In 1982, the firm P.K.Y. Chen completed a drastic conversion of a few early 20th-century buildings at the northwest corner of Canal and Centre Streets. Designed for the headquarters Golden Pacific National Bank, the new edifice had the look of a Chinese pagoda. The main Canal Street frontage stands six stories while a two-story wing extends along Centre Street to Howard Street. The building is rendered in tan brick, multi-colored tiles, red piers, and numerous green, tiled, pagoda-style roofs. The original tenant vacated the building only two years after it opened when they became insolvent. Today, the main tenant is once again a bank, but its best-known occupant is perhaps the Starbucks at its corner.

James Naughton was born in Ireland and immigrated to New York in the 1860s. For more than five decades he served the Chinatown/ Five Point area as an undertaker. He purchased a number of local buildings including Nos. 37 and 78 Mott Street, as well as the stables at Nos. 31-37 which served both the mortuary and local police horse needs. Though Irish and certainly having enough Irish clients, he also advertised to and served both the local Italian and Chinese communities.

Pictured here in 1960, 79 and 79A Mott Streets housed a restaurant, photo studio, and dress shop. By 1975, the storefront at no. 79 was Yu Siting Company, "a narrow and usually crowded little book and stationery shop." A 2001 article in the New York Times notes the presences of the Ten Ren's Tea Time shop here in an article describing the then emerging boba tea trend.

No. 41 (at the center of the frame with the balcony at the top) was home to the Chinese Merchants Association or the On Leong Tong, in the first half of the 20th century. The Association celebrated the opening of their new headquarters in 1921 with an eleven-day celebration. Its opening night saw 15,000 revelers crowding the narrow street of Chinatown and more than 6,000 merchants from 20 different cities. In 1950 the On Leong Tong Merchants Association moved into a new Chinese Modern building on Mott and Canal Streets. Since 1977 No. 41 was has been owned by the Lee Family Association, the oldest and largest tong in New York City. The building today has a modern style white facade, installed at an unknown date in the midcentury. Its ground floor has long been home to Golden Fung Wong Bakery, one of the oldest bakeries in Chinatown.

32 Mott Street is a dumbbell-shaped "old-law" tenement that was built in 1897 by the architect Louis Heimeeke. This section of Mott between Pell Street and Chatham Square was the center of late 19th century Chinatown. The ground floor of this building was occupied for more than 100 years by a Chinese store run by generations of the Lee family. The Quong Yuen Shing and Company shop opened here in 1899, changed its name to 32 Mott Street General Store in the mid 20th century and only closed in 2003 due to rising rents. Chinese-American architect Poy Gum Lee lived here at no. 32 for a time and his father Lee Yick Dep was a private partner in the general store business. This cowboy is Clifford Lee, the son of the store's manager.

The Baohuanghui (Protect the Emperor Society or the Chinese Empire Reform Association) was founded by exiled Chinese reformer Kang Youwei in 1899 to promote constitutional reform in China (and the return of Guangxu Emperor to power). It became the first and largest Chinese transnational organization. In 1902 and 1903 the Baohuanghui was located at 20 Mott Street before moving on to 5, 6, 7-9, and 12 Mott Street in later years. In the 1980s, the 20 Mott Street Restaurant occupied all three stories and was well-known for its Cantonese fare, particularly the roast duck. The building seen here was demolished prior to 2009 and has been replaced with a plain six-story brick building.

The restaurant here on Mott Street was once the most famous Chinese restaurant in the world (according to some). Port Arthur Chinese Restaurant, seen here on the second and third floors of no. 7-9, opened in 1897. One of the ethnic enclave's first eateries, it became a neighborhood landmark and an important cultural hub (Sun Yat-Sun may have eaten here while in New York). The ornate pagoda-styled facade hid an equally showy interior, replete with carved teakwood furniture, massive electric fans, and Chinese lanterns The second floor operated as a space for American tourists looking for an "authentic" experience, while the third-floor banquet halls were largely used for private parties, political entertaining, and wedding for the business's Chinese patrons. The well-known and loved restaurant survived until 1974.

This 1897-established Chinese-American restaurant with the gorgeous teak carved balcony only survived until the 1920s. Almost 100 years later, a local development group opened up a new eatery just down the block (in a historic building that had once housed the first Chinese language theatre in New York) and named it for its historic neighbor.

Dr. William J. Olliffe established this pharmacy in 1805 and his son William M. (whose remained on the sign) took over in the 1860s. The location of the shop here at no. 6 Bowery dated to at least to the 1850s (and perhaps earlier). The druggist remained in business until at least 1957. What a run!

Hong Hop Company, a noodle manufacturer and supplier, was established in 1931. Seen here in the 1950s, the business remained in operation here at no. 10 until late 2016 or early 2017.

In 1956 a docufiction film called "On the Bowery," which followed the life of a small group of residents of Manhattan's skid row, featured the Confidence Bar at its then location at 256 Bowery. Before moving to that spot, the bar and restaurant occupied a storefront here at no. 12. In the 1980s the Tao Yuan Garden Restaurant occupied space in this ca. 1860s building.

The Chinese restaurant called Bo-Bo's (at 20 1/2 Pell Street, right) was a well-loved local institution between the 1950s and 1980s. The menu was up on a board on the wall, and with less than a dozen tables, the wait could be an hour. Those who remember the spot even today say the wait was always worth it. The signage notes the restaurant's name and states "the home of Chinese actors." Ester Eng, who was a partner in Bo-Bo's and owned another nearby eatery was an early director in Chinese cinema, and many Chinese actors frequented the spot.

Soy Kee and Company was an importer and exporter of Chinese goods, selling curios, chinaware, lamps, silks, ivory carvings, imported Chinese teas, candies, coffees, and other accessories. It was first located here at 36 Pell, under a Chinese eatery before moving to 7-9 Mott Street where it occupied the ground floor space of a building known for its busy upstairs restaurant, Port Authur. It is unknown when Soy Kee and Company opened, but its move to Mott Street occurred sometime after 1903. In 1921 Soy Kee and Co. became the owners of the building they had long rented at 7-9 Mott Street.