
Among the most important buildings in that area were that of the Parisian Novelty Co., which sold its building for demolition in 1927 when 22nd Street was widened, and the Chinese Merchandise Mart or Emporium, a large Art Deco structure that was built near or on the site of the former Parisian Novelty building. The Parisian Novelty Co. is interesting not only because the company still exists (it is a leading manufacturer of corporate promotional items) but because it employed a number of Chinese-American workers in the 1920s, a period when most historians say that Chinese-Americans never worked in factories. The Chinese Emporium may have been the largest souvenir/curio shop in the history of Chicago’s Chinatown.