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Sunday, July 13, 2025

TRUE CRIME: DENVER'S HOP ALLEY RIOT


On Oct 31, 1880, the Hop Alley Riot broke out in the Denver's Chinatown.

Hop Ally - located in the modern Lodo district - was so-named due to racist associations with opium use.

The disturbance broke out in a pool hall brawl between two Chinese men and a group of drunken whites. A mob, estimated between 3,000 to 5,000 people, descended on Chinatown after the fight spilled into the street.

Sing Lee, a Chinese man, was beaten and hanged from a lamppost - the only known fatality.

Police and firemen struggled to break up the violence, which led to the eventual decline of Denver’s Chinatown.

[Photo: Denver Public Library]

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