Chinatown in the City Centre?

Andy From Sligo

Don't think there is a Chinatown as such in Dublin , I know though that there are a few China shops and restaurants dotted around the place, i think Parnell street have a few restaurants and places but no proper designated chinatown.

Many cities have a proper designated Chinatown, how would it work in Dublin do you reckon?. .. where would be the best place/area to situate it

spurious

Parnell Street.

Riesen_Meal

spurious wrote: »

Parnell Street.

Definitely,

Huge Asian population around them parts...

I would be all for it tbh...

odyssey06

Forget it Jake, Dublin is already Chinatown, and always has been...

Andy From Sligo

be nice if it was done properly with chinese lanterns etc hanging across the street and a big gate and chinese street signs and street furniture like this one - another tourist feature for the town too - something like this:

artanevilla

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

be nice if it was done properly with chinese lanterns etc hanging across the street and a big gate and chinese street signs and street furniture like this one - another tourist feature for the town too - something like this:

Tourists don't come to Dublin to see Chinese things.

Andy From Sligo

artanevilla wrote: »

Tourists don't come to Dublin to see Chinese things.

it could be part of their trip - pretty sure people don't visit a place like London or other cities for Chinatown alone

John_Rambo

artanevilla wrote: »

Tourists don't come to Dublin to see Chinese things.

Build it and they will come.

Yeah Andy, there's a huge population and a very vibrant Asian food scene in and around Parnell st. and Capel st.. Moore st. has the best Vietnamese in the city.

To answer your question, it does work, and it will most likely be formally recognised pretty soon with fitting street furniture.

https://www.independent.ie/life/food-drink/food-reviews/dublins-chinatown-has-really-improved-30590400.html

Andy From Sligo

John_Rambo wrote: »

Build it and they will come.

Yeah Andy, there's a huge population and a very vibrant Asian food scene in and around Parnell st. and Capel st.. Moore st. has the best Vietnamese in the city.

To answer your question, it does work, and it will most likely be formally recognised pretty soon with fitting street furniture.

https://www.independent.ie/life/food-drink/food-reviews/dublins-chinatown-has-really-improved-30590400.html

oh good - Have just found this also, a public meeting/consultation was held last year in Belvedere House

https://www.inou.ie/events/2017/02/02/a-chinatown-for-dublin/

Spicy Bun Bo Hue

Lads it's a few shops on Parnell St, hardly warrants a Chinatown entrance!

John_Rambo

Spicy Bun Bo Hue wrote: »

Lads it's a few shops on Parnell St, hardly warrants a Chinatown entrance!

There's a good few shops and an awful lot of restaurants with significant culinary cultural influence. I think it would be a good addition to the city.

Andy From Sligo

there's a square in the city centre statue of a cow, dont know name - could that be made into a chinatown area or it might be too small - or how about Spittlefields?

I dont want to get flamed but how is Parnell street these days, being at the back of Ilac centre and its overlooked by flats and used to have a bad reputation years ago with drugs etc. mind u its ages since i been down there, maybe its cleaned up good and proper

John_Rambo

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

there's a square in the city centre statue of a cow, dont know name - could that be made into a chinatown area or it might be too small - or how about Spittlefields?

That's Wolfe Tone Square, it's a public space and has various markets every now and then, the French one being the best. It's nice, frequented by skate boarders, tired shoppers, very hungover people, drug addicts, a few crazies and pigeon feeders but it's quiet and pretty safe. I'd say DCC would like to keep it as a public square, the trees are maturing nicely and it's a nice haven.

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

I dont want to get flamed but how is Parnell street these days, being at the back of Ilac centre and its overlooked by flats and used to have a bad reputation years ago with drugs etc. mind u its ages since i been down there, maybe its cleaned up good and proper

No, I think you're ok there! A spade is a spade. It's not Grafton street, but not everywhere can be Grafton street and we don't want everywhere to be Grafton street either! Most cities Chinatowns are in less salubrious areas. Whilst it's safe, there's certainly an edge to it, there's sex shops, prostitution, a few scumbags knocking around, but that's to be expected in any big city. I bring my kids there frequently and it's grand, not beautiful, but it has a grimy attraction to it. The low rents attract the ethnic restaurants.

Ronaldinho

:-D I'd say all the other nonindigenous, non-Chinese restaurants/shops might be a bit bemused by the whole Parnell St. area being called Chinatown.

Something like this as a centerpiece with a Chinese cultural center and some quality restaurants & tea rooms would be a better shout if you ask me. Make a proper tourist attraction out of it.

https://www.tripadvisor.ie/Attraction_Review-g52024-d196850-Reviews-Lan_Su_Chinese_Garden-Portland_Oregon.html#photos;geo=52024&detail=196850&ff=294222751&albumViewMode=hero&aggregationId=101&albumid=101&baseMediaId=294222751&thumbnailMinWidth=50&cnt=30&offset=-1&filter=7&autoplay=

retalivity

Wasnt there talk of calling the parnell luas stop 'chinatown'?

TallGlass

Capel St is more China town if you ask me!

Grayditch

I know it's Korean, but Kim Chi on Parnell St. is unreal.

John_Rambo

Ronaldinho wrote: »

:-D I'd say all the other nonindigenous, non-Chinese restaurants/shops might be a bit bemused by the whole Parnell St. area being called Chinatown.

Something like this as a centerpiece with a Chinese cultural center and some quality restaurants & tea rooms would be a better shout if you ask me. Make a proper tourist attraction out of it.

https://www.tripadvisor.ie/Attraction_Review-g52024-d196850-Reviews-Lan_Su_Chinese_Garden-Portland_Oregon.html#photos;geo=52024&detail=196850&ff=294222751&albumViewMode=hero&aggregationId=101&albumid=101&baseMediaId=294222751&thumbnailMinWidth=50&cnt=30&offset=-1&filter=7&autoplay=

Most Chinatowns are a mish mash of Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian, Malaysian, Thai and Vietnamese.

wakka12

artanevilla wrote: »

Tourists don't come to Dublin to see Chinese things.

You don't go to london for it either but chinatown is a big tourist attraction there, ethnic quarters are successful tourist attractions in dozens of cities throughout the western world especially

Chinasea

I wish

JupiterKid

A Chinatown culturally enriches its host city. I lived in San Francisco 20 years ago and it has a massive and superb Chinatown. I would love to see Dublin have an officially recognized Chinatown with gates, furniture, festivals etc.

Someone needs to petition DCC!

LionelNashe

Gates, furniture, hanging lanterns etc. all sounds a bit fake. I prefer what's there currently, and if it expands along the street and onto the surrounding streets naturally and authentically, all the better. There are already a couple of Chinese (Asian anyway) butcher shops on Hill Street, just off Parnell Street. The noodle place at the end of Marlborough Street is only there a year or two also.

Andy From Sligo

LionelNashe wrote: »

Gates, furniture, hanging lanterns etc. all sounds a bit fake. I prefer what's there currently, and if it expands along the street and onto the surrounding streets naturally and authentically, all the better. There are already a couple of Chinese (Asian anyway) butcher shops on Hill Street, just off Parnell Street. The noodle place at the end of Marlborough Street is only there a year or two also.

No, i personally think it should be done properly with gates , signage and street furniture - every other Chinatown in the world is done like that. Dublin should be no different. that's what i think. - if anything I think it will make it more authentic than fake .

bigar

If you want to do this, you will have to greatly reduce traffic and make the footpaths wider or even fully pedestrianise . You want to attract pedestrians and you cannot do that on a street that is often chock a block with traffic. This applies to both Parnel and Capel Street.

ArmaniJeanss

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

No, i personally think it should be done properly with gates , signage and street furniture - every other Chinatown in the world is done like that. Dublin should be no different. that's what i think. - if anything I think it will make it more authentic than fake .

Well I suppose the obvious question is which came first in London/NY/Frisco - did they put up the gates, signage, furniture and then China-fy the area, or did the area develop organically and at some stage when it was already largely 'oriental' did they then put up the signage etc.

Andy From Sligo

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

Well I suppose the obvious question is which came first in London/NY/Frisco - did they put up the gates, signage, furniture and then China-fy the area, or did the area develop organically and at some stage when it was already largely 'oriental' did they then put up the signage etc.

yeah ... do you know the answer?

Andy From Sligo

bigar wrote: »

If you want to do this, you will have to greatly reduce traffic and make the footpaths wider or even fully pedestrianise . You want to attract pedestrians and you cannot do that on a street that is often chock a block with traffic. This applies to both Parnel and Capel Street.

well its got to be a must that it is totally pedestrianised area hasnt it? - apart from the odd delivery vehicle that can get through

If there was serious plan to have an official designated Chinatown in Dublin then I think there's a serious bit of re-location needed somewhere for the existing establishments and new businesses (not just chinese restaurants - other Chinese shops like electrical and Chinese equivalent of pound/gift shops and the like, and Chinese supermarkets)

- I dont know whether that is possible or not ... I suppose anything is really possible

Cant see them pedestrianising Parnell street either

Beechwoodspark

Don’t see the need for it. Surely all the other ethnic groups will then want their own “towns” in the city centre. Better to leave well enough alone.

Andy From Sligo

Id love to know how much extra money these Chinatowns in the big cities across the world bring in extra money to the city re-tourism . Must be a fair bit i would say. Only ever been to one chinatown area and that was the London Chinatown area a few times, always looked very busy and bustling with people every time I went there - but then again that was London.

wakka12

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

well its got to be a must that it is totally pedestrianised area hasnt it? - apart from the odd delivery vehicle that can get through

If there was serious plan to have an official designated Chinatown in Dublin then I think there's a serious bit of re-location needed somewhere for the existing establishments and new businesses (not just chinese restaurants - other Chinese shops like electrical and Chinese equivalent of pound/gift shops and the like, and Chinese supermarkets)

- I dont know whether that is possible or not ... I suppose anything is really possible

Cant see them pedestrianising Parnell street either

Relocating all the chinese businesses to an area that can be pedestrianised totally defeats the purpose of having a china town! China towns are created to signify an area that has grown organically as an ethnic minority community in the city. I don't want to come off as a purist but I think moving and creating a defined china town area with no organic history is very fake!

Andy From Sligo

wakka12 wrote: »

Relocating all the chinese businesses to an area that can be pedestrianised totally defeats the purpose of having a china town! China towns are created to signify an area that has grown organically as an ethnic minority community in the city. I don't want to come off as a purist but I think moving and creating a defined china town area with no organic history is very fake!

yes, i suppose your right - I suppose it would be manipulated and manufactured then and then take away the authenticity

I wonder how say the London one was if it originally had traffic passing through it and just was pedestrianised later on in years. that's most probably what happened.

LionelNashe

Andy From Sligo

LionelNashe wrote: »

Haha, they have a point, don't put your Chinese restaurant near to another Chinese restaurant lol