Our story starts in 1906, in the heart of Chinatown. In the era of Chinese Exclusion, City elites want to erase Chinatown from the map. Look Tin Eli, an American-born Chinese businessman, hopes to save his neighborhood from this fate. But his plans are interrupted by a devastating earthquake, reducing Chinatown to rubble.
Chinatown is declared a no-go zone and plans are drawn up to relocate the entire Chinese community to a distant “Oriental City”. But the community fights back, insisting on their rights to stay. Using Chinese money, the neighborhood is rebuilt quicker than any other in the city, sometimes using smouldering cinder bricks pulled from the rubble.
Yet Look Tin Eli doesn’t just want to rebuild Chinatown: he wants to reimagine it. So he hires white architects to help develop a “Chinese Beautiful” style, with buildings adorned by dragons and pagodas. The result is a distinctive neighborhood that is “neither East nor West, but decidedly San Francisco”, securing Chinatown's place in the heart of the City – even as Chinese Exclusion itself continues for another 50 years.
Tour Stops
- GLBT Museum/ Beginnings
- Jane Warner Plaza / Eureka Valley
- Beaux / Drag at the Black Cat
- 587 Castro / Maurice's House of Beauty
- 573 Castro / Harvey's Neighborhood
- The Castro Theater / The March to Yosemite
- Jane Warner Plaza/ Seeds of Change
Tips & Accessibility
This tour is free.
For the best neighborhood experience, fully charge your phone or tablet and bring headphones. The tour requires access to cellular phone data or an internet connection. WiFi may not be available. Alternatively, you can download a version of the tour before heading out, but please note 360 scenes may not load.
Extended Reality
Extended reality scenes appear throughout the tour. When prompted by the narrator, activate the scene by tapping [Activate 360].
Timing & Access
- You can listen to each numbered stop as an individual, self-contained story, or visit all seven in order.
- If listening to all the stories in order, the tour lasts 55 minutes and the distance traveled is approximately 0.8 miles, and is mostly flat (total elevation change 10ft). There are no steps up or down to enter landmarks.
- Consider allowing an additional 30 minutes to an hour to explore stops, shops and landmarks along the way.
- Audio transcripts for this tour are available as a PDF download.
- An interactive 360 video of an earlier version of this tour (February 2023) with closed captions is available on the experiences page
- This tour was created in December 2025. While we make an effort to keep things current, you are walking through a living neighborhood and sometimes things change. Be curious, and embrace the unexpected.
Credits
NARRATORS
Lukas Delios
Mike Gerry
ACTORS
Bartender: Ethan Gabriel
Frank: John Fotos
Newsreader: Peter Borys
Mattachine Review Letter: Aaron Sinn
New Arrival: Matthew Atterman
Local: Beau Thompson
PRODUCTION
Senior Audio Producer: Cathy Edwards
Audio Producers: Katy Long and Gabby Santas
Writers: Gabby Santas and Katy Long
Reseach: Gabby Santas
360 Video and Map Design: Katy Long
In
Chinatown
Explore our immersive walking tour anytime, right from your mobile phone.
Not in the Castro? Virtual Experience
Explore an interactive 360 video tour, from wherever you are in the world. Please note this 360 tour is an earlier version of our work in the Castro, recorded in 2023.
360 Video Experience
Click & drag around the video to explore our immersive tour of SF Chinatown.
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