building that
serves as a detention center for those people awaiting trial on federal
criminal cases pending in the nearly U.S. District Court.
But
there’s something else that used to be on that strip of Van Buren Street –
Chinatown.
Generations
of Chicago know of Chinatown as being that great big pagoda at Cermak and
Wentworth avenues, along with a few blocks surrounding that entrance site.
IT
IS A place where one can find Chinese-oriented shops, along with the
restaurants. I know many people who insist that a trip to Chicago isn’t
complete without a stop or two in that area – whose residents are growing in
such a way that the neighborhood’s boundaries are spreading further and further
south in the direction of U.S. Cellular Field.
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| Anyone upset by Chinese interests being in control here ... |
But
that Chinatown didn’t develop until about a century ago – in those years when
the world was at war the first time around, but the United States’ isolationist
sentiments made it think it could stay out of the brawl.
But
the Chinese had been in Chicago for decades before then, coming here because
our city was more hospitable to their ethnic presence than many of those West
Coast places like San Francisco – which now may want to think it always had an
international character but then was more than willing to run them out of town
for not being “white enough.”
Chicago’s
original Chinatown enclave centered around Van Buren and Clark streets –
literally one block to the east of the stock exchange.
ANYBODY
WHO THINKS the Chinese have no business being at the stock exchange would
probably be appalled at what the surrounding neighborhood once looked like.
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| ... would despise what surrounding neighborhood once looked like |
Old
Chicago Tribune reports indicate the Chinatown business strip along Clark
Street included eight grocery stores, two pharmacies, two butcher shops, two
barbers, a cigar factory and a restaurant. Although in due time, all of that
moved south as the Loop tried to adopt a wealthier image that priced small
business types such as what often exist in ethnic enclaves out of the
neighborhood.
Personally,
I always get my kick out of seeing the La Cocina restaurant on Clark Street –
the one whose sign includes a Chinese pagoda design even though they serve
Mexican food.
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| A touch of the past in modern-day Chicago |
Not
that I’ve ever eaten there. But the fact that current occupants felt no need to
erase the neighborhood’s past is something I find appealing.
AND
NOW, THE Chinese could potentially restore a presence to the area if they
succeed in taking over management of the Chicago Stock Exchange, although the
deal is not expected to be signed off on until the second half of this year and
would still need approval of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Although
it is interesting to see that the Chongqing group says it will keep the
exchange’s trading platform in place and has no plans to replace the exchange’s
CEO.
Almost
as though we can relax our fears because nothing significant will change in the
daily character of life in Chicago!
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