The collection of photographs illustrates the multiple layers that comprise Chinatown North. There is no singular definition that can do the area justice, and the photographic series is a testament to this plurality of identity. The name Chinatown North is perhaps best regarded as a borrowed one, a vestige from an era prior to schism that was created when the Vine Street Expressway was built. It is a stretch of the imagination to think of Chinatown North as a continuation of Chinatown, at least in the former's present guise.
The nebula of the Chinese immigrant population is unquestionably the main Chinatown region, south of Vine Street. Prior to moving to South Philadelphia where his family runs a business, YQ lived in various parts of Chinatown, including a substantial period in a house in Chinatown North, close to where the Hing Wah Yuen complex stands today. YQ mentioned that when people asked where he lived, he would always have to qualify his answer by alluding to his residence being on the edge of Chinatown, because that particular location just wasn't really "Chinatown" per se. It was something like being at Chinatown's border, and ultimately, this meant that it wasn't Chinatown, but somewhere else. The handful of residents in Chinatown North still turn to the main Chinatown for their daily necessities, various kinds of services and also social spaces and meeting places. Having to cross the Vine Street Expressway when heading south is no doubt a hindrance for this group of people, but from the field observations it is also apparent that the Expressway has become a big obstacle for the movement of residentially-compatible businesses and services in the opposite direction, from the south into Chinatown North.
What exactly is Chinatown North, and where does it start/end? The collection of images, as well as the conversations with Andy Toy and YQ, raise this question, but offer little in the way of an outright answer. Andy Toy explains that all around Chinatown North, neighborhoods are evolving in character: Northern Liberties and Kensington in the northeast, Poplar to the direct north, Callowhill to the west and Chinatown to the south. In that process, Chinatown North was, to some degree, overlooked, and now these distinct forces are tugging at Chinatown North to partake in their respective development trajectories. Walking northwest along Ridge Ave from PCDC towards Spring Garden, there is a gradual but discernible change in the feel of the area. At the beginning, one still feels familiar and safe, surrounded by iconic Chinatown landmarks such as the Holy Redeemer Church, as well as by relatively new, well-maintained buildings. Further down the street, signs of blight begin to show, with pockets of empty land, traces of homeless people, and vacant, boarded up buildings. It feels like industry used to thrive here, when, all of a sudden, there was a mass exodus, and only these vacant, hollow structures remain to tell the story.
The selection of 10th and Callowhill has come to represent this idea of the Criss-Cross. When one thing criss-crosses with another, there is a necessary overlap, an interaction, an interruption, a disruption. A viewer cannot attempt to understand the criss-crossed items independently; breaking the criss-cross into its parts takes away the very element that defines it. In this case, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and this is the case of the Chinatown North neighborhood surrounding 10th and Callowhill Streets. Just as Ridge Avenue criss-crosses with the otherwise quotidian intersection of the two perpendicular streets, the different forces present themselves in a variety of guises and forms, and with varying intensities. Just like Chinatown North, the Criss-Cross is not itself a destination, for its lines radiate in every direction, away and outwards from the center. Through its connections with what lies beyond, the Criss-Cross comes into its own existence, but it is an existence that is defined on the basis of others, an existence that is a dependent one. If not for Chinatown, if not for Philadelphia's industrial past, if not for the Vine Street Expressway, if not for the Callowhill District... if not for all these, there would be no Chinatown North, and this is why Chinatown North is so aptly represented by the metaphor of the Criss-Cross.
The nebula of the Chinese immigrant population is unquestionably the main Chinatown region, south of Vine Street. Prior to moving to South Philadelphia where his family runs a business, YQ lived in various parts of Chinatown, including a substantial period in a house in Chinatown North, close to where the Hing Wah Yuen complex stands today. YQ mentioned that when people asked where he lived, he would always have to qualify his answer by alluding to his residence being on the edge of Chinatown, because that particular location just wasn't really "Chinatown" per se. It was something like being at Chinatown's border, and ultimately, this meant that it wasn't Chinatown, but somewhere else. The handful of residents in Chinatown North still turn to the main Chinatown for their daily necessities, various kinds of services and also social spaces and meeting places. Having to cross the Vine Street Expressway when heading south is no doubt a hindrance for this group of people, but from the field observations it is also apparent that the Expressway has become a big obstacle for the movement of residentially-compatible businesses and services in the opposite direction, from the south into Chinatown North.
What exactly is Chinatown North, and where does it start/end? The collection of images, as well as the conversations with Andy Toy and YQ, raise this question, but offer little in the way of an outright answer. Andy Toy explains that all around Chinatown North, neighborhoods are evolving in character: Northern Liberties and Kensington in the northeast, Poplar to the direct north, Callowhill to the west and Chinatown to the south. In that process, Chinatown North was, to some degree, overlooked, and now these distinct forces are tugging at Chinatown North to partake in their respective development trajectories. Walking northwest along Ridge Ave from PCDC towards Spring Garden, there is a gradual but discernible change in the feel of the area. At the beginning, one still feels familiar and safe, surrounded by iconic Chinatown landmarks such as the Holy Redeemer Church, as well as by relatively new, well-maintained buildings. Further down the street, signs of blight begin to show, with pockets of empty land, traces of homeless people, and vacant, boarded up buildings. It feels like industry used to thrive here, when, all of a sudden, there was a mass exodus, and only these vacant, hollow structures remain to tell the story.
The selection of 10th and Callowhill has come to represent this idea of the Criss-Cross. When one thing criss-crosses with another, there is a necessary overlap, an interaction, an interruption, a disruption. A viewer cannot attempt to understand the criss-crossed items independently; breaking the criss-cross into its parts takes away the very element that defines it. In this case, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and this is the case of the Chinatown North neighborhood surrounding 10th and Callowhill Streets. Just as Ridge Avenue criss-crosses with the otherwise quotidian intersection of the two perpendicular streets, the different forces present themselves in a variety of guises and forms, and with varying intensities. Just like Chinatown North, the Criss-Cross is not itself a destination, for its lines radiate in every direction, away and outwards from the center. Through its connections with what lies beyond, the Criss-Cross comes into its own existence, but it is an existence that is defined on the basis of others, an existence that is a dependent one. If not for Chinatown, if not for Philadelphia's industrial past, if not for the Vine Street Expressway, if not for the Callowhill District... if not for all these, there would be no Chinatown North, and this is why Chinatown North is so aptly represented by the metaphor of the Criss-Cross.
