Union Station stands at the site of Los Angeles’ original Chinatown. This once vibrant community of families, businesses, and associations with roots going back to the middle of the 19th century was a place where residents persisted, grew rapidly, and thrived. Where You Stand: Chinatown 1880 to 1939 invites participants into the center of the vibrant community through a multi-dimensional experience.
Installed in the Union Station Waiting Room Gallery, view the exhibits’ historic photographs, listen to oral history recordings, and use augmented reality to see artifact materials superimposed within locations around Union Station. Audiences can explore the site’s historic layers, formerly a collection of alleyways, streets, and buildings, and home to thousands of Chinese residents in the late 19th to early 20th century Los Angeles.
This temporary exhibition is part of a wider collaboration among Metro Art, The Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West, the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California, USC Cinema, and the Huntington Library that will culminate in an augmented reality (AR) experience and associated project website made possible in part with the support of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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The translations and additional elements of the exhibit are accessible using QR codes with your mobile device or by visiting Where You Stand.