The Chinatown Cultural Plaza was an admirable, optimistic symbol of community pride and investment when it opened in 1974. Funded by six local Chinese community organizations with a vision to “perpetuate the Chinese culture and tradition in the community, and to provide a gathering place where people of all cultures and heritage can enjoy the vibrant atmosphere of Chinatown,” for a time it did just that. Over the past 50-plus years, many a local family’s weekly routines revolved around Sunday dim sum at the complex or shopping at the open-air market, with an offering of incense and prayers at the altar to the goddess of compassion, Kuan Yin, in the courtyard.