Question of the Day - 15 January 2023

Many attempts to establish a Chinatown in Las Vegas had been undertaken starting in the 1950s, according to Sue Fawn Chung, author of the book The Chinese in Nevada, but none stuck.

Indeed, Asian restaurants were few and far between even into the 1990s, limited to a handful of Chinese eateries, some in casinos, and only one or two places for Japanese food. 

Then, in 1994, Chinatown Plaza was announced. It's the original seven-acre two-story pan-Asian-themed shopping center on Spring Mountain Road between Wynn and Arville, just around the corner from our office and only a couple of miles west of the Strip. It opened a year later. 

No one, including us, could have imagined 28 years ago how far Las Vegas' "Chinatown," which encompasses restaurants and retail from throughout Asia, would extend along Spring Mountain Road and side streets from the original commercial center, all with distinctive pagoda-style roofs and other Asian architecture and art.

It is, without a doubt, the most exotic and vibrant district in the city, the hub of Asian culture, shopping, and cuisine in southern Nevada, hosting many cultural events, including annual Chinese New Year celebrations. The multitude of storefronts offers everything from Asian language schools and acupuncture to herbs, jade, and Asian fashions, plus of course dozens of restaurants serving Szechwan, Mandarin, Shanghai, dim sum, Chinese barbecue and seafood, Korean, Filipino, Japanese and sushi, Vietnamese, and more. 

The original Chinatown Plaza, anchored by 99 Ranch supermarket and home to Pho Vietnam, our go-to lunch place since it opened in 1995, was sold by the original developer last July. An Asian-American investor from southern California paid $38 million for it.