Postcard from Chinatown

Did you know that San Francisco’s Chinatown is the oldest Chinatown in North America and the largest Chinese community outside of Asia? I bet you didn’t. I also bet you didn’t know its gets more tourists every year than the Golden Gate Bridge. Probably because its easier to get to.

Here is a shortcut to Chinatown for you tourists that requires no automobile…unless you enjoy paying outrageous car park fees in a big city. Leave your car at a BART station anywhere in the Bay Area. Take a BART train to the Powell Street Station. Get out, go up the stairs and look for a cable car. They are at the corner of Powell and Market. You can’t miss it as you are right there.

Then walk right past the long lines of tourists waiting to ride the cable car and continue up Powell St. for 3 blocks. On your right will be the famous Union Square. Grab a Starbucks and sit in the square for a few minutes and enjoy the scenery (this part is optional, but worth it).

The walk across the square to the next street which is Stockton Street. Turn left. Up ahead you will see a tunnel. Walk two blocks to the tunnel and continue on through it. When you emerge, you will be in Chinatown. Easy, huh? Enjoy the view all along the way (I admit the tunnel is boring).

It is ironic that when you walk into the tunnel, you leave Western Civilization behind and emerge in a whole different world. It’s the stuff of science fiction.

Chinatown is not built to attract tourists, even though it does. No indeed. It was originally established in 1848 as a community for Chinese immigrants so they could retain a semblance of the life they left behind. Chinatown is an enclave that continues to retain its own customs, languages, shops, places of worship, social clubs, and identity. One can quite easily become immersed in a microcosmic Asian world, filled with herbal shops, temples, pagoda roofs and dragon parades.

As I said, it was not built for tourists, but of course, we come there in droves. But don’t expect shops and restaurants that have a western feel to them (although there are a few). This is Chinatown, the real deal.

When I was there, I visited a few shops and other locals with my camera, like this more modern Chinese market. But I ate lunch at a whole-in-the-wall restaurant that offered dim sum and other Chinese delicacies that were wonderful. It was a bit of a dump inside with cheap bench seats equipped with soy sauce and not much else. But that is normal here. Had to look around to find western-style utensils and napkins (never was any damn good with chopsticks).

As there were numerous Chinese people inside eating lunch with me, that’s a tipoff that the food is good. Here is a tip: before eating at any restaurant in Chinatown, look inside to see how many Chinese are eating. That will give you a clue as to the food quality. And before you ask, there are no Panda Express joints in Chinatown.

To use the bathroom, I had to borrow a key from one of the cooks. The key was on something resembling a bent tire iron and had two rolls of toilet paper on it. Quite unique. But that is Chinatown.

When you visit San Francisco, be sure to make Chinatown a destination. It’s the real deal, as compared to Fisherman’s Wharf, Pier 39, and other such places there that are built to take your tourist dollars. And make sure to find a real hole-in-the-wall restaurant for lunch or dinner. You will love it.