From 1 Chinatown to 2, how Las Vegas’ Asian-Americans changed city’s food, sights, shops
- Las Vegas’ Asian-American population has tripled in barely 20 years, transforming the culinary scene and leading to a second Chinatown
It used to be a Las Vegas hot tip: go off the Strip to Chinatown for the city’s best food.
Now there is not just one Chinatown in Nevada’s biggest metropolis but two, and a variety of Asian cuisines can be found across the city.
The culinary renaissance is the most visible part of a major migration of Asian- Americans to Las Vegas that has tripled the community’s population in the Clark County city since the year 2000.
Clark County’s Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) population, most of which is foreign-born, has an unusual demographic profile. Filipinos are the most numerous group, but there are also significant and growing populations of Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Indian and Hawaiian people.
Asian-Americans are “changing the taste and sights and smells of this city in a way that is a reimagination of Las Vegas, beyond the Strip and the buffets”, says Constancio Arnaldo, an Asian and Asian-American studies professor at the University of Las Vegas.
