This structure marks the official entrance into Chinatown, which was the main point of entry for Chinese immigrants who arrived during the gold rush. The immigrants, many of them from China’s Guangdong Province, provided services for the miners pouring into San Francisco during the 1850s. Later, many worked on constructing the Central Pacific Railroad. By the 1870s, racial tensions had resulted in anti-Chinese violence, culminating in the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, which froze immigration for decades. 

Like much of San Francisco, Chinatown was reduced to rubble by the 1906 earthquake. During the early twentieth century, Chinatown revitalized, replacing the old western-style buildings with construction that featured pagoda roofs and decorated lampposts, designed in part by white architects seeking a “Sino-architectural vernacular.” By the 1940s, the repeal of anti-immigration regulations had resulted in quick growth in Chinatown, attracting not only a new wave of immigrants but also tourists seeking to view this enclave of Chinese culture. The gate was designed in 1970 by Clayton Lee and is adorned with sculptures of fish and dragons, flanked by two large lion statues.

As Gary Kamiya recently observed in his book Cool, Gray City of Love: 49 Views of San Francisco, “Chinatown’s appearance captures one critical moment in the long process by which an immigrant group, once outsiders and subjected to bigotry, intolerance, and violence, becomes a part of America. Paradoxically, the buildings created to fetishize Chinese-ness can be seen as the concrete embodiment of the melting pot.” 

A walk past the gate along Grant Avenue features a colorful array of souvenir stores, herbal shops, and restaurants. For a less tourist-oriented view of Chinatown, head north on Grant Avenue to Sacramento Street and turn left; then turn right and walk along Stockton Street, which offers less flashy but perhaps more authentic food markets and shops catering to the city’s Chinese customers.

Credits and Sources:

“Art and Architecture – San Francisco.”http://www.artandarchitecture-sf.com/tag/clayton-lee. 

Kamiya, Gary. Cool, Gray City of Love: 49 Views of San Francisco. New York:Bloomsbury, 2013. 

Photographs courtesy of www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=16013