Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
and baked on a conveyor belt.
An attendant inserts the
“fortunes” (slips of paper bearing
mostly positive predictions)
before the cookies are folded.
Ironically, the fortune cookie,
despite its close association
with Chinese food and culture,
is a phenomenon entirely
unknown in China. It was
actually invented in 1909 in San
Francisco's Japanese Tea Garden
(see p149)
, by the chief gardener
of the time, Makota Hagiwara.
6
Chinatown Alleys
Map
5 B3.
@
1, 30, 45.
Contained within a busy
neighborhood, the Chinatown
Alleys are situated between
Grant Avenue and Stockton
Street. These four narrow lanes
intersect Washington Street
within half a block of each other.
Of these, the largest is Waverly
Place, known as the “Street of
Painted Balconies,” for reasons
that are apparent to every
passerby. The alleys contain
many old buildings, as well
as traditional shops and
restaurants. There are also
Final touches in the cookie factory
atmospheric, old-fashioned
herbalist shops, displaying elk
antlers, sea horses, snake wine,
and other exotic wares in their
windows. Small restaurants,
both above and below street
level, serve cheap, delicious,
home-cooked food.
Three-floor climb to the Tin How Temple,
founded in 1852
4
Tin How Temple
Top floor, 125 Waverly Pl.
Map
5 C3.
Te l
986-2520.
@
1, 8X, 10, 12, 30, 41,
45.
California St, Powell-Hyde,
Powell-Mason.
Open
10am-4pm
daily. Donation requested.
^
7
Grant Avenue
Map
5 C4.
@
1, 30, 45.
@
California St.
This unusual temple, the
longest-operating Chinese
temple in the United States,
is dedicated to Tin How (Tien
Hau), Queen of Heaven and
protector of seafarers and
visitors. Originally founded by
the Cantonese clan association
in 1852, it is now situated at the
top of three steep, wooden
flights of stairs. The narrow
space is smoky with incense
and burnt paper offerings, and
hung with hundreds of gold
and red lanterns. It is lit by red
electric bulbs and burning wicks
floating in oil. Gifts of fruit lie on
the carved altar in front of the
wooden statue of Tin How.
The main tourist street in
Chinatown, Grant Avenue is also
distinguished for being the first
street of Yerba Buena, the village
that preceded San Francisco. A
plaque at No. 823 Grant Avenue
marks the block where William
A. Richardson and his Mexican
wife erected Yerba Buena's first
edifice, a canvas tent,
on June 25, 1835.
By October, they had
replaced this with a
wooden house, and the
following year with a yet
more permanent adobe
(sun-dried brick) home,
called Casa Grande.
The street in which the
Richardsons' house
stood was named
Calle de la Fundacion,
the “Street of the
Founding.” It was
renamed Grant
Avenue in 1885
in memory of
Ulysses S. Grant,
the US president
and Civil War
general who
died that year.
5
Golden Gate
Fortune Cookies
56 Ross Alley.
Map
5 C3.
Te l
781-3956.
@
1, 8X, 10, 12, 30, 30X, 41, 45.
California St, Powell-Hyde, Powell-
Mason.
Open
8am-6:30pm daily.
Although the San Francisco Bay
area has many fortune-cookie
bakeries, Golden Gate Fortune
Cookies has been in business
longer than most, since 1962.
The cookie-making machine
nearly fills the tiny bakery, where
dough is poured onto griddles
E
gy of the god of longevity on Grant Avenue
