San Francisco Chinatown: Meeting John

John has been a Flickr contact of mine – now a friend – for a couple of years now.  He lives in Pleasanton, a bit south of San Francisco.  We were delighted when he made time in his busy schedule to come into town (with camera of course) to see us.  We decided to meet at the Visitor Centre at Powell Street Station – because we knew how to get there.  John recognised us as we came off the train – probably because we looked like babes in the wood gazing about.  We decided to go for a wander around Chinatown.


John is an Englishman who came to California with his family some years ago, and they have decided to stay.  As you can see, he is quite tall, so was easy to find if we lost him in the crowded streets of Chinatown.  He said he is easy to find anywhere.



View from the bridge where we were standing.  The word that came to mind was “tangle.”



San Francisco’s Chinatown, established in the 1840s, is the oldest Chinatown in North America and the largest Chinese community outside Asia. 



It is also one of the poorer to more middle class sections of the city.






































Chinatown is also the most densely populated neighbourhood in the city and one of the most densely populated neighbourhoods in the United States.
But I’m guessing that most of these people are not locals.  Chinatown, apparently, attracts more tourists per year than the Golden Gate Bridge.  Chinatown was completely destroyed in the 1906 earthquake, and subsequently rebuilt as a western-friendly tourist attraction.


The Sing Chong Building was one of the first places rebuilt after the 1906 earthquake.



Willie Woo Wong was a Chinese-American basketball player who was born and raised in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Though Wong was only 5'5" tall, he excelled, and was known as one of the finest Chinese-American basketball players in his time, the 1940s. He was called Willie “Woo Woo” Wong because fans would shout "Woo Woo" while he played.
After Wong died in 2005 at the age of 79, local residents successfully petitioned to rename "Chinese Playground" to "Willie ‘Woo Woo’ Wong Playground".






































John and Pat walking towards the "Willie ‘Woo Woo’ Wong Playground". 
You can see how it was easy to find John in a crowd.



Find John.






































The entrance to the Tien Hou Temple, dedicated to the Goddess of Heaven, which we visited.  It was on the top floor, up a lot of steps.



This Dragon Gate is the only authentic Chinatown Gate in North America in that it uses stone from base to top. 



Chinese delicacies.



Chinese herbal shop.



How many yolks for you?



Shops carried an amazing array of goods……



…..in all colours…..



…..and shapes.






































The first building erected as a cathedral in California, Old St. Mary's was established to teach the Chinese community about the Catholic faith.  It was built by Chinese labourers in 1854 with brick brought around Cape Horn and granite cut in China.  Once the city's most prominent building, it was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake and rebuilt in 1909.






































St Mary’s is no longer the city’s most prominent building.



St Mary’s clock carries a “timely” warning.



Inside St Mary’s.






































Across from St Mary’s Church is St Mary’s Square, where a 12-foot statue of Sun Yat Sen, founder of the Chinese Republic (1911-1913), is located.  This statue performs multiple functions.






































St Mary’s Square includes a children’s playground with some complicated rules.  I amused myself by mentally constructing a scenario where all the rules were broken.



Woops, an extra rule.






































Nearby Portsmouth Square is a gathering place in Chinatown which features many markers and statues. 
This is a marker for the raising of the American flag in San Francisco in 1846.



A marker for the first public school in California, opened in 1848 by the Masonic Lodge!



A monument to Robert Louis Stevenson.  I was puzzled about the connection, but later found that he spent “many hours” here during his visit to the city in 1879-1880.  This must have impressed the citizens of San Francisco – or some of them at least - as the monument was designed in 1894 and installed in 1919.



John spotted this contrasting sign of the times.
On the right is a group of Chinese people earnestly playing a card game for money on a flattened cardboard carton.  On the left is a Chinese gentleman using his iPad.



In Portsmouth Square, some young Chinese people, with “Jesus” on their T shirts, danced to some traditional music provided by “Mr Music”.



Then they took off their sashes and danced to “The Power of Your Love” by Australian songwriter Geoff Bullock.






































San Francisco’s Chinatown restaurants are considered to be the birthplace of westernised Chinese cuisine such as food items like Chop Suey, while introducing and popularizing Dim Sum (in Australia Yum Cha) to Western and American tastes.
We had a Dim Sum/ Yum Cha lunch with John at the Cathay House Restaurant.
Thank you for a great day John – it was good to meet you.