My family came from the Dominican Republic in the 40s to Elizabeth & prince! Now we are all over N.Y & America, living the dream.

I love Columbus Park. When I lived in NYC, I used to love going to Chinatown on a sunny day, getting a nice meal, then sitting in Columbus Park watching the traditional Chinese musicians. One of the best spots in NYC.

Last time i visited NYC I made a point of visiting this spot just to try and imagine what the Five Points used to look like. Pretty difficult.

Personally, the work of Jacob Riis in documenting the _awful_ tenements of this very area may explain the rise of suburbanism at the beginning of the 20th Century. It's probably not a coincidence the first major suburbs in New York City took off early in the 20th Century, first along the rail lines radiating out from central New York City and eventually along the new limited access Interstate highways built in the 1950's and 1960's.

12:12 Wasn’t there protests surrounding the Museum of Chinese in America bc the board chair happened to be one of the biggest landlords in Chinatown who allowed de Blasio’s administration to construct a large mega jail in the heart of Chinatown? I remember hearing that the museum got like $35 million as a bribe & the landlord displaced a big restaurant. Asking bc I haven’t been to the city in about 2 years so I don’t know if there was any development with the mega jail but I really hope it doesn’t destroy Chinatown

I lived right next to it for 4 years as a city student (on lafayette street), walked through that street every week, and never knew it had so much history.

Really awesome job on this story!! So much information that I had no clue about, even after living in NY for 13 years. That’s how Canal Street got its name?! 😮 Well done on the storytelling and research!

My only real problem with this vid is its use of euphemism. These were not "working class" nor "marginalized". The were POOR, destitute. The bigotry v the Irish was because the were CATHOLIC. Until really the 90s, the inhabitants of 5 Points were invariably Irish, who weren't escaping "potato famine" but British starvation. There was no dearth of food in Ireland. It was all owned by British who exported it all to England.

Such a well produced and researched video! I'm loving your videos

Loved the video and all the history surrounding Chinatown. Fortunately I’ve visited New York several times and it’s always fascinating to learn new things about the city. 🗽

"...and most importantly Understand Where You Are". Great perspective to have when traveling.

Awesome! Love this series

Great, love this ❤

I’m gonna eat lunch in Chinatown now

7:44 I love the idea of replacing slums with parks for the public to enjoy! ❤❤❤❤

amazing job !

This NYC series is so good and interesting. Love it!

This was awesome 👏🏾

Fascinating 🤯

Great retelling of nyc history, thank you! I'm always amazed at how Manhattan's natural features were altered to suit development, whether the grid plan in itself, or other endeavors over the years!

Nice job putting this story together, that you accurately point out, does not appear in history books.

Excellent work.

Well done! You should do one on Coney Island. Very interesting stuff with John Y McCain and the other Barons of Coney Island.

great video! as an ABC I spent my life visiting chinatown frequently but I never knew some of the early history. I must say it would have been nice to interview a local as well for their perspective, though!

10:35 not sure if this is really true anymore (highest concentration of Chinese). Manhattan Chinatown is shrinking and will continue to shrink. With congestion pricing coming, sadly its going to probably crush Manhattan Chinatown. In the future, Manhattan Chinatown probably be a tourist shell a la Little Italy. The world's largest Chinatown is Flushing, NY is far more diverse types of Asian business with locals living there. Brooklyn have a few genuine Chinatowns as well.

Really well-done. As a one-time New Yorker, I would have loved having this kind of info at my fingertips at the time to influence my city exploration. Tap into that Johnny Harris energy to reach more people!!

Very interesting episode ❗🔥💯👍

Interesting video. cheers.

COOL FILM SCHOOL VIDEO

Wait, you think 1811 was 150 years ago?

Good information. Would love to see some primary source info from a current or former vendor or resident who is actually Chinese

I thought Little Italy was the Five Points/Bowery.

The Tombs are still there. Trust me.

Wonderful! Thank you for introducing the soon to be forgotten Chinatown. Chinatown has always been a neglected NYC community. From the terrorist 911 attack, rapidly rising rents, the pandemic, and congestion pricing, The city never try to do much to protect or cleanup this historical community. If it wasn’t for the few Chinese social organizations fighting to keep the community together and working with the local 5th precinct to keep crimes low, Chinatown would have been wiped out from NYC years ago. The Chinatown today has lost almost all of its charm compared to what it was 35 years ago. It was a thriving community where it gave hopes to so many immigrants a chance to achieve the American Dream. The community was decently safe compare to many other immigrant communities. Most of them worked and studied very hard to get out of poverty. People from nearby cities and boroughs went to school, summer school, church, grocery shopping, doctors, dentists, shopping, and all types of daily life activities in Chinatown. Some of them commuted from Staten Island and Jersey. It was not a place just for immigrants. It was a community that gave a sense of belonging to all Chinese Americans in the nearby cities. Chinatown under Hochul, De balsio and Adam’s leadership has been terrible. They built a center for drug addicts for them to use drugs, migrant shelter and homeless shelter. They have been trying to build a new prison there again. The community fought back deblasio with strong resistance. These politicians are turning Chinatown back to a slum just like it was in the 1800’s, wiping out 200 years of hard work from the community.

You said they tore down all the buildings and built parks but what happened to all the people that were living there????!!!!! They didn't just magically disappear. They were kicked out and had to find a new places to live. Geez poor people can't catch a break.

I go to Chinatown every time I go to NYC.

"playing cards".....aka gambling

Certain parts of Chinatown in NYC barely look and feel like it these days

Most browsers come with free VPN's. Don't fall into another subscription trap!

Into beautiful Chinatown? Wow, never heard of Chinatown here in NY referred to as beautiful. lol

"African immigrants?"

African “immigrants”??

PS Chinatown is still not pretty, not at all what any reasonable person would call beautiful. Since the 1990s , Chinatown expanded to overtake "Little Italy" and the old Jewish area of the "Lower East Side" so that it now is extended up to Houston St.

ALSO DONT FORGET THAT DOWNTOWN WAS BUILT ON A NATIVE AMERICAN GRAVEYARD. THESE EUROPEANS AND ASIANS ARE NEW HERE.. 400 MEASLY YEARS

You mention Italians once in passing. No mention of the work on the transcontinental railroad. And you only mention anti-Irish and Chinese sentiment. What about how a lot of Chinatown today was Little Italy. Kind of BS revisionist history in my opinion.

that historian woman flops her hands and head so much it is VERY DISTRACTING

Funny you missed how the entire area was called “Little Africa” after Angolan indentured servants (several of whom built the wall on Wall Street) won their freedom & were compensated with plots of land at Collect Pond, becoming the center of Black settlement ther from the 1640s on into the 19th Century. A long history, unmentioned at all. Also: African “immigrants”? Do better