NYC Chinatown Social Life

 

On the “social scale”, there was the Ging Hawk Club in the early 50’s followed by the Four Seas Club on 22 Pell Street; the Jade Club on 20 E. Broadway; and other smaller social clubs in the late 50’s and the 60’s. The Jaycees hosted the annual New Year’s Eve Dance Party in the early 60’s at the Commodore Hotel and in subsequent years at the St. George Hotel in Brooklyn, NY.  Many of the larger dances were held at the Mac Burney YMCA on 23^rd St. and major NYC hotels; college dances sponsored by the respective Chinese Student Societies were held at the City College(s), Columbia, and NYU; and church socials were held after basketball games at True Light Church (True Light boy’s and girl’s basketball teams “Daughters of China” (DOC) and Mariners Temple.

 

Chinatown Teen Socials

The “Teen Hops” were held at the Transfiguration Catholic Church and Mariners Temple where many of the Chinatown teenagers were able to meet and socialize with teenagers from the other New York boroughs and New Jersey.   

 

Bear Mountain Summer Family-Social Excursion

During the summer, everyone looked forward to the last Monday in July when the Chinese American Restaurant Association held its “annual boat ride” from South Ferry to Bear Mountain starting at 8:00 am and returning at 11:00 pm. Here was an opportunity to see old friends and meet new ones as there were all kinds of activities for people of all ages and it was truly a family outing with something for everyone to participate in from various games of chance; to dancing; to a table tennis contest; to a dance contest; to a food festival of great home