All About Chinatown Tours

01/24/2025

If you remember dining at Sam Wo Restaurant on Washington St., in business since 1908, please visit again as the current owner may be retiring shortly. Read the story below about owner David Ho and visit the website for its current location and hours: https://samworestaurant.com/

https://eedition.sfchronicle.com/infinity/article_popover_share.aspx?guid=7fc01a00-6c4a-4fd3-a879-99f65aad649f&share=true

Restaurant, chef at a crossroads

01/11/2025

On his first evening as San Francisco mayor, Daniel Lurie celebrated this inaugural event in Chinatown.This is the first time a city mayor has brought their inauguration celebrations to the historic heart of the city’s Chinese American community.

The festivities for San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie in Chinatown were a display of the increasingly prominent role of the city’s Asian American electorate.

01/01/2025

Happy New Year - goal for 2025: To be able to stretch like my guest Maggie on Grant Ave., who is now a dancer with the Royal Winnepeg Ballet!

12/31/2024

This photo of my tour guide had me gasping in disbelief. First Lynn dresses up on Halloween as Andy Reid, head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, then Don McNab is dressed up as an Armenian warrior, as he now lives in Yerevan, Armenia.
My tour guides are so much fun. It's great to greet 2025 with optimism and mirth!

12/07/2024

How lucky was I to have a photo op with Curtis Chin at Far East Cafe yesterday, where guests came to hear Curtis talk about his award-winning memoir, "Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant."
Here is a too short bio of Curtis Chin, writer of comedies for network & cable TV, CNN, and Bon Appetit. Chin has received awards from ABC/Disney TV, New York Foundation for the Arts, and National Endowment for the Arts. He is currently working on a new docuseries on the history of the Chinese restaurants in America.

12/07/2024

If you’ve dined at the 116-year-old restaurant Sam Wo both on Washington St. and Clay St., you’ll be sad to read this story about its impending closing on 12/31/24:

Chinatown’s Sam Wo Restaurant closing soon

12/05/2024

How many second grade classes get to have lunch in Chinatown and be joined by four community police officers in their photo?

11/14/2024

In the herbal pharmacy on yesterday's tour, we didn't know what it was, and how to use this product!

11/05/2024

For Halloween, one of these Kansas City Chiefs lookalike works as a tour guide for me. This is really a question for my other tour guides who can guess who this person is!

10/06/2024

Chinatown community members are eager for better representation in the race for district supervisor in this November's election:

Chinatown challenges impact supe race

10/02/2024

Hooray for entrepreneurs opening Mr. Mahjong’s, a unique bar/restaurant to San Francisco’s downtown and Chinatown neighborhood!

‘We’re all in’: S.F. entrepreneurs open Asian fusion bar in bet on downtown recovery

09/25/2024

If you are a fan of martial arts icon Bruce Lee, you would know his studio was in Oakland, CA. Read how the city of Oakland honored Bruce Lee at the site of his former studio:

Oakland named an intersection "Bruce Lee Way" to honor the martial arts legend's legacy and connection to the city.

09/14/2024

One more day to enjoy the Moon Festival events in Chinatown on September 15:

Annual San Francisco Chinatown Autumn Moon Festival, Presented by the Chinatown Merchants Association | Join us for nonstop entertainment, food vendors, mooncakes, kids activities, lion dancing, and much more!

09/14/2024

The Moon Festival, a harvest festival celebrated in Chinese culture, occurs on September 17. Celebrations include hanging colorful lanterns, eating mooncakes, and viewing the moon, which is often the brightest all year.

Here is one of the famous stories told about the Moon Goddess Chang E: Hou Yi was a great warrior who saved the earth by shooting down 9 suns which were scorching the earth. As a reward for his heroism, Wangmu, the Queen of Heaven, gifted him an elixir that he could drink and ascend to heaven where he would become a god.

Unfortunately, a jealous rival witnessed the whole ceremony and when Hou Yi was out hunting, kidnapped his wife Chang E and demanded that she give him the elixir. Knowing that she would be killed if she didn’t give it to him, she drank the elixir and immediately flew out of the window and into the sky.

Enjoy this photo of Moon Goddess Chang E lookalikes.

09/10/2024

Did you or anyone you know play competitive volleyball in San Francisco’s Chinatown?
Enjoy this article about the longest running Asians-only sport in North America, since the 1930’s:

Another S.F. team with championship legacy

08/27/2024

If you are interested in the story of a Chinese American son researching his immigrant father’s experiences, check out his book “Sons of Chinatown: A Memoir Rooted in China and America.” What started out as a yearlong project took 10 years of research.

Tracing generation of ‘paper’ sons, daughters

08/17/2024

Today, August 17, 2024: Hungry Ghost Festival in Chinatown

Art Rituals Performances Parade Art Rituals Performances Parade Festival Map August 17th, 20244:00PM - 9:00PMSF Chinatown Program Schedule4:00PMFestival Kick Off Parade📍Chinatown - Rose Pak StationGhost King Parade4:00PM - 9:00PM Activation & Performance Across Chinatown📍Portsmouth SquareStage...

07/24/2024

Synchronicity? On my tour yesterday, Harley Gittleman was carrying a duduk, a double reed woodwind instrument that people from Turkey and Iran are familiar with. My other two guests were from Turkey and Iran! He played us a piece that my guests were familiar with.

If you’re curious to learn more about this musician: soundcloud.com//harleygittleman