From our news-sleuth Laine Clifford:
By Pam & Gary Baker - BBC The Essential List
Chinese labourers transformed central California from a swamp to an agricultural powerhouse – and built a bustling Chinese-run town once called the "Monte Carlo of California" in the process.
Fifty miles south of Sacramento, a network of canals, marshes and bogs fed by rain from the Sierra Nevada mountains forms the tranquil California Delta. Over the years, waves of immigrants have settled in this fertile area along the Sacramento River, but amid the vineyards and family-owned farms dotting the area, the small town of Locke, California, holds a unique place in history as the only settlement in the US developed by Chinese people for Chinese people.
Locke's narrow Main Street looks more like an alley. Weathered, centuries-old wooden buildings and houses with overhanging balconies flank each side of the road, transporting visitors to a time when this 60-person community was once a bustling Chinese hub replete with schools, a movie theatre, hotels and restaurants.
Today, Locke remains the best-preserved example of the rural Chinese settlements that once dotted Northern California – and the only one where some of the town's original descendants still live and run businesses. With its former Chinese school, boarding houses, gambling halls and men's associations now preserved as museums, visiting the US' last rural Chinese town offers a fascinating glimpse into the lives of Chinese immigrants and their cultural influence on their new homeland.
Locke, California: The only town in the US built for Chinese people
Greg