Chinatown-North Beach

Understand

In general, North Beach is north of Broadway and/or north of the diagonal Columbus street. The border between North Beach and the rest of the Embarcadero is somewhat debatable, and the question of whether or not Coit Tower is in North Beach is entirely unclear. North Beach's western border is also up for debate, where as elevation increases, the residential districts to the west are less and less quintessentially North Beach.

Traditionally, Chinatown was considered to be bordered by Broadway to the North, Kearny to the east, Powell to the west, and Bush to the south, where the famous Dragon Gate stands at Bush and Grant. In the present era, the borders are increasingly blurry, as Chinatown and businesses catering to Chinese tastes or providing Chinese products are frankly more successful than the Italian businesses of North Beach. Chinatown has definitely begun to expand east of Kearny, and is increasingly expanding north of Broadway as well.

The area runs from roughly Bay Street to the north, Powell Street south of Filbert Street and Columbus Avenue north of Filbert on the west, the Embarcadero on the east, and Washington Street on the south with an extension to Bush Street between Kearny and Powell Streets to encompass the rest of Chinatown.

Chinatown

With pagoda-tiled roofs, Cantonese conversations, busy live-produce markets, mahjong players, and little old Chinese ladies confidently spitting on the pavement — Chinatown is a unique part of San Francisco. Established in 1850, in the area around Portsmouth Plaza, San Francisco's Chinatown is reputed to be the oldest and one of the largest and most famous of all Chinatowns outside of Asia. Many of the Chinese who settled here were merchants or immigrant workers, working on either the transcontinental railroad or as mine workers during the Gold Rush. Today, it is home for more than 100,000 Chinese and Chinese-Americans, many of whom are low-income, elderly, and foreign born, living in dense tenements. It is also a cultural link for the hundreds of thousands of Chinese and Chinese-Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area. Chinatown holds a prominent position in the history of Chinese and Chinese-Americans in the United States, from the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 to the present day. The residual "bachelor" society one finds in San Francisco's Chinatown today cannot be understood without some knowledge of these hostile decades. The tourist section of Chinatown is mainly along Grant Avenue, from Bush to Broadway. Grant Avenue was made famous by Rodgers and Hammerstein's Flower Drum Song. The Chinatown market area is mainly along Stockton Street, one block above (west of) Grant Avenue, and the east-west streets crossing Stockton. Other San Francisco concentrations of Chinese shops and restaurants are located in the Inner Richmond District, mainly along Clement Street, and the Outer Sunset District, mainly along Irving Street. However, they developed later, as the Chinese population of San Francisco was legally prevented from moving outside of Chinatown until the mid-20th century, with the first Chinese communities on the west side establishing themselves only in the late 1950s.

North Beach

Forming part of the old Barbary Coast (an extinct neighborhood infamous for its crime, prostitution, and general unruliness), and popular with both locals and tourists alike, North Beach remains one of the most popular and beloved neighborhoods in San Francisco. Nestled between Chinatown to the south and Fisherman's Wharf to the north, North Beach is the Italian part of town and is known by the moniker "Little Italy." Telegraph poles, painted in the colors of the Italian flag (green, white, and red), delineate the boundaries between these two neighbors. It is one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city and is rich in both history and culture. The neighborhood derived its name as the bay shoreline originally reached as far as Taylor and Francisco streets, and the area was indeed a real beach until the city subsequently filled it in. The portion of Grant Avenue that runs straight through North Beach is the oldest street in San Francisco. Authentic old-world Italian cafes, restaurants, delicatessens and bakeries line the steep streets. North Beach was also the West Coast's capital for the Beatnik movement in the 1950s — you can still see many of the places where Jack Kerouac and the "Dharma Bums" hung out and wrote their dark poetry. Other literati celebrities that hung out there were; Alan Ginsberg, Neal Cassidy (Dean Moriarity in Kerouac's On The Road), and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Alan Ginsberg wrote his most famous poem 'Howl' while living at 1010 Montgomery Street. Today, the neighborhood is also very well known for its happening nightlife scene. Nightclubs and bars abound — particularly at the intersection of Columbus Avenue and Grant Avenue. At its base, Broadway is a mini red-light district, made famous in the 1960s by Carol Doda with her "twin 44s." The area is still full of adult bookstores and strip clubs; despite this, strangely, like everything in San Francisco, it retains a certain charm. Washington Square (another old Beat hangout), in front of the Saints Peter and Paul Church, is a very popular hangout with locals, and a great place to relax. North Beach has also some famous residents past and present, like baseball legend Joe DiMaggio and movie director Francis Ford Coppola.

Get in

By rail

MUNI's T-Third rail line terminates at the Chinatown-Rose Pak station, located (as the name suggests) in Chinatown on the southeast corner of Stockton and Washington Streets. The T-Third connects to BART rail at the Powell Street station, where a rather long concourse connects to the T-Third's Union Square/Market Street station, and to Caltrain at the 4th and King station.

By car

Driving into the area is not recommended, but if you must, the closest parking garage to Chinatown is underneath Portsmouth Plaza, on Kearny Street (which is a one-way street north) between Clay and Washington. Other Chinatown garages are the Golden Gateway at 250 Clay Street, North Beach at 755 Vallejo Street, and St. Mary's Square at 433 Kearny Street. All garages are open 24 hours a day, except for Golden Gateway. There are also a few small parking garages scattered throughout North Beach, including Imperial Parking at 425 Broadway Street. Driving to the base of Coit Tower is definitely not recommended, as there is a very limited amount of parking at the top of the hill.

By cable car

Each of the three Cable Car lines pass through Chinatown. If you exit BART or the MUNI Metro at the Powell St. Station you can catch the Powell-Mason or the Powell-Hyde cable car line at Powell and Market. Both routes will take you into Chinatown, but the Powell-Mason line is a better bet for getting to North Beach as the Powell-Hyde line turns west at Jackson and proceeds into Russian Hill. To reach Chinatown's famous Grant Avenue via the cable car, exit BART or the MUNI Metro at the Embarcadero Station and catch the California cable car line at California and Market.

By bus

Of course, if you'd rather avoid the long lines and crowded trip that a cable car ride entails, there are several good MUNI bus lines that serve the area. To get to Chinatown from the BART/MUNI Metro, exit at the Montgomery Street Station, walk one block up Post Street, and catch the 30-Stockton or 45-Union bus line on Kearny near Post. The 30 or 45 bus will turn left onto Sutter and then right onto Stockton; after passing through the Stockton Tunnel, the bus will stop twice in Chinatown, on Stockton near Clay and on Stockton near Pacific. To get to North Beach from Market Street, the 10-Townsend, 12-Folsom/Pacific, 30, or 45 lines will do nicely. From the east, the 1-California line passes through Chinatown. The 39-Coit goes from Fisherman's Wharf up to the Coit Tower, but can be obstructed by traffic that clogs the parking lot there, but there are plans to change this.

On foot

Chinatown is also an easy walk from Union Square (walk north on Stockton through the tunnel or north on Grant through the Chinatown Gate at Grant and Bush). Similarly, North Beach can be easily accessed by walking northbound from Market Street, straight through the Financial District. Both neighborhoods can also be easily reached from Market Street by simply walking northbound on Grant Avenue. To get to the area from Fisherman's Wharf, walk southbound straight down Columbus Avenue.

Get around

There can be little doubt that once you have arrived in the Chinatown-North Beach area, by far the best way to get around is on foot. Due to the busy and cluttered nature of both neighborhoods, and also because of the lack of parking options, driving around is certainly not recommended — especially in Chinatown. Buses can also be a help, particularly when you are going in a north-south direction (or vice versa). Pedicabs also operate a route along the Embarcadero and through Chinatown and then North Beach. Stop one of them if they're empty and negotiate a price. For a bit extra many of them do walking tours of Chinatown.

There are many more parks, public seating, and cafes with curbside tables in North Beach, so why not see Chinatown first. That way, by the time you'd made it through its bustling streets you'll be ready for a coffee and a sit down in North Beach.

Stay safe

North Beach remains busy with revelers and party-goers well into the early hours of the morning, but Chinatown, despite its crowds during the day, becomes eerily quiet after around 6-7PM. Chinatown has also had a somewhat of a poor reputation for pugnacious youngsters (as young as 12) that tend to hang around in groups, and also for bona-fide gangs. However, since the tragedies of the 1970s, actual organized crime in Chinatown has generally been much more disciplined, and Chinatown is actually one of the safer neighborhoods in San Francisco after dark. That being said, Portsmouth Square specifically can be a bit rough after dark.

Go next

On the road again? Well, if you are following in the footsteps of the Beat literati that loved this area so much, why not continue your tour into other areas of the city?

• 29 Russell Street, at the bottom of Nob Hill, is where Jack Kerouac lived and wrote during the 50s.
• The Six Gallery, 3119 Fillmore Street in the Cow Hollow area, hosted a seminal moment in the history of the Beat movement — The Six Gallery reading. The gallery is of course long closed, but you can still visit this historic site.