City Rewrites a Wrong: Reworded Mills Alley Plaques Dedicated at Scene of 1885 Yuen Kee Laundry Fire

“The mistreatment of Chinese Americans that led people to burn down the Yuen Kee laundry and to run the Chinese out of Pasadena is a disgraceful truth,” said Pasadena City Councilmember Gene Masuda at the dedication Tuesday of two new re-worded plaques marking the location of a former Chinese laundry, attacked and burned to the ground by an angry white mob in 1885, according to recent historical research.

The original plaque at the intersection of Mills Place Alley and Green Street, read, “Mills Alley, named for Alexander Fraser Mills, a nurseryman who planted a citrus grove on 7 1/2 acres at the northwest corner of Colorado Boulevard and Fair Oaks Avenue in 1878. Mills Place was originally named ‘Ward Alley’ in 1885. A fire at this site destroyed a laundry establishment owned by Chinese settlers.”

The previous plaque made no mention of the attack on the laundry by the mob. 

Historian Matt Hormann, who first detailed the riot which destroyed the laundry in a 2015 news article, described the event thusly, following the dedication, “A hundred white itinerant workers stormed through Pasadena’s Chinatown and they were angry and they were busy blaming the Chinese for their inability to get a job. That’s what one local historian wrote. 

“Someone threw a stone into the laundry and started a fire. And that’s what wasn’t mentioned on these original plaques that were replaced. But it was basically a small race riot.” 

As Hormann explained, “There was violence committed, people were assaulted, Chinese were assaulted with bricks, with sticks and branches and other objects. And finally the local sheriff had to come and intervene by drawing his pistol on the crowd. And they finally left. And then the next morning the city fathers met in a notary public office and they drafted an ordinance banishing the Chinese from the central part of the City.”

Hormann added that it was “a concerted effort on the part of the citizenry to drive the Chinese from Pasadena, and noted that on the day before the riot, there was an anti-Chinese petition circulated and signed by 96 businessmen in Pasadena. So there’s evidence that this may have even been pre-planned, although it was a riot that quickly got out of control and a mob mentality set in.” 

The City took note of the plaque after a constituent pointed out to Councilmember Felicia Williams that the previous plaque did not mention the riot. Williams asked the City to review the plaque. 

“I am so grateful to my constituent, Pin Chen, for identifying the need for more accurate language to describe the horrific events that took place in 1885 and to the Human Relations Commission and staff for responding expeditiously. We must remember our history so we never again repeat it,” Williams said.

The Pasadena Human Relations Commission approved new wording for the plaques, which were unveiled at the event.

The new plaques read, in part, “Dedicated to the memory of Yuen Kee laundry and the early Chinese settlers of Pasadena who helped build railroads, labored on the citrus and grape farms, and established successful businesses. On November 6, 1885, a mob threw stones into the laundry, breaking a kerosene lamp that burned the building down. The next day, the City barred all Chinese immigrants from living in the central portion of the city.”

Said Mayor Gordo at the event, “The Chinese with their strength and character and sacrifices and hard work endured, and they helped to build our nation. Righting a wrong for the second time, the City of Pasadena and the Pasadena Human Relations Commission have dedicated this new wording.”

Gordo said the dedication was “an opportunity to look at our past, recognize that we first admit we’ve made mistakes, and then correct and recommit ourselves to never letting those mistakes occur.” 

“What happened at this laundry over a hundred years ago,” said Gordo, is something that we need to accept as a tremendous mistake upon human beings, on our neighbors, and on our friends at the time.

Councilmember Masuda added that his own interest in local Chinese history is “personal.”

Said Masuda, “My daughter is married to a Chinese American. I too know about the history and culture of the Chinese and about the history and the contributions of the Chinese who suffered and sacrificed to make their lives. This plaque serves as a reminder that we must not let history repeat itself. Racism and hate divide us. The solution is respect and kindness, which will unite us.” 

Susie Ling, associate professor at Pasadena City College told the gathered audience, “One of the most defining traits of Chinese culture is to value the family. So in the 19th century, Chinese young men came to America to the Gold Mountain, to build a beautiful country for their families. The intention of these pioneers was to work hard in our adopted land, to build opportunities for their loved ones. So they came to Los Angeles, to the San Gabriel Valley, to Pasadena, but instead Chinese-Americans met a cruel fate. 

“They were denied families,” she continued. “They were not allowed to bring women or their parents. They did not get to raise children. American law and culture kept them a bachelor society with anti-miscegenation marriage laws, Chinese Americans were kept segregated, denied citizenship, denied education, denied occupational opportunities, denied basic civil rights, and were even victims of race riots and massacres.” 

A second plaque with the same new wording was also dedicated on Fair Oaks Avenue just south of Colorado Boulevard. Both plaques end with the words, “Pasadena’s march toward justice is not complete and must continue in each generation.”