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CHINATOWN

                                             November 5, 2009


Chinatown means different things to different
people... this is what it means to me:


  Some people I know, visiting San Francisco
  for the first time, did a quick visit to
  Chinatown, and they commented something
  like:

        "It seemed so touristy! But of
        course, that was just Grant
        Street.  I understand that there
        are other parts of it that are
        different."

   I'm afraid I just looked at them
   blankly.  There was just too much
   to say at that point.                        For example:

   It's true that there are                       "Touristy?  Yes.  But
   places like the Stockton                       aren't you a tourist?"
   street strip that runs
   parallel to Grant which has                  Or:
   more produce markets and
   bakeries and so on: it does                    "What do you want,
   seem more like a place for                     Tong wars?"
   the locals.
                                                Or:
      My understanding of the
      history of Chinatown is                   It depends on your impression
      that at one point the city                of Chinese culture.  Selling
      government was seriously                  any goddamn thing that some
      thinking about moving it                  white asshole is willing to
      further away from the                     buy strikes me as being a
      center of town, but the                   pretty Chinese thing to do.
      community leaders brokered
      a deal to turn it into a
      tourist attraction.                           But then, that's all a
                                                    little too arch...
         Do those stagey                            Fisherman's Wharf is a
         chinese-theme lampposts                    good example of a place
         strike you as phoney?                      that's gone so far over
                                                    the edge into being
                                                    "touristy" that no one
         To me they seem like                       who knows anything
         protective coloring,                       regards it as anything
         a clever maneuver.                         like authentic.




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