Category: news

We noticed this story in New York’s Chinatown about a effort to bring a cultural/performing art center to an abandoned theater. The news caught our eye because of a similar effort here in Boston to launch Boston’s Chinatown Cultural Center. (Not many people know, but there is actually an abandoned theater in Boston’s Chinatown…)

Here’s an excerpt from a recent update from Alice Leung, Start-Up Manager of the new Chinatown Cultural Center. Alice is looking for help on several fronts as she prepares for a soft-launch of the Center in early 2012: Dear Friends and Supporters of the Chinatown Cultural Center, …In the past few months, we have had many…

Here’s a remarkable image of a train wreck at Beach and Harrison Streets in Boston’s Chinatown, taken in 1928. Our friend Will D., who has a longstanding interest in and connection to the neighborhood, shared the photo with us. Thanks Will. You can see this image and many more at the Boston Public Library Special…

Here’s an announcement from our friend Alice Leung, Start-up Manager for the new Chinatown Cultural Center. The Center is seeking a web designer: The Chinatown Cultural Center (Cultural Center) is a collaboration of community members and community-based organizations to develop a cultural center in Boston’s Chinatown. The vision of the Chinatown Cultural Center is to…

The ribbon cutting at the Mary Soo Hoo park yesterday answers two questions the kids and I have been exploring for several years now: what does it take to clean up a park and a vacant lot. (See our “cases” in the menu above.) Today the city and local advocates accomplished both, and we’re moved…

Here’s an invitation from the Greenway Conservancy to celebrate the new umbrellas on the Greenway in Chinatown Park. We’ll be there! Please join the Chinatown Community and the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy for a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony to celebrate the collaborative effort to bring new tables, chairs and umbrellas to Chinatown Park and to thank…

Starting tomorrow, we’ll be on Hudson St. helping to show free films for the neighborhood. Come on down to Films at the Gate 2011!

Here’s a Globe article about a new project in the neighborhood to create a small-scale reading room in Chinatown. This is the start of a longer-term effort to create a new Chinatown Cultural Center in Boston. (Here’s a blog post from back in May with some photos of books on the move.) We’re excited that…

We’re excited that construction is underway for the new Mary Soo Hoo Park on Hudson St, right next to the Chinatown Gate. We’re been hoping for and working on improvements to this corner of our neighborhood over the years. (See our cases above Improving Gateway Park and Tending a Vacant Lot.) Now, we’re experimenting with…

Our family will miss chatting with Reggie on summer evenings near the Gate. His passing reminds us that building great neighborhoods does not need to be complicated—it starts with great people who are willing to take the time. Reggie Wong 1943-2011. Boston Globe obituary.

Our friends at Chinatown Main Street have brought a small flower market to Chinatown Park on the Greenway to celebrate Chinese New Year. Great idea for the space—looks terrific, livens up the plaza, and provides a timely service for residents and visitors alike. Open, January 29 – February 2 from 9AM – 6PM.

Here’s a neighborhood development project that we support and are excited about: Parcel 24. This is not your typical building project in downtown Boston, in large part because of the hard work of our friends at the Asian Community Development Corporation who have a stake in the project.  We’re taking a “field trip” to the public…

Tonight from 4-7PM, check out the unveiling of “Bright Lights for Winter Nights” with music and activities on the Greenway. We hear that Clover Food truck will be staying out late at Dewey Square, which is where we’ll be having dinner.

We’ve been offline lately but still working hard on the neighborhood! Join us at a little event that we’re helping to host in downtown Boston called Home Movie Day, next Saturday, October 16 · 11:00am – 4:00pm in the Independence Wharf Public Room, 470 Atlantic Ave, Boston, MA 02110. Details here. Home Movie Day is an…

Here’s information about the next Chinatown Master Plan Meeting from Kye Liang: The Chinatown Master Plan 2010 is hosting the second to last public meeting on: Saturday, April 10th 1pm-4:30pm Josiah Quincy School cafeteria 885 Washington Street, Boston (child care and refreshments will be available) The purpose of this meeting is to confirm master plan…

We’ve been offline here at Little Impact for several months—it’s been all hands on deck for a local project that we’re running called the Storefront Library. Below is a description of the project (a temporary public library in a vacant storefront) which we’ve extended through January 17, 2010. Come visit us there, and we’ll see…

On Sunday, August 16, the Storefront Library Project will appear at the 2009 August Moon Festival. Staff will be on-hand to discuss the project, and elements of the Storefront Library program will be demonstrated, such as a small children’s reading area, photography and calligraphy books for adult browsing, and free WIFI.

Despite overcast skies, the Family Games at Chinatown Park were, once again, well attended tonight. The staffed play area is being provided by the Greenway Conservancy every Wednesday from 5-7PM through August 19, 2009. Here’s a little video from tonight:

Tonight from 5-7PM, the Greenway Conservancy has brought a staffed children’s play area with balls, games, and hula hoops to the Chinatown Park. Come outside and play.

We’re working on a project in the neighborhood called the Storefront Library, which will transform one of Boston Chinatown’s vacant, commercial, street-level spaces into a temporary public library in the Fall of 2009. On Sunday, July 12, 2009 the Storefront Library Project will make an appearance at the 2009 Chinatown Main Street Festival to conduct outreach. Staff…

This week, the kids and I took a moment to think about our site. We decided to update the structure a bit. We want to talk about the neighborhood in two different ways: 1) small, quick encounters/observations; and 2) longer-term projects that take weeks or months of advocacy. Until now, we’ve dedicated our posts to…