One ordinance required every laundry business to obtain a permit from the board of supervisors, yet Chinese shop owners were regularly refused permits. (Eventually the Supreme Court struck it down, citing the discriminatory effects of the law.)

In 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed, halting Chinese immigration for 10 years and barring those already in the U.S. from becoming citizens. “They had no other place to go in a very hostile country at that time,” says James S. Lai of Santa Clara University’s ethnic studies department.

Despite the violence, many Chinatowns survived. And when the Exclusion Act was repealed in 1943, followed by the War Brides Act in 1945, the communities that had been dominated by men started to shift. “This allowed the wives of Chinese American veterans to come into the United States,” Louie says. “So you see that the gender balance begins to even out, and begin to see the development of families in these Chinatowns, and that's so key.”

By the time the Immigration and Naturalization Act was enacted, Chinatowns had transformed into multi-generational communities. Poor housing and social services in the Chinatowns eventually spurred Chinese American families to move to the suburbs, most notably to California’s Monterey Park, which became a major suburban Asian enclave. In San Francisco, more Chinatowns sprung up, including ones in the Sunset and Richmond districts.

In 2021, Antioch, California offered an official apology for the destruction of its Chinatown in 1876 and designated the site as a historic district. Later that year, the city of San Jose formally apologized for the burning down of its largest Chinatown in 1872, taking responsibility for playing a role in “systemic and institutional racism, xenophobia, and discrimination.”