Asiatown Cleveland: From Tong Wars to Dim Sum - Paperback

by Alan F. Dutka (Author)

For years, Cleveland's Chinese residents struggled to find a secure place in the city. Immigrants came with dreams of building a better life, but without English proficiency, prospects dimmed, and emigres often earned poor pay for long hours of strenuous work. In 1925, Cleveland police responded to an especially brutal outbreak of the tong war violence ravaging the community by arresting every Chinese person in the city, creating an international scandal. In spite of the anti-Asian sentiment of the time, the community persevered and paved the way for its current entrepreneurial success. Today, Clevelanders and tourists travel to the growing AsiaTown neighborhood to enjoy authentic Asian dinners, shop at Asian-owned stores and enjoy Asian-themed karaoke nights in newly built malls and century-old former residential homes. Alan F. Dutka vividly portrays one of the oldest and most culturally diverse neighborhoods in the city.

Author Biography

A native Clevelander, author Alan Dutka has published three other Cleveland-centric history books: East Fourth Street: The Rise, Decline and Rebirth of an Urban Cleveland Street, Cleveland's Short Vincent: The Theatrical Grill and Its Notorious Neighbors and Cleveland in the Gilded Age: A Stroll Down Millionaires' Row. Mr. Dutka is a popular speaker at historical societies, libraries and community centers.