Our Genealogy Helper
Introduction ...
So far, we found very little information about Old Chinatown. The little that we've found leads us believe that the community is historic.<1>
We've added Old Chinatown to our Gazetteer with the hope that we can develop more information. If you can help us with Old Chinatown, please Contact Us.
We have a couple of goals for our Gazetteer:
- That it be a tool which helps us with planning our trips.
- We're trying to shape our Gazetteer as a tool to help us understand the community in which our ancestors lived, the community that was part of their daily lives.
- On our trips, we try to visit those places where our ancestors left their footprints.
By learning about Old Chinatown (and the surrounding area) during the time that our ancestors lived, we hope to have a better understanding of both their community and its relationship to their lifes. We hope that this tool helps to give us an insight into their world.
As we add data and organize our Gazetteer to help with our family research, we will be adding to this our Genealogical Helper for Old Chinatown. While we don't have information that is specific to any given person or family, we intend to expand our understanding about where and how people lived.
Neighboring Counties ...
When searching for family records, we have frequently made the mistake of not checking the neighboring counties.
For example, we have great-grandparents who lived in the northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and hospitals were in the next county to the west. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the county to the north.
So when searching for records, we had our best success by looking in neighboring counties instead of the county in which they lived: their home county contained property and probate records; the county to the west contained birth and death records; the county to the north contained their burial records. If we hadn't included the neighboring counties, we would have missed many valuable sources of information.
If you're in a similar situation, we hope that the following information helps.
Although our information shows that the community of Old Chinatown is historic, it would have been located within present day Los Angeles County.
To see how the shape of California's counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Los Angeles County: Kern, Orange, San Bernardino & Ventura.
Below are the counties that are near Old Chinatown. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Old Chinatown:
- Los Angeles County (The home county of Old Chinatown)
- The following are listed by their distance from Old Chinatown, with the one closest to Old Chinatown listed first.
- New Chinatown
(Less than 2 miles to the north)
- New Chinatown is located in Los Angeles County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Chinatown
- Aliso Village
(Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
- Aliso Village is located in Los Angeles County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aliso Village
- Little Tokyo
(Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
- Little Tokyo is located in Los Angeles County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Tokyo
- Lincoln Heights
(Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
- Lincoln Heights is located in Los Angeles County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln Heights
- Pico Gardens
(Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
- Pico Gardens is located in Los Angeles County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pico Gardens
- Los Angeles
(Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
- Edendale ‑ Historic
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
- Edendale is located in Los Angeles County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edendale
- Clement Junction
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
- Clement Junction is located in Los Angeles County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clement Junction
- Boyle Heights
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
- Boyle Heights is located in Los Angeles County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boyle Heights
- El Sereno
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
- El Sereno is located in Los Angeles County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for El Sereno
- Vernon
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
- Jefferson
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
- Jefferson is located in Los Angeles County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jefferson
- Koreatown
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
- Koreatown is located in Los Angeles County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Koreatown
- Orange County
- The following are listed by their distance from Old Chinatown, with the one closest to Old Chinatown listed first.
- Buena Park
(18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
- La Habra
(18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
- La Palma
(18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
- Los Alamitos
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
- Cypress
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
- Rossmoor
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
- Rossmoor is located in Orange County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rossmoor
- Brea
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
- Seal Beach
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
- Fullerton
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
- Stanton
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
- Barber City
(23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
- Barber City is located in Orange County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barber City
- Anaheim
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
- Placentia
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
- San Bernardino County
- The following are listed by their distance from Old Chinatown, with the one closest to Old Chinatown listed first.
- Chino Hills
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
- Los Serranos
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
- Los Serranos is located in San Bernardino County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Los Serranos
- Montclair
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Old Chinatown, see our County-by-County Page for Old Chinatown.
Cemeteries Near Old Chinatown ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Old Chinatown.
This is a new section and is likely to have errors. If you find an error, such as a missing cemetery or we have the wrong name, please let us know. If you know of them, we would also appreciate learning about previous or alternate names.
Although we don't have the information ourselves, if you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our list of websites on our Genealogy Helper Page for Old Chinatown - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Old Chinatown covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Old Chinatown, with the one closest to Old Chinatown listed first.
- Evergreen Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
- Angelus Rosedale Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Angelus Rosedale Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Angelus Rosedale Cemetery is a very large cemetery that is located in Los Angeles.
- The Angelus Rosedale Cemetery has also been known as:
- Rosedale Cemetery
- Rosedale Memorial Park
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #8309 <3>
- IOOF Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
- Los Angeles Odd Fellows Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
- Calvary Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
- Mausoleum of the Golden West
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
- Serbian Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
- Chinese Cemetery
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
- Beth Israel Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Mt. Zion Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Home of Peace Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Forest Lawn Memorial Park - Glendale
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Lawn Memorial Park - Glendale
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Forest Lawn Memorial Park - Glendale is a very large cemetery that is located in Glendale.
- The Forest Lawn Memorial Park - Glendale has also been known as:
- Forest Lawn Memorial Cemetery - Glendale
- Forest Lawn Memorial Park - Glendale
- Glendale Forest Lawn Memorial Cemetery
- Glendale Forest Lawn Memorial Park
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #7974 <3>
- Continue List (79 more) ...
- Hollywood Forever Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hollywood Forever Cemetery
- The Hollywood Forever Cemetery has also been known as:
- Beth Olam Cemetery
- Beth Olam Mausoleum
- Hollywood Memorial Cemetery
- Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #8033 <3>
- Mt. Carmel Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- Park Lawn Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
Nearby Communities in 1895 ...
We've built the following list with information that came from an Atlas published by Rand McNally in 1895. The Atlas had details such as the population of the community (which appears to have come from the 1890 Census) and whether there was a post office and/or railroad service available. We also indicate if the community no longer exists and is now historic.
While we didn't find Old Chinatown in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Old Chinatown.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Old Chinatown, with the one closest to Old Chinatown listed first.
- Mission Junction
(Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
- Mission Junction is located in Los Angeles County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mission Junction
- Naud Junction
(Less than 2 miles to the north)
- Naud Junction is located in Los Angeles County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Naud Junction
- Los Angeles
(Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
- Clement Junction
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
- Clement Junction is located in Los Angeles County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clement Junction
- East Los Angeles
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Aurant
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- Aurant is located in Los Angeles County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aurant
- Florence
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Florence is located in Los Angeles County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Florence
- Bandini
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Bandini is located in Los Angeles County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bandini
- Shorb
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
- Shorb is located in Los Angeles County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shorb
- Garvanza
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- Garvanza is located in Los Angeles County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garvanza
- Highland Park
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- West Glendale
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
- West Glendale is located in Los Angeles County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Glendale
- Continue List (14 more) ...
- Alhambra
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- South Pasadena
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Glendale
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
- Glendale is located in Los Angeles County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glendale
- Population from the 2020 Census: 197,747 people
- Former name for Glendale:
- Tropico
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Glendale <2>
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Old Chinatown. See our List of 1890's Communities around Old Chinatown.
Newspapers Published in Old Chinatown ...
An ongoing effort between the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has resulted in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).
To share their results, the partnership has created the Chronicling America website. The goal of this partnership is to assemble a database about the current and historic newspapers of the United States. This includes a growing collection of scanned images from selected papers. All of it available to the public on their website.
Using information that we've taken from the Chronicling America website, we've identified 70 newspapers that have been published in the area around Old Chinatown.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Old Chinatown, there are papers which were published within 8 miles [12.9 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Old Chinatown.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we begin with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These professional and volunteer websites offer the information directly or else point to where you can find it. Their information is open to everyone.
To help you get started, the following links will take you to the pages that are relevant to Old Chinatown:
- Websites specific to California
- Pages specific to Los Angeles County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Orange County
- San Bernardino County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for California
Footnotes ...
| <1> | We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Old Chinatown, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <2> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <3> | The Find-a-Grave website is an excellent research tool with information about a cemetery's location and interments. They also offer a forum for their members which can provide additional help. More information about Find-a-Grave can be found on their website: findagrave.com. |
| <4> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Old Chinatown) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |