Chinatown San Francisco

San Francisco's Chinatown is marked by the Dragon Gate, an ornamental archway of green-tiled roofs and stone lions standing at the intersection of Grant Avenue and Bush Street. As the oldest Chinatown in North America, the neighborhood grew from a small cluster of merchant shops near Portsmouth Square during the eighteen fifties. When Chinese immigrants arrived for the Gold Rush, they established this enclave as a primary port of entry, sustaining their own language, customs, and community institutions through decades of systemic discrimination.