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Several big metropolitan areas in the US have smaller ethnic neighborhoods where generations of immigrants relocated to those sections of the cities and made it home. This is true for the majority of ethnic groups such as the Italians, the Polish and the Chinese as some of the examples. San Francisco has the largest Chinatowns in the United States with Manhattan being another big one. It is fun to go to these 2 cities and go to the Chinatown districts to experience the wonderful things of the Asian culture such as the food such as Dim Sum restaurants or great stores that sell items such as Chinese board games and Oriental dolls. This article will explore the two Chinatowns and how they differ a bit from one another and ways they are similar too.

Chinatown in San Francisco began in the 1840′s with the first Chinese immigrants arriving to America. Chinatown is situated in downtown San Francisco and is an area that is 1 mile by 1.35 miles large. This Chinatown has a large tourism business with more people going there to visit than the Golden Gate Bridge. The Chinatown area that had been built was completely destroyed in the 1906 earthquake. After this, the city decided to rebuild Chinatown with the concept of having it be a place where tourists would like to visit and they constructed a lot of the places and buildings that can still be seen today.

There are two major parts of Chinatown with the first one being Grant Avenue that is known for the Dragon gate and the other is Stockton Street which is not as touristy. Grant Street was the section made more for tourism with attractions such as a war memorial to Chinese war veterans and restaurants and shops that cater to tourist visitors. Stockton Street is less seen by tourists and is more authentic, much like Hong Kong with the produce and fish markets and restaurants and shops. This is the preferable area to visit for authentic Chinese food and goods. Another great spot in Chinatown is Portsmouth Square that is a park like area that has room for people practicing tai chi and men playing Chinese chess.

Chinatown in San Francisco is a lot better one to visit than the one in Manhattan. The one in New York is probably the second largest Chinatown in America outside of Asia. It dates back to 1858 with a Cantonese businessman named Ah ken immigrated there and began a cigar business on Park Row. By the year 1900, there were 7,000 Chinese residents but only 200 of them were women because of the strict laws for women coming into America then. The Manhattan Chinatown now has close to 100,000 residents living there and working there.

In the past, many parts of New York’s Chinatown were some of the worst crime areas in the city with a few Chinese gangs forming and creating fear in the area. This has really eliminated most of the tourism.

Filed under: Fun Stuff on June 10th, 2010