San Francisco's Chinatown is the oldest in North America and still one of the largest outside Asia. It was founded in the 1850s by Cantonese immigrants drawn by the Gold Rush, survived the 1906 earthquake, the systematic discrimination of the late 19th century, and a long campaign by city authorities to relocate it. What you see today is the result of a deliberate rebuild after 1906, when local merchants commissioned the green-tiled roofs and pagoda flourishes that have defined the look ever since — partly to attract tourists, partly to make a permanent claim on the land.
The main thoroughfares are Grant Avenue, lined with the souvenir shops and dim sum restaurants most visitors come for, and Stockton Street, one block west, where the produce markets, herbalists, and butcher shops feel like an actual working neighbourhood. The Dragon Gate at Grant and Bush marks the southern entrance; from there it climbs north through the hill toward Broadway and the edge of North Beach. Side streets and alleys hide the more interesting places — the Tin How Temple on Waverly Place (the oldest Taoist temple in the country), the Li Po Cocktail Lounge with its dim lantern light, the fortune cookie factory on Ross Alley where the cookies are still folded by hand.
It is touristy without being a theme park. Come at dim sum hour, eat well for very little, and wander up the side streets when the main drag gets too crowded.