11/06/20 Remembering Santa Cruz County’s Chinatowns

The Chinatown Bridge Archway featuring a mosaic-covered dragon is now up in Downtown Santa Cruz. The archway is stationed at the Front Street entrance to the popular pedestrian and bike bridge that crosses the San Lorenzo River and leads into San Lorenzo Park. It was created to recognize and honor the final Chinatown in Santa Cruz that once thrived along the west side of the San Lorenzo River.

The dragon archway will also feature poems in Chinese characters in stainless steel plaques that will be powder-coated in red in addition to brass plaques that will read in Chinese script: Chinatown Santa Cruz. The lettering will be lit by solar-powered Chinese-style lanterns. Photos created in brass of the story of Chinatown will also be mounted on the archway.

A formal ribbon-cutting ceremony will be staged in the spring.

Before you visit, take a look back at the history of Santa Cruz County’s forgotten Chinatowns in a 3D scan of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History’s 2019 exhibition: Guided by Ghosts.