A Glimpse Into Chinatown

After lunch at Chinatown's Hunan Home's, Barbara, Kate, and I headed toward San Francisco's Grant Avenue.

Philip P. Choy, a historian of Chinese America, wrote that "San Francisco was the main port of entry for Chinese immigrants, who were recruited as a source of mass labor for the economic development of the western frontier....

"At the time, Portsmouth Square was the heart of San Francisco. However, while the City expanded, the Chinese stayed in the area. For over a century and a half, Chinatown has remained in this same location....

"From time to time, San Francisco attempted to destroy Chinatown and remove the Chinese through both legal and extralegal means. The Chinese responded strategically. For example, when the Board of Supervisors attempted to remove Chinatown after the Earthquake of 1906, the Chinese strove to earn the goodwill of the City by creating a new positive image, retaining architects to transform the neighborhood slums into an 'Oriental City.'

This new trend of a Sino-architectural vernacular, created specifically as a response to the threat of relocation after the quake, shaped the present skyline of Chinatown.

"But Chinatown has always been a tourist attraction. What was sensationalized in the 19th century as a haven for racial peculiarities and cultural oddities is perceived today as an ethnic enclave where cultural habits and traditions are preserved. In either case, the stereotypical image of Chinatown as an unassimilated foreign community remains unchanged. But the significance of Chinatown lies not in cultural exotics. Beneath the Oriental façade is a history rooted in the political past of the City, the State, and the Nation" .

Midway in our walk, we reached our destination--The Wok Shop.

There, two feet inside the store, in a space the size of a small range, were cast iron woks, stainless steel woks, and carbon steel woks; round bottom, flat bottom, and enamal-coated woks; woks with one long wooden handle or two small metal handles; and a number of wok-related items.

After purchasing our wok, we took a moment to look around. The ceiling and shelves displaying the items in the photos below existed, but the items seemed to be suspended by some magical force field.

We feared that removing any one item would destroy the magic bond and bring down the entire inventory.

Like the game in which removing a block brings down the whole tower of blocks.

Continuing our walk on Grant Avenue, we heeded the advice of thouseman at sanfrancisco.travel/media/grant-avenue-street-of-four-faces.html: "It behooves sightseers to lift their eyes from the store windows from time to time, however. The roofscape of arched eaves, carved cornices and filigreed balconies is one of the quarter’s most exotic sights....

"San Francisco’s more than 140,000 citizens of Chinese ancestry, and the 15-million tourists who pour through Chinatown every year, participate in the enclave’s everyday street pageantry in almost equal parts."

Given the brilliant colors along Grant Avenue, this mural and

Zoltar's booth fit in perfectly.

As sunset neared, we had one more stop, and we were right on schedule.