The Bay Area town that drove out its Chinese residents for nearly 100 years
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In the 1800s, Antioch s Chinatown consisted of homes and stores on both sides of First and Second streets, from G to I streets, as highlighted in red on the map.Antioch Historical Society & Museum
Before the white residents of Antioch burned down Chinatown in 1876, they banned Chinese people from walking the city streets after sunset.
In order to get from their jobs to their homes each evening, the Chinese residents built a series of tunnels connecting the business district to where I Street met the waterfront. There, a small Chinatown and a cluster of houseboats made up the immigrant settlement. If they ever felt safe there, it was fleeting. Above the tunnels and outside their doors, the threat of violence was simmering.