By: Gosia Wozniacka, Associated Press
HANFORD, CA (AP).- The smell is musty, the wooden floorboards rotten and the original owners long dead. But the century-old Chinese herb shop with its towering armoire of small wooden drawers can still be found nearly intact behind a set of heavy metal doors. Herb bundles sit on dust-coated shelves, and wafer-thin paper used by owner L.T. Sue to wrap his herbs still hangs on a rack by a counter stained with bird droppings. The shop in China Alley in the rural Central California town of Hanford once bustled with customers, as did the nearby temple, gambling dens, restaurants and other shops. But now, the buildings in what used to be one of the largest Chinatowns between San Francisco and Los Angeles are mostly deserted. Walls are cracked, bricks chipped, and signs faded from the sun. China Alley was named Wednesday as one of America’s 11 most endangered historic places by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The non-profit group spo