Dragon Gate & Grant Avenue: Entrance to the Oldest Chinatown

Why is it significant?

Stand before the green-tiled pagoda eaves and carved stone dragons of the Dragon Gate at the corner of Bush Street and Grant Avenue. Flanked by two stone guardian lions, this ceremonial arch was dedicated in nineteen sixty-nine using green roof tiles and stones gifted by the government of Taiwan.

Key Facts

Open the walk

Stand before the green-tiled pagoda eaves and carved stone dragons of the Dragon Gate at the corner of Bush Street and Grant Avenue. Flanked by two stone guardian lions, this ceremonial arch was dedicated in nineteen sixty-nine using green roof tiles and stones gifted by the government of Taiwan. You are stepping into the oldest Chinatown in North America and the largest Chinese enclave outside Asia.

Look through the archway down Grant Avenue: notice the distinctive street lamps shaped like glowing lotus blossoms and green dragons winding up lampposts. Following the nineteen zero six earthquake, city authorities plotted to evict the Chinese community to the outskirts. Defiant Chinese merchants hired American architects to design buildings with flamboyant pagoda roofs, colorful balconies, and dragon motifs to rebrand Chinatown as an irresistible tourist attraction, saving their neighborhood forever.

Grant Avenue was originally named Calle de la Fundación by early Spanish settlers, making it the oldest continuous street in all of San Francisco.

Walk up Grant Avenue toward the red-brick bell tower of Old St. Mary's Cathedral.