City within a city
Step beyond the tourist trappings to experience
Shaoping Wang leads a Falun Gong exercise group in Portsmouth Square in San Francisco’s Chinatown. For tips on planning a trip to Chinatown, see
In San Francisco’s Chinatown, it’s a matter of mere steps from the main drag of kitsch to the niches of authenticity.
This is not a difficult journey. You do not need a GPS or special hiking gear. Nor do you need tickets (unless you take a walking tour). Just pack the will to wander off the beaten tourist path of Grant Avenue into the side streets and alleys, the markets, tea rooms, bakeries and culture.
Along these paths, you’ll hear the hum of conversation and the clatter of game tiles. You can step into a temple where worshipers pause, burn incense and pray in quiet reverence. Look up — laundry dangles from fire escapes like fluttering flags. And look around — you’ll meet people like Jun Yu, the smiling barber of Ross Alley, screeching his erhu version of “Jingle Bells” on a sunny, late spring day.
Yes, beyond the picture postcards, 99-cent silk coin purses and souvenir bamboo back scratchers, this is a neighborhood. People really live here. Lots of people. The 24-square-block district — bounded roughly by Broadway, Kearny, Powell and Bush streets — rivals New York’s Chinatown as the largest concentrated Chinese community outside of Asia. It was established in 1848, when the first Chinese immigrants arrived in San Francisco, followed by thousands more, mainly laborers for railroads and mining operations. Along with much of the city, most of Chinatown’s original wooden buildings burned in the fires following the 1906 quake.
But merchants rebuilt, with the goal of attracting tourists. Clearly it worked, and Chinatown is one of the city’s top tourist attractions, said to draw more visitors per year than the Golden Gate Bridge.
Which is, of course, why locals avoid it. But let’s rethink that. There’s some really cool stuff here. So we asked longtime residents and tour guides for some insider tips. Here are a few spots you’ll want to take that extra step to see:
1 Stockton Street markets
Stockton Street is Chinatown’s other main thoroughfare, running parallel to Grant. But you’ll find nary a bamboo back scratcher here. This is all about food. “To get a feel for the real Chinatown, stroll through the Stockton Street produce markets,” says Linda Lee. She grew up here, and her family opened one of the first travel agencies in the neighborhood more than 50 years ago. Lee now owns her own walking tour company, called All About Chinatown. “This is where the residents shop and where people come to get fresh items that aren’t available elsewhere,” she says.
The stretch between Washington Street and Broadway is lined with small markets and packed with people toting shopping bags and pull carts. Along the sidewalks, cardboard boxes display dried mushrooms, conch and sea cucumber. Workers tie up bundles of bok choy. There’s a sweet, earthy smell of dried herbs.
Many say the street is reminiscent of markets in Hong Kong, yet tourists rarely dare to explore. The markets are open daily, and it’s best to go on weekday mornings. Be advised, there’s currently a lot of construction on Stockton Street for the Central Subway project, but that doesn’t stop the shopping.
2 Ross Alley
One block west of Grant, between Jackson and Washington streets, is a narrow lane with a naughty history — brothels and gambling in the Barbary Coast era. These days, the most scandalous thing may be the special $5.50 pack of “adult X-rated fortunes” at the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory. While fortune cookies have nothing to do with China and were invented for American tastes, they’ve become the ubiquitous after-dinner treat at every Chinese restaurant. And this factory has been folding up sweet, crunchy admonitions since 1962.
You don’t tour the place so much as observe two women deftly lifting warm, flat cookies from small cast-iron forms that look like mini waffle irons. It’s free to come in and look around, and the owner will happily give you a sample of a broken cookie. But a sign asks for 50 cents if you take a photo. 56 Ross Alley, 415781-3956 Next door is Jun Yu’s Barbershop. The door to this tiny one chair shop seems a mere crack in the wall. Peer in to see faded pictures of Frank Sinatra and the single barber chair. A handwritten sign indicates Jun Yu was on “The Bachelor” in 2010, likely bowing his two-string erhu. “I will play for you,” he says, sitting in front of his shop, plugging in a speaker and launching into “Jingle Bells,” then “Oh My Darling Clementine.” And he really cuts hair, too! 32 Ross Alley, 415-362-7776
3 Murals and street art
As you wander, notice the many murals on the sides of buildings, says Chris Courtney, tour guide and founder of The Real SF Tour walking tours. He notes some recent additions, such as the “Ross Alley 1889” mural, which is not on Ross Alley, but on a wall at Clay and Grant streets. It’s by artist Francisco Aquino, depicting early Chinese immigrants. At that same intersection, look up to see five life-size replica statues of China’s famous Terracotta Warriors, standing stoically atop an overhang above the Long Boat Jewelry shop. The figures are backed by an army of more soldiers in a mural that wraps around a fire escape.
4 Waverly Place
This short stretch between Washington and Sacramento streets is home to acupuncture and Chinese medicine shops, an employment agency and an aquarium store. Brightly painted porches dot the buildings. And a plain-looking door with a small yellow sign reads “Tin How Temple.” Though it might seem you’re invading a private apartment building, you must go in, take the stairs up four flights to the top floor and enter a room from another world.
Dozens of lighted paper lanterns hover overhead, as if adrift in a night sky. Incense floats through the air. Plates of oranges and bread rest on an altar, backed by a shrine of intricate Buddha prayer statues. It’s the oldest Taoist temple in the city, established in 1852 and housed in this building since 1910. We can’t show you images, because photography is not allowed inside the temple. Indeed, resist the temptation to sneak a cellphone shot and respect those inside offering prayers. Opening time varies. Admission is free, but a donation is appreciated; 125 Waverly Place, 415 986-2520.
At the Sacramento end of Waverly, Courtney suggests a stop in the Clarion Music store. “There are instruments from all over the world,” he says. “Even if you don’t play, just walk through.” You’ll find everything from an erhu to a didgeridoo, gongs, drums, kulintang sets, a 21-string guzheng and more; 816 Sacramento St., www.clarionmusic.com.
And for a swanky meal, try Waverly Place’s newest resident, Mr. Jiu’s restaurant, featuring celebrity chef Brandon Jew; www.misterjius.com.
5 Grant Avenue
OK, yes, this is the tourist trap. But that doesn’t mean it’s all bad. In fact, embrace the kitsch. Revel in the friendly army of solar-powered Lucky Cat figurines, waving their paws in unison in a storefront window. Get a cute silk coin purse or lipstick case. Pick up a bamboo backscratcher. There’s a reason they’re so popular. They work!
You can’t beat the photo op at the Dragon Gate, the ornate green arch at Grant and Bush Street, installed in 1970 and considered the entrance to Chinatown. Stop for a treat at the Golden Gate Bakery. Linda Lee says it’s the go-to spot for the creamiest egg-custard tarts around; 1029 Grant Ave.
And visit a Vital Tea Leaf shop where you can choose from hundreds of loose-leaf teas and taste a sample served in a tiny cup. But be careful what tea you ask for, or prepare to be chastised by Kenny Tan, part tea expert, part comedian. “In America, everything you put in the water, they call it tea,” he says. “Chrysanthemum tea? That’s not a tea. That’s a flower. Chai tea? The word chai means tea. So when you say ‘chai tea,’ you’re saying ‘tea tea,’” he shakes his head. “Dumb Americans.”
Despite your obvious tea ignorance, Tan will invite you to sit at the long, low, wooden counter while he steeps a small pot of Iron Goddess King green tea. You’ll sip. He’ll make jokes but also educate you on the health benefits of tea, the preventive rather than curative properties. “When you get sick, tea is too late,” he says. “If you’re sick right now, cure is two blocks away. It’s called Walgreens.” Vital Tea Leaf has two locations, at 509 and 1044 Grant Ave., 415-981-2388, www. vitaltealeaf.net.