I spent six precious years in Chinatown, where the Third Arm Community Center and Free Health Clinic were the center of my life. Chinatown was once a vibrant area. At night, tattoo parlors, adult toy stores, night clubs abounded to serve the sailors on shore leave from Pearl Harbor. During the day traditional medicine shops, lei shops, Chinese grocery stores did a busy trade. In the 70s, a group of passionate, dedicated college students fought urban renewal. We fought hard, we were idealistic, but we were green, we didn’t know what we were doing, we were up against big money, and we lost. Urban Renewal destroyed the magic of Chinatown. The poor were evicted, the streets “cleaned up,” the Hubba Hubba and other ribald night clubs closed. Now it’s a sad shadow of itself. Many of the shops are empty. The streets during the day are uncrowded. Homeless people sleep in doorways and empty lots. The alleys stink. The city of Honolulu has turned it into a soulless shell.