August 4, San Francisco's Chinatown

Today, Maureen and I had a breakfast of toast, yogurt, cantaloupe, and coffee, then set out on our day's excursion to Chinatown.  We drove to the Glen Park station, parked the car, and then drove to the Union Station, where we saw a fabulous collection of anchor stores and boutiques such as Macy's, Neiman-Marxus, Gumps, Valentino, Chanel, Bulgari, and the Xanadu Gallery, the site of a Frank Lloyd Wright building, the only one in San Francisco.  On 140 Maiden Lane, it features a squat exterior of brickwork which vaguely resembles an ancient temple.  Opened in 1948 to house the VC morris Gift Shop, it is now occupied by Xanadu Gallery, which specializes in Asian art pieces.  That was a perfect segway to our subsequent to Chinatown, a tourist attraction since the 1860s.  It hosts one of the largest Chinese communities outside of Asia.  Grant Avenue is the district's main vein, At the intersection of Bush and Grant  is the Chinatown Gate.  Dragons slither across the top, and traditional fou dogs stand guard at the sides of this gateway, designed by Clayton Lee in 1970.  We continued up Grant Avenue, past a colorful cluster of shops selling foods, clothing, toys, cooking tools, kites, etc.  We arrived at Old St. Mary's Cathedral, dedicated in 1854 and the first Catholic cathedral in the city.  It was built from granite quarried in China and bricks that were transported around Cape Horn from New England.  Across the street and diagonal from St. Mary's, the Sing Chong and Sing Fat buildings were built soon after the 1906 earthquake and demonstrate the fanciful architecture of the time, with pagoda-like towers.  By that time it was noon and we had walked quite a bit, so we were hungry and decided to eat at R& G, a wonderful Chinese restaurant that was filled to capacity, but where we were seated right away.  Maureen had baby bokchoy with noodles, and I had rice, beef, and bokchoy.  Both of us had hot tea, and enjoyed our meals so much!  From there we continued to explore the Chinatown Kite Shop, which sells a collection of kites depicting butterflies, dragonflies, fairies, owls, and Sponge Bob; the Eastern Bakery, which claims to be the oldest bakery in Chinatown (since 1924); the Wok Shop, with tons of wonderful kitchen gadgets; then Waverly Place, called "the street of the painted balconies" because of the buildings' vibrant facades; the Tin How Temple, the oldest Chinese temple in the US, founded in 1852; and from there to Stockton Street, where we turned left and stepped into shops brimming with ginseng, herbal remedies, Peking duck, and paper lanterns.  In one of the alleys we  came upon the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Company, where we watched women folding cookies around fortunes at a fast rate.  We also stepped into the Ten Ren Tea Company, where we had a marvelous mango drink with tapioca.  I bought a purse, an orange pashmina shawl, and a toast extractor, while Maureen bought fortune cookies.  We walked back to the subway station and got out after 4 stops, and then Maureen drove me around the St. Francis Woods neighborhood, with its beautiful bungalows and the views of the Pacific in the distance.  We have just had dinner, consisting of a wonderful gazpacho, plus coleslaw and pulled pig leftovers, and for dessert we will have strawberry frozen yogurt.  Great day today.  Tomorrow we are off to the Dogpatch area of SF, to see the Museum of Craft and Design and discover the artisanal chocolate of The Little Nib, the ice creams of Mr. and Miscellaneous, the meat to be found at a French butchery in the area; a winetasting place, and an artisanal cheese shop!  Wonderful exploring!