I was a tourist in my own backyard.
San Francisco has the largest Chinatown in the U.S.
I spent my entire childhood in Chinatown. Although it’s only a small part of the city, the residents of this neighborhood confine themselves within the vicinities between Sacramento St. and Columbus Avenue. The livelihood of Stockton St. is overbearing, often too crowded and cramped. It’s dirty, air full of smog from the buses, streets cluttered with thrown away vegetables. Stockton St is also full of merchant shops and bakeries, and crowded bus stops. Grant Avenue, in my opinion, is a facade; a facade of Chinese AMERICANISM that sells the culture through “kung fu” apparel, shanghai style women’s mandarin collar dresses, bazaars and dollar stores full of “souvenirs” that let people bring home a piece of Chinatown. There are a lot of recreational playgrounds and parks scattered throughout Chinatown, and although they offer a lot of activities, teens who stray from family values find their place at the dark corners of these playgrounds. In fact, in the early 2000’s, there were various gang related murders in Chinatown playgrounds. Being a youth in Chinatown, it was hard to stay away from the wrong crowd. That is partly the reason why I find it so difficult to come back.
Our trip through Chinatown was heartfelt for me. To see the park where I brought my young cousins, where the old men played Chinese Chess, my old Elementary school, the Stockton Tunnel.. I almost could not bear to continue our adventure through Chinatown without releasing some kind of past ghost at each destination. But I’m glad that I had the oppurtunity to share my experiences in Chinatown with Glow210. Especially Jon & Sunny. Thanks for listening to my stories, and now I know that my struggles and my childhood was deeply rooted within the history of Chinatown and has not gone in vain.
— Joy
