Former Chinese Theater

5 Doyers Street | also 7 Doyers Street, 9 Chatham Square | Chinatown | built 1920

Open on the map6 entries

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

1. 1893

   Merchant Chu Fong opens New York's first Chinese-language theater on Doyers Street

   Chu Fong opened the Chinese Theater, also called the Chinese Opera House, at 5-7 Doyers Street in 1893. It was the only Chinese theater east of California. The theater housed its own troupe in sub-basements below, and a passageway ran underground to a boardinghouse at 10 Chatham Square.

   Source: Untapped New York

2. 1903

   Chinatown raises money at the Chinese Theater for Jewish victims of the Kishinev massacre

   In 1903 the Chinese community used the Chinese Theater at 5-7 Doyers Street for a fundraiser to help Jewish victims of the Kishinev massacre. The theater had been operating since 1893 and was the first Chinese-language theater in New York City; it was later converted into a rescue mission for the homeless.

   Source: Wikipedia

3. 1905

   Hip Sing Tong members open fire on On Leong members in the packed Chinese Theater

   In 1905 gunfire from Hip Sing Tong men tore through the Chinese Theater, where they shot at members of the rival On Leong Tong while 400 people filled the house. Three people died in the shooting. The theater, which opened in 1893 as the city's first Chinese-language playhouse, stood at 5-7 Doyers Street.

   “One shooting at the Chinese Theater in 1905 claimed the lives of three people, when members of the Hip Sing Tong fired on members of the On Leong Tong.”

   Source: Wikipedia

4. 1909

   December

   Comedian Ah Hoon is shot dead in his rooms after mocking rival tongs on stage

   Ah Hoon, a popular actor at the Chinese Theater, belonged to the On Leong Tong and liked to mock the Four Brothers and the Hip Sing tongs from the stage. Rival leaders warned him he would be killed on December 30, 1909. Police stood guard on stage, he slipped away through a tunnel, and On Leong men watched his boardinghouse, yet he was found shot dead the next day.

   Source: Ephemeral New York

5. 1911

   Sun Yat-sen speaks to Chinatown from the former Chinese Opera House

   The Chinese Opera House at 5 Doyers Street staged traditional opera until about 1905, when deadly tong violence broke out on the street. Tom Noonan's Bowery Rescue Mission then took over the space. In 1911 Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the Chinese Nationalist leader, gave a speech to Chinatown's residents from the old opera house.

   “Dr. Sun Yat Sen, Chinese Nationalist leader, delivered a speech to the residents of Chinatown from the former Chinese Opera House at 5 Doyers in 1911.”

   Source: National Register nomination

6. 2016

   The old Chinese Theater becomes the Chinese Tuxedo restaurant

   In 2016 the former Chinese Theater at 5-7 Doyers Street was converted into the Chinese Tuxedo restaurant. The theater had opened in 1893 and was the first Chinese theater on the East Coast.

   Source: theclio.com

Further reading

• A comedian caught in Chinatown’s Tong warsEphemeral New York

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• 3 Doyers Street2 entries
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• Bridges9 Chatham Square | 1 entry
• 10 Chatham Square1 entry

All 93 buildings with stories in Chinatown