Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
4
Chinese Historical Society of America
MUSEUM
Picture what it was like to be Chinese in America during the Gold Rush, transcontinental
railroad construction or the Beat heyday in this 1932 landmark, built as Chinatown's
YWCA by Julia Morgan (also chief architect of Hearst Castle). Century-old photos, gold-
mining tools, mesmerizing Chinatown miniatures, and mementos carried across the Pacif-
ic trace personal journeys from China that made American history.
(CHSA;
415-391-1188;
www.chsa.org
;
965 Clay St; adult/child $5/2, 1st Thu of month free;
noon-5pm Tue-Fri, 11am-4pm Sat;
1, 30,
45,
California St)
5
Chinese Culture Center
ART GALLERY
You can see all the way to China inside this cultural center, which hosts rotating exhibits
of China's leading brush-painters and Xian Rui ('fresharp') contemporary shows on such
current themes as gender identity in Chinese culture. In odd-numbered years, 30-plus Bay
Area artists present personal takes on Chinese culture at Present Tense Biennial. Check
the website for upcoming concerts, arts workshops and historical walking tours.
(
415-986-1822;
www.c-c-c.org
; 3rd fl, Hilton Hotel, 750 Kearny St; suggested donation $5, tours adult/student $30/25;
10am-4pm Tue-Sat;
;
1, 8X, 10, 12, 30, 35, 41,
California St, Powell-Mason, Powell-Hyde)
6
Portsmouth Square
Chinatown's unofficial living room is named after John B Montgomery's sloop, which
staked the US claim on San Francisco here in 1846. This is where the Gold Rush began
and where San Francisco's first City Hall took over burlesque Jenny Lind Theater in 1852.
Today tai chi practitioners greet the dawn by the Goddess of Democracy, a bronze replica
of the statue Tiananmen Square protesters made in 1989. Don't miss the lively night mar-
ket during Chinese New Year and July-October.
(
http://sfrecpark.org/destination/portsmouth-square
;
PARK
733 Kearny St;
;
1, 8X, 10, 12, 30, 35, 41,
California St, Powell-Hyde, Powell-Mason)
7
Columbus Tower
HISTORICAL BUILDING
