Sing Chong Building
A boy the government tried to keep out grew up to rebuild Chinatown with a pagoda on the roof.
Listen to this place’s story in Peplos.
How the story begins
The two men who designed these pagoda roofs had never been to China. The man who hired them was born in Mendocino, and at fourteen he had needed a federal court to get ashore in San Francisco. He was Look Tin Eli. In 1884 the government objected that he had no certificate under the Chinese restriction laws. The judges ruled that he was a citizen by birth. "The petitioner must be allowed to land."
The rest is in the app. Peplos plays the full story when you reach the place. You can also listen ahead of time.
Visiting
Corner of Grant Avenue and California Street. Shops on the ground floor, private above; see the towers from the street.
Sources
- In re Look Tin Sing, 21 F. 905 (1884)
- San Francisco's Chinatown after 1906 (San Francisco Chronicle)
- 99% Invisible: Chinatown's rebuilding
- California Migration: Chinatown
- Wikipedia: Look Tin Eli
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