Philadelphia’s Chinatown is well known for their busy streets, restaurants, and unique markets but how did it get there? Join us on a journey to uncover Chinatown’s history, view the impacts of Philadelphia’s development, and struggles the community faced as they carved their place into Philadelphia.

Join Preservation Alliance Executive Director Paul Steinke for a walking tour of his former neighborhood, Garden Court. The brainchild of developer Clarence Siegel, Garden Court took shape in the 1920s, occupying in a tiny sliver of undeveloped land in the midst of West Philadelphia’s older streetcar suburbs. A planned community of detached, semi-detached and row homes rose up before the Great Depression, along with several distinctive multi-family apartment buildings. The neighborhood’s tree-lined streets, front gardens and accommodations for the increasingly popular private automobile set it apart from the older neighborhoods surrounding Garden Court.

Explore colonial Philadelphia and walk some of its original streets. See famous Elfreth’s Alley, the oldest continuously occupied street in the US, and experience the walking/mercantile city, as well as a later generation of Victorian structures. Learn how this area remained the center of Philadelphia’s commercial, retail and governmental activities until the city finally moved “westward” to Center Square in the mid/late 19th century.