1990s: The Golden Decade : MOMENTS IN HISTORY

1850--California becomes a state. The U.S. Census lists two Chinese men, Ah Fou and Ah Luce, in Los Angeles: servants at the home of Robert Haley. They are gone from the city by 1852.

1854--First Chinese newspaper, Golden Hills News (Kim Shan Jit San Luk), published in San Francisco.

1857--First Chinese New Year celebration in Los Angeles. Chinese laborers come from San Francisco to work in Anaheim vineyards.

1864-69--Central Pacific Railroad hires Chinese laborers to build the Western portion of the transcontinental railroad.

1866--California law permits Chinese children to enter school as long as the parents of white students don’t object.

1868--Burlingame Treaty permits immigration between China and the U.S.

1871--Chinese Massacre in Los Angeles Chinatown.

1882--Los Angeles city ordinance prohibits Chinese from living in city. City attorney declares it invalid because it violates the 14th Amendment and the Burlingame Treaty. Federal Chinese Exclusion Act bans laborers from entering U.S. for 10 years.

1884--Santa Ana Chinatown begins between Bush and Main streets.

1891--First bilingual Chinese and English daily, the Chinese World, publishes in San Francisco.

1892--Geary Act extends Chinese Exclusion Act for 10 years.

1898--Los Angeles’ first Chinese newspaper, Wah Mei Sun Po, publishes. (It closes in 1946.)

1905--Asiatic Exclusion League formed by California labor unions.

1912--Native Sons of the Golden State, American-born Chinese, opens a lodge in Chinatown. (In 1914, becomes Chinese American Citizens Alliance.)

1943--Congress repeals Chinese Exclusion Acts.

1944--Los Angeles Chinese Women’s Club established.

1945--War Brides Act waives visa requirements to permit wives, husbands and children of armed forces to enter U.S.; about 6,000 are Chinese.

1952--McCarren-Walter Act (Immigration and Naturalization Act) eliminates race as a bar to immigration.

1959--Delbert E. Wong, appointed by Gov. Edmund G. Brown to Los Angeles municipal bench, becomes first Chinese-American judge.

1965--Immigration Act ends national origin quotas.

1972--Mandarin Plaza built on North Broadway.

1975--Chinese Historical Society of Southern California formed.

1977--Los Angeles Public Library opens Chinatown branch.

1979--Chinese Vietnamese boat people become part of New Chinatown.

1984--Cathay Manor constructed at Broadway and Sunset for Chinese senior citizens.

1986--Monterey Park becomes known as first suburban Chinatown in U.S.