In 1933, Peter Soo Hoo became interested in building a new and more representative Chinatown as the construction of Union Station came near. At the time, George Eastman planned a new Chinatown with the support of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and the City Council. His plan included shops, restaurants, a temple, a theater, gardens, and plazas in a Chinese architectural motif but was too costly to implement. As buildings and businesses in Old Chinatown were brought down and closed for the construction of Union Station, some Chinese headed to the City Market Chinatown. Peter Soo Hoo Jr. stated, “When the merchants in Old Chinatown had orders to move out to make room for the Union Terminal, they did not know what to do…They were handicapped by lack of finances and because of the uncertainty of knowing where to go.”

 

On the 22^nd of April 1937, the Los Angeles Chinatown Project Association and a number of guests and leading citizens including Peter Soo Hoo Sr. met with Herbert Lapham at the old Tuey Far Low Restaurant. The Los Angeles Chinatown Project Association planned fundraising, site acquisition, design, and construction. Money was raised among the Chinese Americans without bank financing or loans.  No land acquisition or construction could proceed without the up-front collection of all required funds. Erle Webster and Adrian Wilson were the architects and the goal was to build sixty-two units over one square block. Three groups of buildings were constructed along Gin Ling Way for the initial phase of the project.

 

On the 25^th of June 1938, Los Angeles’s New Chinatown opened. By 1939, Y.C. Hong had completed his buildings and the East Gate. At about the time, the Seven Star Sacred Caverns and the wishing pool were completed. On the week of the 16^th of January 1939, New Chinatown held its Chinese New Year celebration with a press reception at Forbidden Palace. The Mei Wah Girls Drill Team, led by Barbara Jean Wong performed in the parade. The mall developed by Y.C. Hong averaged twenty thousand visitors a week by the second anniversary. The Moon Festival was held on early August 1941 as a fundraiser between new Chinatown, Old Chinatown, and China City to raise funds for war relief in China. Peter Soo Hoo Sr. stated at the time that the Chinese American community’s desire was “to erect a cultural as well as a commercial center for the purpose of augmenting their [Chinese American] social and business life…They want to erase once and for all the erroneous idea that a Chinatown is necessarily a part of the underworld.” [1]