Visitors guide to Chinatown 

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Come for the window shopping, stay for the dim sum (small plates of food, often served steaming in basket-like dishes).

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Chinatown is the city’s best place for souvenir shopping, slightly better than Fisherman’s Wharf. There are plenty of small shops. Two of the biggest ones, Canton Bazaar and Old Shanghai, sit across from each other on Grant Avenue near Sacramento Street. Check out the kite store at 717 Grant Ave.

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San Francisco’s is the largest Chinatown outside of Asia, and the oldest in North America. Enjoy the Chinese architecture with its curling roof edges adorned in tiny statues. Red lanterns are strung across the street and there are Chinese-style lamp posts.

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Most tourists stick to plentiful Grant Avenue, the main street through the neighborhood. Start with a photo at the famous Dragon’s Gate, the entrance to Chinatown on Grant Avenue at Bush Street, one block from Union Square. Proceed for the next eight blocks along Grant Avenue until Chinatown ends where North Beach/Little Italy begins - at Broadway. 

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Grant Avenue is a treat for the senses, so many sights, sounds, smells and flavors. The family-owned shops sell everything you could imagine, and plenty of stuff you never imagined. Some of it is fun to guess at.

 

If you tire of bumping into tourists and refusing restaurant menus that are pushed into your chest along Grant Avenue, step over one block to Stockton Street. This is the real Chinatown, where locals live and shop for groceries, dentures or whatever. The fish markets are worth a visit; hold your nose and guess at what that mushy brown stuff in large glass jars really is.

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Don’t miss Old St. Mary’s Cathedral at the corner of Grant Avenue and California Avenue. It's hard to miss. 

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Neighboring Portsmouth Square Park is worth a look, a nice little urban park where you can rest and watch old Chinese guys play checkers. Beneath it is a popular parking garage with reasonable rates (relative to other garages in the expensive city). The other main garage in Chinatown is the St. Mary’s garage beside the Old St. Mary’s Cathedral, just a block from Portsmouth Square Park. Entrances to both parking lots are on Kearny Street.

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Beware: Not much to see at night. And it's not the safest place after dark. 

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Hot tip: The alleys of Chinatown hold surprises for those who venture into them. Waverly Place, a short block over from Grant Avenue, is home to some of the neighborhood’s top restaurants.

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Nearby: Walk down the hill toward the bay to check out the Transamerica Pyramid, one of the city's icons. Its observation deck has been closed since 9/11. The little grove of redwood trees at the base of the pyramid is an ideal place to sit and enjoy your takeout lunch.

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Good eats: Grab an egg custard tart at the Eastern Bakery, 720 Grant Ave. It’s the oldest Chinese bakery in the city.

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Getting around: While you’re at the corner of Grant Avenue and California Avenue, take a ride on the Cal Ave cable car line, one of the least crowded cable car lines. It runs over hill and dale, through four neighborhoods between Van Ness Avenue and the bayfront. If you ride at night, the city lights are memorable as you look down the side streets from atop Nob Hill.

 

Photo op: The Dragon’s Gate entrance is a sure bet, as is the cable car crossing Grant Avenue at California Avenue, tying in the Chinese architecture and decorations along Grant.