Greetings From Locke, California

[Kalifornier]

I recently stumbled upon Locke, a tiny rural hamlet some half an hour south of Sacramento, when my friends moved to nearby Walnut Grove. Turns out it was a hub for Chinese immigrants who arrived in late 19th and early 20th century to work on farms and levee construction projects in the Sacramento-Stockton delta.

Excerpts from Wikipedia: "On October 7, 1915,[9] the Chinatown of nearby Walnut Grove was destroyed and burned after an accidental fire, thus causing a migration of Zhongshan Chinese into neighboring areas. The land was leased from George Locke as California law at the time forbade the selling of farmland to Asian immigrants by the California Alien Land Law of 1913. Many Chinese immigrants were facing serious discrimination in the major cities. As the town grew, so did its reputation as a destination for illicit entertainment, gaining the nickname "California's Monte Carlo". At one point, it had five gambling halls, five brothels, speakeasies and opium dens.[10]"

All pics taken with GX8/Pana Leica 8-18 mm

Main Street

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These wooden houses were built without foundation, and lot of them now sag/tilt. Despite this, some are still occupied.

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Some look slightly better. Just slightly.

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This one is definitely past its use by date

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Chinese Medicine Shop

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Looking for Acme beer? Why, you've come to the right place. Town's main/only watering hole. Clearly, they are not ready to let go of Christmas yet.

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There are a few art gallery/souvenir shops for those looking for vintage knick knacks

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Anyone seen the Locke Ness monster?

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A Locke resident keeps an eye on me

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Delivery van of one of the eateries

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I had never heard of Locke until now. I reckon there are other places like this waiting to be discovered. Hope you enjoyed this little slice of history.

 

[Mountain_Man_79]

Nice find. Love it!

 

[RevBob]

Interesting find, thanks for sharing.

 

[doady]

The Wild West meets China is kind of a wierd combination, and you photographed it very well.

 

[Brownie]

Love the look down Main Street!

 

[Kalifornier]

Many thanks @Mountain_Man_79 @RevBob @doady and @Brownie ?

 

[SpecFoto]

@Kalifornier Thanks for bringing back great memories for me from the early 1990's. Used to live in the Bay Area and during that time and I kept a boat at a marina in the Sacramento delta, about 8 miles South of Locke, where I would spend my summer weekends. Group of us would boat caravan up to Locke on Saturday nights to go to Al the Wop's, so many fun nights having great steaks, pasta and lots of red wine there. This was long before digital, now somewhere buried in my stored slide albums I have lot of slides of those fun times.

 

[PakkyT]

now somewhere buried in my stored slide albums I have lot of slides of those fun times.

Sounds like it is time to buy a slide scanner. Don't worry, we'll wait. Now get busy.

 

[Danny_SWE]

Enjoyed it quite alot! Fantastic place that.

 

[Kalifornier]

@Kalifornier Thanks for bringing back great memories for me from the early 1990's. Used to live in the Bay Area and during that time and I kept a boat at a marina in the Sacramento delta, about 8 miles South of Locke, where I would spend my summer weekends. Group of us would boat caravan up to Locke on Saturday nights to go to Al the Wop's, so many fun nights having great steaks, pasta and lots of red wine there. This was long before digital, now somewhere buried in my stored slide albums I have lot of slides of those fun times.

That's fantastic! We all would love to see some of the slides.

 

[Kalifornier]

Enjoyed it quite alot! Fantastic place that.

Thank you!