The crooked lane in Chinatown under strings of lanterns, a dim sum hall up one flight, the census on every wall.
Doyers Street is a 200 foot lane in Chinatown with a sharp bend in the middle. It takes its name from Hendrik Doyer, who ran a distillery there in the 1700s. In the early 1900s the bend was known as the Bloody Angle for its tong wars. Nom Wah Tea Parlor opened on the street in 1920 and is the oldest dim sum restaurant in the city.
Source · Museum of Chinese in America ↗
The sharp bend of the lane, tenements with fire escapes, red lanterns strung overhead, the painted mural on the bend, the upstairs banquet hall with round tables and a lazy susan. Mood: lantern hour. Everything is procedural geometry with painted surfaces; nothing is a scan or a photograph. The room is an interpretation, and it hangs the New Yorkers the census recorded at this place first.