Take a drive down Spring Mountain Road today, just west of Interstate 15 and you might think you’ve just crossed the border into China. But wait, China’s on the other side of the Pacific Ocean right. Yes, you’re still in Las Vegas, Nevada in the good old U. S. of A, well Paradise Township to be exact, the unincorporated area of Clark County which the city of Las Vegas also resides. In this stretch of road in less than a mile, you’ll find almost anything pertaining to the Orient, from bakeries, gift shops, salons, Asian massage, 99 market, Chinese newspapers, Printers, Asian owned insurance agencies, even a Bank of America Branch staffed with mostly Chinese speaking tellers, and yes, Restaurants. Tons and tons of eateries of various Oriental cuisines, almost every type of Asian fares is present here. Welcome to Las Vegas Chinatown!
Las Vegas Chinatown And The Types Of Chinese Cooking & Food Available
From the common Las Vegas Chinese Cooking, not only is Cantonese food prevalent, the type of Chinese food Americans are accustomed to, but there’s also Szechuan, Mandarin, and even Teo Chew, along with cuisines from Thailand, Vietnamese, Japanese, Philippine, Malaysian, and even at one time Indonesian. Although the area has a wide diversity of businesses, which is still home to the traditional American Business, like a gun store and shooting range, to the Computer repair store, even the local Television Station KTNV ABC affiliate Chanel 13 decided to stay, however year after year the presence of more and more commercial enterprises catering to the Asian community continues to expand the presence of Chinatown further West.
The boom in this western part of Paradise Township almost didn’t happened here. Several attempts by different local Asian entrepreneurs as far back as the early 1980s to start off China Town in Las Vegas never came to light. Most of the reasons had to do with the scale of the project, the shortage of funds, and for the most part is the lack of vision on the part of local lenders and developers. Sin City’s Chinatown almost got started on the east side of town, twice. The first attempt was the opening of Silver Dragon restaurant on East Flamingo Road at the corner of Algonquin Drive.
Las Vegas Asian Restaurants And Other Buildings
This was the first free standing Chinese themed building built in Las Vegas in the early 1980s. Today, being occupied by an Las Vegas Asian Restaurants style buffet, any reminisce of the building’s Chinese architecture is all but destroyed. Another project was also attempted on the vicinity of Eastern Avenue and East Charleston in the mid 1980’s. The owner of one of the valley’s major Asian Wholesalers called “Jimmy’s Market” had plans to renovate the strip mall on East Charleston into a Chinese themed shopping center. Just imagine what the area would of looked like if this was Las Vegas’s Chinatown.
Chinatown on West Sahara was the closest any local entrepreneur came to establishing the image.
When in the mid 1980’s a local Chinese doctor built what was then Chinese Garden, a free standing restaurant with Chinese facade reminisce of buildings in Tienanmen Square’s Forbidden City, located between Decatur and Jones Boulevards on the corner of Lindell Road. However as the years progressed New Car dealerships instead of Asian businesses was built. Several other small scale projects was also attempted by Asian Entrepreneurs, which includes the Commercial Center, but resistance from several property owners quickly demolished any plans for an Asian Town in that area.
Chinatown Officially Designated By Governor
After numerous failed projects, Chinatown Las Vegas as we now know it today, having been officially designated by then Nevada Governor Kenny Guinn was successfully started by a Taiwanese American development Company with funds from the island state of Taiwan, the outlawed Chinese Colony following the Chinese People’s Revolution in the late 1940’s. Their vision of building from the ground up, a two story Chinese themed shopping mall in the middle of the desert right in the middle of the recession of the early 1990’s, was simply put a huge gamble.
Fresh Hot Asian Food Delivery Las Vegas Strip Corridor
Just like all the settlers and visitors to Las Vegas who gambled and now call it home, the Shopping Center was an instant hit the minute it opened which is located just a half a mile West of the famous Las Vegas Strip and all its resorts and boosts quick Food Delivery Las Vegas Strip corridor. Was it luck or has it been overdue for Las Vegas to have its own Chinatown. The good news is visitors around the world can now enjoy World Class Asian food delivery on the Las Vegas Strip.
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