page_title: Asiatown, Cleveland
section_title: AsiaTown: 2006 to present
hierarchical_section_title: Asiatown, Cleveland / AsiaTown / AsiaTown: 2006 to present
caption_attribution_description: English: Cleveland Asian Festival
context_page_description: Asiatown, also spelled AsiaTown and formerly known as Chinatown, is a Chinatown located in Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States. Chinese people, brought to the country as railroad workers, established the area in the 1860s. The area became known as Chinatown in the 1920s, and was then centered at Rockwell Avenue and E. 22nd Street. Large numbers of non-Chinese people from Asia settled in the area in the 1960s and 1970s, leading to the enclave's expansion eastward. The expanded enclave was named Asiatown in 2006, with that portion on Rockwell Avenue often being referred to as "Old Chinatown" or "Historic Chinatown".
  Asiatown straddles the boundary between the Downtown Cleveland and Goodrich–Kirtland Park neighborhoods.
context_section_description: By 2002, a distinct Asian enclave had emerged in the "new Chinatown". In 2006, merchants and developers began using the term "AsiaTown" to the describe the area, a term which better reflected the cultural diversity of the enclave. The name was formally adopted by local residents and merchants and by the St. Clair-Superior Development Corporation in August 2007.
  A second major shopping mall, Asian Town Center, opened in AsiaTown in 2008. Located at Superior Avenue and E. 38th Street, tenants included Korean and Vietnamese restaurants and a large Asian grocery store. The mall also included non-traditional businesses, such a dance studio, homeopathic medicine "pharmacy", martial arts studio, and the Negative Space Gallery. The art gallery, which opened in 2010, featured artist workspaces, a performance area, coffee bar, and exhibition space.
  AsiaTown stakeholders inaugurated the Cleveland Asian Festival in 2010 co-founded by Lisa Wong, Vi Huynh and Johnny K. Wu. The one-day festival drew more than 10,000 people its first year., bringing economic growth to the neighborhood as well as the pioneer event that helped inspiring other events such as Cleveland Flea Market and Night Market. The following year, the festival had expanded to two days and drew more than 45,000 people making it one of Cleveland's most popular spring events. The revitalization of the enclave led to a major renovation of the historic Chinatown Building on Rockwell Avenue in 2011.
  In 2015, St. Clair Superior Development Corporation inaugurated the first of the Night Market events. Held on Rockwell Avenue and designed to help bring life to Chinatown, the Night Market (held during evening hours once a month in the summer) featured live music, dance performances, and the sale of alcoholic beverages, art, food, and soft drinks. The first few Night Markets attracted only a few hundred people, but by 2016 some nights had more than 4,000 people patronize the event. In 2018, Night Market took a year break due to lack of funding and support.
caption: An erhu player performs at the 2016 Cleveland Asian Festival.
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