//
Enjoy authentic Chinese artwork at this gallery. It has the biggest showroom (at basement level) for Chinese painting and calligraphy in China Town. They also offer classes in calligraphy for those who want to take their appreciation a step further.
© OpenStreetMap contributors
At five stories tall, this is the largest Buddhist church in the US and is home to the largest Buddhist congregation in San Francisco. The altar was shaped to represent the ship of the Dharma (teachings of the Buddha) and its teak-paneled walls are supposed to be the sails of the ship.
Dedicated to Matsu, goddess of the Sea, but has only been around since 1986.
Built in 1891, it was destroyed and rebuilt in 1909, originally the building housed the country's only Chinese telephone exchange. The exchange closed in 1949 and the building was subsequently restored and turned into a bank in 1960. The building is arguably the first important building in Chinatown. It is a three-tiered pagoda style building.
Opened in 1962, this tiny factory produces more than 20,000 fortune cookies a day. The factory is in a small alley and it is tiny with only 3 people making fortune cookies. Tourists are welcome to walk in off the street — you get a flat (un-bended) fortune cookie sample but photos cost 50 cents and the moment you walk in they are asking you in their broken English what cookies you want to buy. It is a must see though!
This flatiron (wedge shaped) copper-green building is an unmistakable San Francisco beauty. The "Grateful Dead" once recorded some of their songs there. Today it is owned by movie-director, Francis Ford Copolla. It now has a cafe on its ground floor, where you can grab a coffee whilst admiring its impressive setting, at the foot of North Beach.
The center was established in order to promote understanding of Chinese and Chinese American history, art, and culture in the US. They have a small gallery with changing Chinese art exhibitions.