Back in 1987 when a Globe photographer captured the image at top left, the gate in Boston’s Chinatown marked the very edge of the neighborhood, and sat just across from the exposed ramp to the Expressway. Chinatown remains the cultural and economic center for new Chinese immigrants. “It’s the most flourishing ethnic neighborhood in the city,” said Tunney Lee, an MIT professor who has studied the neighborhood’s history.

Here are some photos of how Chinatown and the nearby area have changed in recent decades.