Asian District Gateway
July 23rd, 2008Saw this video about some work being done on the Old Town China Town district in Portland. Check out the cool gateway element and other improvements they have done to the area. OKC’s Asian District already has so much going for it. Wouldn’t it be great to take it to the next level?
July 24th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Hi! thanks for posting this video about Old Town Chinatown. It’s encouraging to hear that you’re working on your own Asian District, too.
The Festival Streets at NW Davis and NW Flanders are 3 years old now, and the neighborhood and business associations host an annual “Under The Autumn Moon” Festival on the streets. The video shows pics from the inaugural year. The Festival streets are available for other organizations, too. The Davis Festival Street hosted a folk/square dance event following the “Towards Carfree Cities Conference” held here in Portland this summer.
The Neighborhood Association just launched an audio history tour of our Old Town district, which includes Chinatown and Japantown (we’ve got a real international flavor here). Folks hop a pedicab to listen to an iPod tour of the historic district. The tour includes a map with not only the tour highlights, but local shopping, dining and entertainment spots, to encourage visitors to stay and come back.
Good luck with your project, too! If you’re in Portland, look me up.
July 26th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Unfortunately I don’t know if Asian District will ever be historic enough to have a guided tour… But it does have a neat cultural flair.
I have seen the landscaping underway along Classen and I heard that an arched gateway was part of those plans.
July 27th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Yeh Shane – you are probably right on the Asian District, but there are certainly some other parts of the city that might benefit from an audio tour. It would be cool to have a tour of Heritage Hills that gave you the history of some of the houses and the people who have lived there over the years. Also, certain areas of downtown, like: Bricktown, Automobile Alley, and Church Row on Robinson.
Nancy – thank you for filling us in on everything you all have done. It is all very impressive!