Explore San Francisco's Historic Chinatown - 2021

2021

Happy Chinese New Year YEAR OF THE OX

The Chinese New Year brings great pageantry and beauty to San Francisco every February. Paperwhites are used during the New Years celebrations to represent the passing of the old year. Iris flower petals can also be on display, easily moving in the wind, mimicking the fluttering of butterfly wings.

This year, I'd like to share an experience with you - a glimpse into early Chinatown inspired by Jim Schein’s gorgeous new book, Gold Mountain, Big City. It takes the reader on a historical tour of San Francisco’s Chinatown via a colorful and stylized map (c.

1935) by little-known artist Ken Cathcart. Like a jewelry box, the 177 icons tell the story of Chinatown and its people, revealing how the Chinese diaspora created the largest district outside of Asia and the oldest in the United States. It touches on the struggles, the triumphs, and the enduring legacy of these early immigrants.

Inspired by Cathcart's map and Jim Schein's book, we've designed a tour of six locations on the map, routing you through some of Chinatown's most notable gems. I invite you to read the abbreviated stories associated with these iconic places and the people behind them. Spend an hour or more exploring streets awash in color, scents and dialogue, immersing yourself in the splendor of the oldest Chinatown in the United States.

Gung Hay Fat Choy Gael Bruno

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Dragon Gate GRANT & BUSH

One of the most photographed sights in San Francisco, the Dragon Gate officially marks your entrance into Chinatown.

Though the Chinese community began creating Chinatown as we know it in the aftermath of the 1906 earthquake, the official entrance to the neighborhood wasn’t marked until 1970.

Chinatown representatives eagerly pushed for a ceremonial archway, a common entrance to most Chinese villages, in order to show how similar San Francisco’s Chinatown was to a traditional Chinese village. Designed by Clayton Lee, a Chinese American architect, the Dragon Gate is one of the most spectacular and authentic in any American Chinatown.

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St. Mary’s Park GRANT & CALIFORNIA St. Mary’s Park on St Mary’s Alley and the Bufano statue of Sun still exist, but construction of St. Mary’s Parking Garage underneath the park was a priority for the Financial district and Chinatown merchants. The project eliminated the severe slope of St. Mary’s park, a center for neighborhood activities, including memorial services and public speaking events.

Sun Yat Sen Statue: By Benny Bufano, perhaps the most important Chinese person to live in San Francisco, then and since. It was erected on August 10, 1942. When Dr. Sun Yat Sen’s attempt to overthrow the Manchu dynasty failed in 1895, he fled to America, pursued by agents of the Chinese government. The Ghee Kong Tong (Free Masons 36 Spofford) protected, housed, and raised money for Sun until he returned to China in 1911.

There, Sun defeated the Manchus and helped establish the first Republic of China. The constitution of the democratically created Chinese Republic was considered by western democracies to be an historic and ideological milestone, which allowed the United States government to slowly promote and further support friendlier political dialog with China, which during the nineteenth century had been villainized, marginalized, or dehumanized. The accomplishments of Dr. Sun’s revolutionary democratic ideas and his relationship with the United States through San Francisco are very important to Chinese Americans of this period. Sun Yat Sen Statue was erected August 10, 1942.

Old St. Mary’s Cathedral: rOne of the longest standing structures in San Francisco, Old St. Mary’s Cathedral was once the tallest building in the city. St. Mary’s was originally built in 1853 to be the seat of the Catholic Church in San Francisco.

Commissioned by San Francisco Bishop Joseph Alemany of Spain and designed by architects William Craine and Thomas England, the cathedral was designed to replicate a gothic church in Alemany’s hometown of Vich, Spain. The cathedral was dedicated at Christmas Midnight Mass in 1854 and continually grew from that point on. By 1881, however, it was decided that the cathedral would no longer remain in the declining neighborhood.

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Emperor Norton’s Home SACRAMENTO & KEARNEY The “Emp” (Emperor Norton) and his home at 624 Commercial Street (circa 1818, January 8,1880). Joshua Abraham Norton was a rice commodities broker who lost his mind after attempting and failing to corner the California rice market. On September 17, 1859, he declared himself Emperor of the United States, adding later “protectorate of Mexico.” Famous for making grandiose proclamations, from the dissolution of the United States to the need for a bridge between Oakland and San Francisco. He also made his own script or money.

Beloved in his time and very much so ever since for his endearing eccentricities. Norton is known to have owned or be associated with the famous street dogs, Bummer and Lazarus, and many articles were written about them and often false proclamations would be made attributed to Norton. He died January 8, 1880, and his funeral numbered over 10,000 participants and the procession cortege stretched over two miles. Several books and good actors have made Norton the San Francisco antihero for the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The western-suspension section of the SF-Oakland Bay bridge is now named after him.

Portsmouth Square KEARNEY & CALIFORNIA Named for Captain John B. Montgomery’s ship, the USS Portsmouth, this is one of the oldest established areas in San Francisco. Captain Montgomery (whose namesake street is only a few blocks away) rode into the San Francisco Bay in 1846 to officially seize Yerba Buena (San Francisco’s former name) for the United States. He then planted an American flag in this public area and soon after, Portsmouth Square became one of the most important in the growing city. This is where the discovery of gold was first announced in 1848. The first city hall and public school sprang up in this square, and it thrived as the center of the city for much of the post-Gold Rush period. Eventually, as the city shifted its focus toward the Market St. area, City Hall was replaced closer to its present location. With the shift toward Market St., Chinatown began expanding into Portsmouth Square.

Telephone Building KEARNEY & CALIFORNIA

This was the site of the Telephone Exchange from 1894 – 1949.

It was also the result of exclusion practices, but it’s celebrated for its ingenuity, effectiveness, intelligence and spatial memory performed by its operators. This structure was built in China, prefabricated, disassembled and brought to San Francisco for this exclusive purpose of housing the telephone switchboard exchange for Chinatown. Access to the regular phone system was withheld from Chinese as part of the 1882 act. It was designed to prevent employment in specific trades along with other ancillary support industries, which included segregating telephone operators and operations locations within the community it served. The building itself was built as a fitted post and beam wooden construction exemplary to the region of China it was produced and is probably the only truly Chinese designed building in Chinatown, instead of an Americanized rendering.

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Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory (1962) 56 ROSS ALLEY & WASHINGTON

Wash. Alley (Washington Alley), the original name of Wentworth alley was Fish Alley. One block long, Washington became Bartlett, so this two block street was Washington/Bartlett, which is the name of the first alcalde of San Francisco serving from 1846 to 1847. Fish alley, infers where the fish shops were located. On the map, there are no fresh fish vendors represented, but we do see dried, salted finished and delivered foods. One of the few Chinese land grants ever issued, was done so by Bartlett on behalf of the Six companies in 1848 on this street, making it a starting point for true Chinatown.

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1863 Mezeppa, Maguire’s Theater SACRAMENTO & COLUMBUS

A play, adapted from a poem by romantic poet Lord Byron, performed at Maguire’s Opera House. It was opened 1850 by Tom Maguire and destroyed by the creation of Montgomery Avenue in 1871, on Washington Street. It premiered in San Francisco on August 27, 1863 and featured the celebrity actress of nineteenth-century theater, Adah Isaacs Menken, who rode across the stage horseback in a skin-toned costume that made her appear nude, although she was not. This epitomized early San Francisco theater, with a mixture of modernity and scandal, perpetuated by the Barbary Coast.

Sentinel Building KEARNEY & COLUMBUS

A triangular Flatiron Building, under construction during the 1906 earthquake and fire, was completed in 1907.

Built and owned by the corrupt machine politician Abe Reuf, who was prosecuted and jailed in 1907 for graft and corruption charges. It’s been said the Sentinel building wasn’t completed until Reuf got out of San Quentin in 1915, but photos reveal a different story, confirming a 1907–1908 move-in date for its tenants. The top floor housed Reuf’s offices until it became Caesar’s restaurant, inventor of the Caesar salad, which closed around 1919 at the start of prohibition. The building fell into disrepair in the 1960s when it was owned by the Kingston trio. The building was bought by Francis Ford Coppola in the mid 1970s and was renovated, restored with new lighting. It is home to Coppola’s cafe and corporate offices, which represented Coppola’s commitment to his film, cultural origins, food, and wine at Cafe Zoetrope. The ground floor is one of several important sites in North Beach where Coppola wrote the screenplays for the Godfather sagas. His offices still occupy the top floor in Abe Reuf’s old office.

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Little Mexico STOCKTON NEAR COLUMBUS Cilantro, cactus, tortillas, corn grinder = All the tools necessary for a quality Mexican Californeros meal, celebrating the Spanish connection on the 800 block of Broadway.

Little Mexico represents the area around Broadway and Stockton/Powell, an homage to the earliest San Franciscans who weren’t baptized in the Mission but in Our Lady of Guadalupe Church on Broadway. In 1847, this would have been the edge of the town of Yerba Buena, with the Juana Briones rancho extending uphill from Vallejo Street. Thereafter, Little Mexico was the residence of the person speaking Spanish, San Franciscans, whose heritage predates San Francisco. The Californios, who trace their history to either Yerba Buena, the Presidio or to the Mission, often celebrate their masses and christenings at Our Lady of Guadalupe. At the time, this is the Spanish-speaking community within the Latin Quarter, and is the predecessor of today’s mission district as a center for Latino culture.

Schein & Schein Schein & Schein was opened by Jimmie and Marti Schein in 2003 in their North Beach neighborhood after living and working in San Francisco for many years prior. Their love of maps, history, travel and independence lead them to an established and entertaining business in a street retail space in San Francisco for nearly 18 years.

Their inventory contains thousands of authentic Antique Maps and Prints. They cover the world stocking a wide range of material dating from the 14th to the 20th Century; we also specialize in San Francisco, California and wine country material from the 19th and 20th centuries.

They have just recently let go of the North Beach location and have moved the primary business online and invite you shop the inventory here.

ScheinandSchein.com

Gael Bruno gael@gaelbruno.com | 415.901.1747 | gaelbruno.com © 2021 Sotheby’s International Realty. All Rights Reserved. The Sotheby’s International Realty trademark is licensed and used with permission. Each Sotheby’s International Realty office is independently owned and operated, except those operated by Sotheby’s International Realty, Inc. The Sotheby’s International Realty network fully supports the principles of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Opportunity Act. This material is based upon information which we consider reliable but because it has been supplied by third parties, we cannot represent that it is accurate or complete and it should not be relied upon as such. All offerings are subject to errors, omissions, changes including price or withdrawal without notice. If your property is listed with a real estate broker, please disregard. It is not our intention to solicit the offerings of other real estate brokers. We are happy to work with them and cooperate fully. Gael Bruno DRE: 01406220