Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Return to Jackson Street, turn left,
and continue to Stockton Street. Then
turn right.
6
Stockton Street
This is my favorite part of Chinatown,
and the part that most closely resembles
a typical urban street in an older
Chinese city, with sidewalk produce
stands, fish markets, and bakeries.
Some of the greasy spoons display the
roasted meats of the day in their win-
dows, head and all—the sight repulses
some Westerners, but many Chinese
customers know how to tell at a glance
whether the quality of the inventory is
high today. You'll also notice that the
signs in the shop windows aren't in
English as often as they are on Grant
Avenue; that's because this is an active
shopping street for everyday sundries,
particularly for older Chinese-born
residents.
Here, you should take your time
and wander into the groceries to see
what non-endemic produce is for sale.
You'll find durian, star fruit, lychee,
and other fruits they don't have at your
local Winn-Dixie, and you'll have to
swim through crowds of Asian folks to
get to them. Happily, shopkeepers,
though displaying a businesslike man-
ner, are generally willing to explain any
product for which you can't read the
label.
At 1121 Stockton St., on the top
floor of a building marked 1908 near its
cornice, is the century-old Tung Sen
Benevolent Association, one of many
groups, such as the famous Chinese Six
coalition, that were organized to ease
the transition into American society,
battle the ghetto's gangs, and assist the
poor in getting a leg up. Back in the day,
these groups had far more power than
today and they functioned like labor
unions-cum-legal counsel, fighting dis-
crimination. These days, they tend to
to inspect its carvings, traditional archi-
tectural details, and altar, portions of
which survived the 1906 blaze. It's cus-
tomary to leave a few dollars in the red
envelopes on the front table. The tem-
ple, serene and wafting with incense, is
on the top floor and there's no elevator.
(By the way, this kind of house of wor-
ship isn't so common here; there are
more Chinese Christians in Chinatown
than there are Buddhists.)
Return to Grant Avenue and go left.
Continue past Sacramento Street.
Continue up Grant. At Jackson Street,
turn left.
5
Ross Alley
Once you leave Grant Avenue, the
kitschy red lanterns and hokey hyper-
Oriental flourishes dribble away, deliv-
ering you into a much more authentic
community at work.
You'll pass an alley on your left, and
at the second one, Ross Alley, turn left.
In here is the Golden Gate Fortune
Cookies Co. (p. 138), worth a stop if
only for the glimpse of workaday
Chinatown that is so rarely afforded to
outsiders. These alleys, in the bad old
days, were rife with gambling, brothels,
drug dealing, and worse, and it was
these dark and dangerous dens that
seemed to mortify reformers the most.
Duncombe Alley, across Pacific, was
famous for its opium dens. St. Louis
alley, on this side of Pacific, was known
for its slave market, where naked girls
were auctioned off to pimps. It's all so
hard to picture today, and thankfully
it's over. Enjoy a cookie instead.
A few steps down the alley, at no.
50, the Sam Bo Trading Company
deals in Taoist and Buddhist religious
items, such as fake paper money
designed to be burned at funerals—it's
a good place to pick up a few offbeat
souvenirs for merely a few dollars.
