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Old China Town Portland, OR / SW Second and Washington 1890
Unlike San Francisco or Seattle, Portland's China Town, in the later half of the nineteenth century, had not developed into a gird of buildings labeled as a cultural district, but was rather a district mixed in with the rest of Downtown Portland. This situation caused a great deal of tension between Oregonians and the migrant Chinese workers who settled in Portland after the Gold Rush in California. The locals thought that Oregon should be saved for Oregonians. Racism was developing between the Chinese community and the locals of Portland.
Due to the fact that primarily men emigrated from China to America for work, the male to female ratio was unbalanced, leaving the populations of Chinese communities along the west coast predominately male. The area of Portland known as "Old China Town" had developed the bad habits of gambling, prostitution, and drug usage. The city made a great effort to mitigate the illegal activities in this area of town and was constantly raiding properties they thought were a problem. In the mid 1880s when Portland made the possession of opium a misdemeanor, addicts and dealers altered buildings to create a safe place to deal and smoke. This alteration of architectural function and design was kept very secret in order to meet the needs of only those who smoked and sold opium. For those who used or dealt opium in the city these architectural modifications where a 'problem solved' from the ever tightening grip of state and government law enforcement.