City officials joined Asian American community groups and residents on Tuesday, Jan. 9, in Old Town Pasadena, for an unveiling of two new plaques that commemorate a dark chapter in Pasadena history — the targeting of a Chinese-owned business — once located in what is now Mills Place Alley.
“They acknowledge a troubled time in our past — the concerted effort to exclude those of Chinese origin from the city of Pasadena. It’s a tragic past,” said City manager Miguel Marquez, at the unveiling ceremony.
“As a nation, we find ourselves in a frankly anti-‘other’ sentiment. With respect to people of Chinese origin, we remember a few short years ago, during the pandemic, the effort to point a finger at those of Chinese origin. That will not happen again,” Marquez said. “We must do our best to educate so that we don’t repeat that part of our nation’s dark history.”
The new plaques remember a mob-induced fire that occurred in 1885 at a laundromat owned by immigrant Yuen Kee, during the height of nationwide anti-Chinese sentiment.
Leaders and records indicate that Yuen Kee Laundry was one of the first Asian American businesses in the area. Kee moved his business to Fair Oaks Avenue, near Mills Place and other Chinese-owned businesses, in 1883. But two years later on Nov. 6, 1885, a mob started several fires in the area — including in the laundromat, where Chinese Americans were working.
The next day, Pasadena officials drafted the city’s first racial zoning ordinance, further segregating Chinese Americans, and driving out all Chinese immigrants from Pasadena for decades after.
The blazes — or lack of organized response — also led to the formation of the Pasadena Fire Department, which would be incorporated the next year.
For years, old markers at Mills Place Alley — once called Ward Alley — only recognized Alexander Fraser Mills, who planted a citrus grove in the area, and included a simple description of the attack. The old…
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