Pictures &
Miss Chinatown USA 2002
click to view photos of the
Chinese New Year Parade
Miss Chinatown USA 2003
click picture to view pictures of the 2003 parade
Click images below to enlarge
Many people buy their fresh produce on Stockton St. in Chinatown.
Window shopping on Grant
Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory on Ross Alley
Making fortune cookies
Live chickens are delivered to Chinatown restaurants. You can't get fresher than this.
Mural at Portsmouth Square
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San Francisco's Chinatown begins at the dragon-crested gate at Grant Avenue and Bush Street, a gift from the Republic of China in 1969.
San Francisco’s oldest street—Grant Avenue—runs eight blocks through the center of America’s ethnic capital to over 1.5 million people of Chinese descent.
Don’t miss the open markets on Stockton Street and all the little alleys between Grant and Stockton or you'll miss some of the most interesting parts of Chinatown.
iNeTours.com has a growing list of Chinese Restaurant Reviews and Chinese-American Restaurant Reviews by Louis Madison, a retired economist who has been researching and reporting on affordable dining in San Francisco for over twenty years. Most reviews include both exterior and interior photographs.
After your iNeTours.com virtual tour of Chinatown, try a guided walking tour of Chinatown that includes dinner and a drive to Treasure Island to see the San Francisco skyline.
The American Flag was raised for the first time in San Francisco on July 9, 1846 in Portsmouth Square which served as city center for many years. City Guides free walking tours leave from here on Saturday and Monday.
Portsmouth square was designed in 1839 by city planner J.J. Vioget to face onto Yerba Buena Cove. The gold rush era saw the cove clogged with clipper ships. The cove was later filled in, and became the Financial District.
A pedestrian bridge on the Kearney Street side of Portsmouth Square leads to the Chinese Culture Center.
Chinese New Year celebrations in San Francisco's Chinatown last a month or more with street fairs, competition for and crowning of Miss Chinatown USA, parades and dragon dancers. Click on Miss Chinatown USA 2002 to see photos of the parade. Click on Miss Chinatown 2003 for the latest Chinatown New Year parade pictures.
The Story of Chinatown, from the first immigrants to re-building after the 1906 earthquake and fire and over coming racism, is detailed on this KQED web site.
When visiting San Francisco's Chinatown, you'll want to visit the Chinese Historical Society of America — on Clay near Powell. Admission to this and several museums is included with the Go San Francisco Card.
Fortune cookies have been made at the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory on Ross Alley in Chinatown since 1962. The cookie itself is made and cooked by a machine then a printed fortune is inserted and the fortune cookie is folded by hand.
The fortune cookie, was first introduced to the U.S. by the Hagiwara family to be enjoyed while taking tea at the tea house in the Japanese Tea Garden.
Parking is difficult to non-existent in Chinatown. Other than using the fairly expensive Portsmouth Square Garage, the best way to get to Chinatown is by Cable Car. It’s also a great way to visit other San Francisco neighborhoods.
Catch the Cable Car at California and Grant Streets in Chinatown and go west to Van Ness Avenue, east as far as the Embarcadero or transfer to the Powell-Mason line to go south to Union Square or north to Fisherman’s Wharf.
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