Discovering old-world charms of Chinatown, San Francisco

Bustling centre of Chinese culture in North America
2023-08-27
/
/ New Delhi
Chinatown
Discovering old-world charms of Chinatown, San Francisco

Chinatown upholds a mix of local history & flavours of the ethnic immigrants

Since its establishment in 1848, the Chinatown in San Francisco has been an influential centre in the history and culture of Chinese immigrants to North America.
Rate this post

Located next to North Beach and the Financial District, San Francisco’s Chinatown is known to be North America’s first and largest of its kind. From learning about an insider view of daily life with Wok Wiz Tours to exploring the Chinese Culture Centre, Chinatown upholds a mix of local history and flavours of the ethnic immigrants. One can see the latest exhibition in their Visual Art Centre or sign up for one of their neighbourhood walking tours, says Visit San Francisco in a press statement, adding that with its 30 square blocks of tea rooms, Taoist temples, dim sum palaces, dragon sculptures and pagodas, the Chinatown is one of the city’s top destinations. 

Visit San Francisco lists the key landmarks of Chinatown that should be visited by tourists.

Waverly Place 

Waverly Place Chinatown

Waverly Place is known to be the cultural core of Chinatown

Grant Avenue may be Chinatown’s economic heart, but its soul is Waverly Place. Located on a block west of Grant Avenue, between Washington and Sacramento streets, Waverly Place is the cultural core of Chinatown with its colourful temples and age-old family-run businesses. The lineup of painted balconies dotted with lanterns has been the setting of many iconic stories. Foodies may find delight in the Michelin-starred Mister Jiu’s restaurant while bookworms may recognise the ‘Street of Painted Balconies’ from Amy Tan’s novel, The Joy Luck Club and cinephiles from the movie The Pursuit of Happyness.

Dragon Gate

Dragon Gate San Francisco

The Dragon Gate was actually a gift from Taiwan

The Dragon Gate entrance on Grant Avenue imported tiles from China to make it a traditional stone archway when it finally opened in 1970. The three-portal structure incorporated decades of planning for construction and was actually a gift from Taiwan. It features statues of a lion and lioness that guard the archway, fish, symbolising prosperity, and dragons, signifying fertility and power, adorning the top of the gate.

Tin How Temple

Tin How Temple Chinatown

The temple’s altar has miraculously survived the 1906 earthquak

Lantern-festooned balconies of temples lead to one of the oldest surviving Taoist temples in San Francisco, and in the country itself, the Tin How Temple. Built in 1852 in the busy Waverly Place, the temple’s altar has miraculously survived the 1906 earthquake. As one of two temples in Chinatown surviving since then, the Tin How Temple has been flocked by believers in Chinese popular religions, comprising the folk-based mixture of Daoist, Confucian, Buddhist and local traditions, from San Francisco and its surrounding areas. Guided by sandalwood-incense aromas, visitors can go up three flights of stairs to pay their respects at the gilded shrine of Tien Hua, protector of travellers. 

Stockton Street

Stockton Street Chinatown

Stockton Street begins at Market Street passing Union Square, a major shopping district in the city

In Stockton Street, hawkers sell everything from ducks hanging in the windows, to huge bins of Chinese produce and traditional herbs, all from crowded storefronts that can spill onto the sidewalks. Stockton Street markets can be experienced at their liveliest with a five-block walk between Sacramento and Broadway on a Saturday, when the neighbourhood does most of its shopping. 

Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory

Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory

Some of the employees at Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory fold up to 10,000 cookies a day

The Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory is a tiny storefront hidden in an alleyway in the heart of Chinatown. The tourism board says that this is the only remaining fortune cookie factory in San Francisco where the cookies are still assembled by hand and with the help of a conveyor belt, in the old-fashioned way. It is said that some of the employees here fold up to 10,000 cookies a day. Visitors can even sample freshly baked cookie that comes in an assortment of unique flavours like green tea and chocolate. 

Chinese Historical Society of America Museum

Chinese Historical Society of America Museum

Chinese Historical Society of America Museum hosts galleries, tours, events and interactive learning opportunities

This museum is an immersive experience to learn the history of Chinese immigrants in America, designed by famed architect Julia Morgan. The CHSA Museum has been a centre of research, scholarship and learning since 1963. It has fascinating galleries, tours, events and interactive learning opportunities. Recent temporary exhibits include a retrospective on Bruce Lee, with a focus on his influence on the Black community, explored through the lens of the Bay Area’s premier Black artists and creators of colour. Meanwhile, a permanent exhibit features miniature models of iconic scenes of Chinatown, as celebrated local artist Frank Wong remembers them from his childhood.  

Leave a Reply

Get Magazine