Asia and America Meet in AsiaTown

AsiaTown It’s hard to believe the Asian presence in Cleveland once consisted of a block-long “Chinatown” and a handful of chop suey restaurants.

AsiaTown today is a plethora of cultures, including Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Korean and Vietnamese. Restaurants of all varieties such as the Vietnamese #1 Pho have burgeoned, along with groceries, gift shops and services catering to the newly arrived. Most are owned by immigrants who combine the best of the Asian and American entrepreneurial spirit and give non-Asian area residents an opportunity to try something new. Two large shopping plazas, Asia Plaza and the Asian Town Center, offer many shops and businesses in a single location.

AsiaTown overlaps the St. Clair/Superior Arts District, where former warehouses and factory buildings have been converted into artist lofts and arts businesses such as Zygote Press, the Cleveland Print Room and Morgan Art of Papermaking have set up shop.

The community pulls out all the stops for its two-day Cleveland Asian Festival, now in its 6th year, happening this weekend Sat 5/16 and Sun 5/17. The festival features over 100 vendors, booths from community organizations, dancers, singers, actors and martial arts performers on two stages, a children’s activities pavilion, and of course, an amazing variety of food. You’ll surely want to schedule a return visit — or many — to check out some of the neighborhood businesses you learn about at the festival. Look for CoolCleveland at the Festival and you might appear as a cameo in our video!

coolcleveland.com/asiatown/

clevelandasianfestival.org/2015/

Cleveland, OH

Cleveland, OH 44114

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