THIS WILL BE A VIRTUAL MEETING, HELD VIA ZOOM.

Topic: Excavation brings to light early Chinatown and Stingaree

Speaker: Rachel Bilchak and Douglas Mengers

RSVP by 5/26/2020 at 5 pm: https://forms.gle/as8jit9XgTfNGs6e9

Once you RSVP, login details will be emailed to you prior to the meeting! The meeting will be on Zoom.

What is known today as the Gaslamp District used to include San Diego’s thriving Chinatown, as well as the “Stingaree”, the red-light district filled with saloons and prostitution. Artifacts buried for nearly a century under a warehouse and parking lot have recently been recovered that tell the story of these two lesser-represented communities. On the block that was excavated was once a tavern and the small apartments next door that housed bartenders and prostitutes. Vice crackdowns in 1912 swept out the Stingaree and the residents of the block, and Chinese merchants and their families moved in. Join us to see how archaeologists pieced together the story of a community from diligent research and a few broken bottles.

Rachel Bilchak, B.A., B.S., is a professional archaeologist with 5 years of experience in the environmental resources field. She conducts all aspects of fieldwork and her laboratory strengths include artifact analysis and reconstruction of ceramics. Ms. Bilchak is the recipient of the 2017 Robert Mc. Adams Award for Excellence in Archaeological Anthropology and the Warren Undergraduate Research Scholarship, and is currently President-Elect for the SDCAS, responsible for the implementation of the annual Arch in the Park public event.

Douglas Mengers, M.A, RPA, DPPH, is a Senior Archaeologist and Historian with PanGIS. He has over a decade of experience focused in Southern California, with a special interest in historical archaeology and the history of the San Diego County region. He last presented to the SDCAS in 2017 with All Aboard! The History and Archaeology of the San Diego Streetcar System (1880s-1940s).