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Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Just a Short Jaunt from Sacramento...



...is the only rural Chinese town left in the United States...
It was founded in 1915 and was occupied almost entirely by 
Chinese until relatively recently...
In 1990 it made it onto the National Historic Registry.
It was a thriving rural town in the 20's-40's with over 600 
Chinese residents and about 1000 seasonal farm workers.

"J"
ABC Wednesday...


Our Journey began at Al the Wops for lunch...
Al's has been a thriving stopping point for food and cocktails 
since 1934.  Now, when we were there, there were just a few Jovial
customers probably due to the rain and it being the middle of the week and all.


My Jewel of a tour guide (my cousin) told me that Al's place is a favorite for...
you guessed it...Biker's!!!  It's also been known to be a hang out for various 
folk of the political persuasion on a Jaunty Journey out of town (the capitol)!


Now...according to the brochure, in it's heyday, Locke 
had as many as 4 grocery stores and numerous dry goods stores...
I peeked in the window, and didn't see what looked to be a 
grocery store currently...(which is probably a good thing)


Also in reading about Locke, I found that many of the buildings are in Jeopardy,
as in quite dilapidated and in drastic need of repair.  If you are interested, 
there is a foundation dedicated to the restoration work...


My cousin and I agreed that it might not be a good idea to go out on this
deck when the weather is better...as we might be in Jeopardy of Joining 
those on the first floor rather quickly...


I also peeked into the windows in this building and did see evidence that
it was indeed set up like a Chinese herbalists office, but didn't look like it was 
necessarily in use at the moment.

It was raining fairly steadily when we visited Locke so it looked all the more dreary.  
It's very sad to me that this little town has gone to such disrepair as it does have
a very interesting history.  

For more information...click here...


32 comments:

  1. j'aime bien les vieilles maisons a la fin, il y a un cote ville fantome

    Publicity ;o) Every Friday (and the Weekend), The Challenge "Walk In The Street Photography"

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    1. Walk in New York...Je ne savais pas sur la cote de la ville fantôme ! Merci de visiter et de commenter !

      I didn't know about the ghost city rating! Thanks for visiting and commenting!

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  2. What an interesting post. I should drop by there somehow.

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  3. eclectic JOURNEY!

    ROG, ABC Wednesday team

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  4. Chinese medicine, very interesting!

    Journal
    Rose, ABC Wednesday Team

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    1. I'm rather partial to Chinese medicine Rose...acupuncture and herbs are quite effective!

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  5. Great Journey. Would love to visit there, looks facinating. Thanks for your visit today.
    Ann

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    1. Thanks Ann...glad you stopped by to visit and comment!

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  6. An interesting part of history, well worth renovating. Something similar has happened to the chinatown in Liverpool (once the largest in Europe) which is very dilapidated now.

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    1. Interesting similarity Joy...sad to have such interesting parts of history go to such decay...

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  7. I hope there are no local quakes. That one wall is ready to fall down.

    Thanks for the visit to my blog.

    I don't know how it the hackers go about hacking but they ruin things. I had to get a new user name and lost my old blogs. I just found out that Eric from CDP in Paris -- his whole portal was hacked and is out of business until they get it fixed by the end of the week.

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    1. I was a bit nervous going into some of the buildings there...and can't imagine being there during an earthquake...

      Interesting about the hacking...what would be the purpose to hack a blog?

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  8. Sounds like a fascinating visit - rundown places can be quite interestung I find/

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    1. It was quite interesting Gerald...although my favorite rundown spot in California is Bodie State Historical Park...once one of the largest cities in California, now a ghost town state park in gold country just north of where we are.

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  9. Great photos! I enjoyed the tour very much!

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  11. «Louis» took Mme la Vache, who is Chinese, to visit Locke not long ago. Indeed it is sad to see the town in such disrepair. Al the Wop's hasn't changed at all - not even a coat of paint - in the 30+ years «Louis» has known about it. Many of the original Chinese immigrants in Locke worked building the railroad.

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  12. Definitely a fascinating spot of history here Louis!!! And my cousin told me the same thing about Al the Wops!!! When we went in I had to chuckle a bit! Loved the peanut butter on the tables!!! The Chinese immigrants were also very involved in building the levees on the Sacramento river and delta as well as working in the nearby fields...

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  13. Wow. We have a couple of Chinatowns here in Japan, too. But I don't think we have actual towns like this. The buildings look a bit wobbly but the history of it all is fascinating!

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    1. Interesting to think of Chinatowns in Japan...history is generally more impressive and interesting when visiting in person!

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  14. Kathy, this is so interesting. A wonderful post and I can't wait to visit Locke.

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    1. Thanks Petrea! Do go...but pick a time when it's less likely to be raining!!!

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  15. Thanks Island Rambles! I like what your country has done to preserve your Chinese immigrant history...well done Canada!!!

    (I think it helps that the buildings in your town appear to be more sturdy from the get-go...Locke is strictly wooden buildings and much less structurally sound to begin with...)

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  16. Nice. I've visited and photographed at Locke a few times this year, and I think you've captured it very well. I think the only of my photos I was satisfied with were the cats :)

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  17. Sorry I'm late in visiting but at least I got here. An interesting post thanks.

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