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Big Day of Giving: Restoring Chinatown

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Downtown Sac in Action | Austin Kloch — May 01, 2025

Tucked between Golden 1 Center, the Old Sacramento Waterfront, and the Railyards, Sacramento’s historic Chinatown is often overlooked, but its story runs deep. Once a vibrant gathering place for Chinese immigrants and their descendants, the neighborhood now sits quietly as the city grows around it. Located at 4th and J Street, just across from DOCO and the Amtrak station, many don’t even realize it’s there.

Today is the Big Day of Giving, a regional fundraising campaign organized by the Sacramento Region Community Foundation. This year, our sister 501(c)(3) organization, the Downtown Sacramento Foundation (DSF), is proud to support the vision of Friends of Sacramento Chinatown Square to reestablish Chinatown as a hub for community, wellness, and thriving local businesses.

Chinese Americans played a foundational role in shaping Sacramento’s growth, especially through their work on the Transcontinental Railroad, which transformed the city into a key hub for transportation and economic development.

Despite facing intense discrimination, Chinese immigrants built a thriving downtown community. Then came the redevelopment era of the 1950s and 60s. The City declared Chinatown, Japantown, and Black and Latino neighborhoods “slums” to make way for Interstate 5. Today’s Chinatown Square is the last remaining piece of what was once a vibrant network of communities.

Friends of Sacramento Chinatown Square is a small but dedicated group working to bring life back to the neighborhood. Today, the square includes senior housing and a Thai restaurant. The vision is to bring in traditional and alternative medical providers, small businesses, and a community center.

In the meantime, DSF is raising funds to launch phased enhancements to the space to lay the foundation for what’s to come. Think tables and chairs, LED lanterns, statues, new lamp posts, and a restored Chinatown gateway arch.

To kickstart this effort, DSF is aiming to raise $15,000 through Big Day of Giving. Click here if you are interested in donating — your contribution will uplift a cultural legacy in Sacramento’s core that has long been under-recognized.

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