A visitor to the Bay Area I'd met said that they'd just gone to Chinatown in SF, and commented dispargingly that they found it "very touristy". I really didn't know what to say: yes, Grant Street is certainly touristy, but aren't you a tourist? What did you want to see, Tong Wars? And really, what could be more Chinese than selling any goddamn thing some white assholes want to buy?
But then, there've been times I've walked through Chinatown late at night, long after the tourists had cleared out, and heard the sounds of Chinese drums coming up from a basement, or noted the sounds of thousands of furiously slapped majong tiles coming from covered windows off an alley, and it's been clear that there are people there keeping some of the traditions alive that have made it famous.
Here's a brief tour of Chinatown and the fascination and fear of the exotic in our midst, covering New York, San Francisco, London, Hawaii, and even Oakland, from 1906 to now...
Read More