A number of times during the movie director Wayne Wang takes us on a tour of Chinatown by way of a succession of images of people and places - windows, as it were, into the community.
Then … This first montage, lyrically set to a Chinese pop song about someone wandering without a home, plays out as Jo, hoping to see Chan Hung, waits outside his residentional hotel, the St. Paul at 935 Kearny (map).
… and Now, across the street the Chinatown service station at 900 Kearny on the corner of Jackson Street has been replaced by a modern building attached to the venerable Sentinel building seen at far left. Across Jackson on the right the empty lot that was the site of the International Hotel is now a low-income residential and community building.
Then … We next see a visual feast of Chinese language signs and banners along the 900 block of Grant Avenue. Even in black-and white it’s a colorful peek into the heart of Chinatown.
… and Now, here it is today in full color. The ever-popular Li Po lounge at 916 Grant on the right is still there. Its distinctive sign has survived, as has another directly above it, just out of the frame (it’s seen in the next image).
This recent image of the cave-like entrance and glowing neon signs hints at why Li Po has been a magnet for the thirsty since it first opened on February 10, 1937 (Chinese New Year's Eve), making it one of the first post-Prohibition bars in Chinatown. (Photo by Will Charczuk).
Then … On the corner of Grant Avenue and Clay Street a decorative street lantern aligns with a building built after the 1906 fire in a style, like many others in Chinatown, that met American preconceptions of traditional Chinese architecture.
… and Now, Grant Avenue’s ornate lanterns have been there since the 1939 Golden Gate International Exhibition. (Note Then and Now the cut-out that enabled the store awning to extend way out). 815 Clay Street in the background has long housed the Chin Wing Chuen Benevolent Association: Chinatown has many such tax-exempt organizations created for the benefit of community interests.
Then … Three generations of Chinatown residents gather outside New Maxim’s Bakery at 1249 Stockton Street. The Kum Yuen Restaurant at 1247 Stockton was next to it on the left.
… and Now, Both storefronts have since been modified but there’s still a restaurant, New Moon, at 1247 and a bakery, Little Swan, at 1249.
A little related history: New Maxim’s bakery at 1249 and its neighbor to the right at 1251 Stockton replaced a movie theater, the Times, after it was closed down in December 1976. Here’s a 1976 photo of the Times Theater. (The boarded-up store on the right would soon open as Hing Lung Barbecue which stayed in business there until closing in 2024 to the dismay of its many fans).
The theater, originally named the Acme Theater, was built in 1909. In this 1918 image its cheap pseudo-rococo frontage was more inviting than the modernized version, above. Check out too that wonderful 5-globe streetlamp.
Then … The background song closes with this shot of Steve and Jo walking on a busy street where a glimpse of an awning with the name Blanco’s is the clue to the location ...
… and Now, … Blanco’s Cocktail Bar was at 905 Kearny when the movie was filmed so this shot looked south along Kearny Street where Jackson Street crossed just ahead.
Then … Jo is listening to the radio in his cab while approaching the south portal of the Stockton Street Tunnel where Bush Street crosses over (map) . The tunnel, 2 1/2 blocks long, was built to provide a level streetcar connection from the Union Square neighborhood to Chinatown. It opened in 1914.
and Now… this portal has long been a favorite with film directors, having appeared in several movies. Note the same two blade signs Then and Now, at upper left. The Sutter-Stockton Parking Garage on the right has been there since 1960.
Before the tunnel was built this block of Stockton Street climbed an 18% grade to Bush Street. The 1913 image below shows the dig in preparation for boring the tunnel. The Bush Street apartment building facing us at upper right, built 5 years earlier in 1908, is still there today - it’s now a Wyndham Destinations time-share.
Then … As he drives through the tunnel he hears the radio announcer talking about the arrest of the 82 year old Mainland Chinese supporter who shot and killed a man at the Chinese New Year parade because he was waving a Taiwanese flag; the same incident as that described in the newspaper cutting that Jo had found in Chan’s jacket pocket.
and Now… the northern portal welcomes traffic to Chinatown just south of Sacramento Street. The construction site on the left, above, has been fully built out, below. Note the walkway railings on both sides of the tunnel, added in 1984 after a pedestrian was killed by a passing car (a classic case of closing the barn door).
On a trivia note, the radio announcer was Jim Clancy, a reporter at that time at the local KGO-TV station; he would go on to a 34 year career at CNN. Here he is c. 1979 interviewing tourists on a cable car. (Photo by Nancy Wong).
Then … Jo and Steve wait for customers in front of the Holiday Inn Hotel at 750 Kearny Street under the bridge that crosses over from Portsmouth Square plaza. Jo is puzzled: why did Chan have that newspaper cutting about the flag-waving murder in his pocket? Steve shrugs … “ Shit, the Chinese they love to fight, man … over mahjong, food, anything”.
and Now… this is the ‘Bridge To Nowhere’ which is hardly ever used. That will soon be even more so; city planning approval is well underway to remove it as part of yet another major plaza redesign (will they ever get it right?) scheduled for completion by 2026.
Then … Jo drops in on Steve and his sister Amy (Laureen Chew) to speculate on how Chan might be involved with the flag-waving murder.
The kitchen scene above was filmed in the Richmond home of actress Laureen Chew. It appeared again in Wayne Wang’s follow-on 1985 movie Dim Sum: A Little Bit Of Heart, below. Everything matches, including the patterned kitchen tiles.
and Now… the home, in the center, is 416 20th Avenue in the Richmond district. The house also doubles later in the movie as Chan’s wife’s home.
Then … Jo next meets Henry the cook on that same bridge (we saw him earlier hilariously cooking in the Golden Dragon restaurant). This time he’s smartly dressed in a 3-piece suit, surprising at first until we learn he owns eight restaurants and is quite rich. Director Wang has Henry alternate between English and Mandarin as he speaks so that the English-speaking audience understands while at the same time experiencing the lilt of the Chinese language. Henry thinks that Chan, an FOB immigrant (‘Fresh Off the Boat’), went back to China because he was never accepted here by Americans nor by ABC’s (‘American Born Chinese’). Jo is not so sure.
and Now… behind them, above, is a decorative ornament and a sign for the Garden Restaurant at 716 Kearny, both of which are still there. The 14-sided polyhedron however has been reoriented.
and Now… the ornament is one of many arrayed in the reoriented position along both sides of the span of the bridge. The scene with Henry was filmed at the far end near the Holiday Inn (the hotel was renamed the Hilton Financial District in 2006). The 716 Kearny building is on the right.
Then … A school bus approaches on 15th Avenue on the west side of Grandview Park in the Golden Gate Heights neighborhood (map). It stops at the steps over on the left that lead down to 15th Avenue’s lower level.
… and Now, other than the new homes on the left side this looks the same today (and the lamppost and fire hydrant are still there). The spectacular north-facing vista looks across the Sunset to the green swath of Golden Gate Park , with the Richmond District beyond that. The clear view of the fog-free Pacific Ocean on the left and Mount Tamalpais in Marin County in the distance at far right are an added bonus.
Then … Scorpio appears. He hustles up the graffitied steps towards the bus as some of the schoolchildren are getting off.
… and Now, The steps link the upper and lower levels of 15th Avenue. Note that 40+ years later the battle between graffiti and cleanup continues. The summit of the small park is crowned with trees.
Several children are on the bus as he forces his way in with a chilling message for the driver (Ruth Kobart):
… “Hear me, old hag. I’m telling you to drive or I’ll decorate this bus with your brains.”
(On a trivia note, Ruth Kobart was a former opera singer, stage, film and TV actress and for decades a regular member of San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theater).
Then … the bus continues on down the same road; confusingly, this stretch is named Noriega Street.
… and Now, there are newer homes built on either side.
Scorpio turns and encourages the children to sing a song. They begin with ‘Old MacDonald Had A Farm’ but don’t be fooled; the mood will soon change for the worse.
Then … A view looking down to the departing bus from the park’s steep hillside captured the hilly terrain of this part of the neighborhood.
… and Now, that view from here is not as unimpeded as it was but the hillcrest houses are all recognizable.
Director Wayne Wang cast a light not only on the Chinese in Chinatown but also other Asian communities, including Filipino. This next scene was filmed at the Senior Center in Manilatown, a ten block section of Kearny Street that overlapped Chinatown as it stretched from Market Street, on the left below, to Columbus Avenue, on the right.
At its peak, over 1000 residents lived in Manilatown together with 30,000 transient laborers who for decades were forbidden by legislation to own land or set up businesses. They mostly lived in rooming houses and low-income residential hotels such as the International Hotel at 848 Kearny, which also housed the Manilatown Senior center until 1977 when the hotel was evicted prior to being torn down.
Jo and Steve stop by the Manilatown Senior Center after hearing that Chan often enjoyed listening to mariachi music there.
The camera pans the width of the room then captures several shots of the manongs and manangs as they relax and dance to the easy rhythm of Sabor A Mi by Los Lobos del Este de L.A. (you can hear it here).
Then … But this isn’t the International Hotel, which was an empty lot when the movie was made: instead it was filmed two blocks away at the Senior Center’s transplanted home at 636 Clay Street in the basement of the Hotel Justice building, seen below in a 1964 photo (map).
… and Now, the hotel has since been renamed the Balmoral Hotel. 636 Clay is the entrance in the center of the building; it’s now the DaVita Chinatown Dialysis Center. (CitySleuth was unable to enter to get a matching Now photo of the interior space because it’s off-limits to non-patients).
In a back room Jo and Steve meet staffer Presco Tabios (left, in front of a photo of tenants taken outside the International Hotel before it was torn down) and Frankie Alarcon (right). They each have different ideas about where Chan might be. Presco tells a long story about a musician who lost his ability to play and ended up realizing the only person who could help him was right there reflected in a rain puddle.
“You guys are looking for Mr. Chan?” Presco asks, “Why don’t you look in the puddle?”
Blogger Jimmy J. Aquino captured that thought with this whimsical cartoon ...
Frankie tells them he thinks Chan went back to mainland China to sort out a property issue with his brothers. Then he remembers Chan had left a jacket right there in the Senior Center. They find it and in a pocket there’s a newspaper cutting about an old friend of Chan’s, a People’s Republic of China supporter, accused of shooting a Chinese flag-waver at San Francisco’s recent Chinese New Year Celebration - because it was a Taiwanese flag. (The P.R.C versus R.C. antipathy within the community is a recurring theme throughout the movie).
A word is in order here about the shameful demise of the International Hotel. It had been at 848 Kearny since 1873, eventually becoming the heart of the Filipino-American community, surrounded by restaurants, coffee shops, pool halls, gambling venues - all things Filipino. But by 1968 the city had decided to gentrify (aka ethnic-cleanse) the area and supported the eviction of the elderly tenants, prompting a bitter nine-year conflict with anti-eviction protesters. This 1977 photo of the hotel shows one of their protest banners spanning Kearny Street.
Most of the 179 residents were evicted during the 1970s but 55 of them held out. ln the early hours of Aug 4, 1977 3,000 protesters assembled there to resist a rumored forcible eviction by the police (photo by Nancy Wong).
Sure enough, they came, 300 strong. Police on horseback dispersed the crowd with batons while others used ladders to gain access to the building (photo by Terry Schmitt/Chronicle).
Sheriff Richard Hongisto wielded a sledgehammer to personally evict one of the tenants. Earlier, he had been held in contempt of court and sentenced to jail for 5 days for refusing to carry out the eviction order. Go figure! (photo by Terry Schmitt/Chronicle).
… by 1979 … after the eviction the hotel was demolished, seen here reduced to a street-level facade (photo by Nancy Wong). The Manilatown Kearny Street corridor would never be the same again.
… and Now, the corner site remained an empty parking lot for years; the developers withdrew while both sides of the conflict licked their wounds and bickered over what to do with it. In a final irony, a cross-cultural coalition received federal HUD funding to build a community center and 104-unit building for low-income seniors; it opened in 2005, 28 years after the eviction.
