Which Way, L.A.?
Walmart Comes to Chinatown
Walmart's skirted the LA City Council to open a store in a building that's been empty for years. Is a cheap grocery what Chinatown needs? Will its ethnic identity be lost?
By Warren Olney • • 1h 0m ListenThere were lion dancers, cyclists and a rally under Chinatown's dragon gates on Saturday, but construction on the project being protested had already begun last Tuesday. We hear how Walmart got around the Los Angeles City Council and found a way to open a new store in a building that's been empty for years. Is a cheap, full-service grocery what the neighborhood needs? Will its unique, ethnic identity be destroyed? Can a permit appeal by union labor stop construction before Walmart opens for business? On our rebroadcast of today's To the Point, forest fires and federal money.
Banner image: Demonstrators protest against Walmart's Chinatown project on Saturday, June 30, 2012. Photo by Saul Gonzalez
