Chinatown San Francisco
Enter the Dragon's Gate at Grant Avenue and Bush Street, and you enter a whole new city and culture. Most of San Francisco's bustling Chinatown is crowded along Grant Avenue, the second oldest street in the city. You will want to walk through Chinatown to give yourself ample time to wander through the shops, review the wares of the street vendors, sample the delightful foods you will discover along the way and reflect in neighborhood's temples. There are the customary trappings of tourism - a few museums and souvenir shops, but overall this is a real community with people living life just as their parents taught them.

While you are here visit the Chinese Cultural Center, or the Chinese Historical Society. See California's first Chinese-style building - now a bank on Washington Street, it was originally constructed for the phone company. And when you get tired of walking, have a seat in Portsmouth Square, the heart of this rich community.