The Lunar New Year Story in Houston
In 1930, there were fewer than 30 Chinese in Houston. By then, Houston’s Chinatown had moved from its original location at 600 Texas Avenue to the southeastern outskirts of town on Chartres Street at Rusk Avenue.
The On Leong Chinese Merchants’ building in Houston’s then-new Chinatown became the venue for the City’s first community Lion Dance celebrations for Lunar New Year. Endless strings of Lucky Red Firecrackers were suspended atop the green tiled roof. The three-story building housed the community’s elaborate Ancestors Altar, civic meeting & banquet space, as well as the ‘old bachelors’ living quarters. By 1950, there were just an estimated 1,000 Chinese Houstonians.
