![]() So are most of the neighborhood’s old banquet restaurants, which served a mix of tourists and locals celebrating special occasions. ![]() On the fall day that Ho led his tour, we passed signage for several ghost gift shops, some of long standing, some younger, all aimed mostly at tourists: Eternity, Asia Image, Asian Styles, Peking Bazaar - all gone. “Half of the restaurants and half of the retail will not come back, the way I look at it.” He sees the new restaurants and shops as a sign that the rich are getting richer. ![]() “The golden age is gone,” said Stephen Chan, 76, owner of Vy’s Jewelry on Grant. The Li Po Cocktail Lounge (since 1937) is still serving the Chinese mai tais that tempted Anthony Bourdain a decade ago.īut with international tourism at a low ebb for 22 months - and San Francisco hotel occupancy rates running behind those in Los Angeles and most major U.S. ![]() These days, the old folks are still playing cards in Portsmouth Square, and you can still check out the production line in the tiny Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory (since 1962) in Ross Alley. Storefronts on Grant Avenue aimed at selling Chinese souvenirs or luxury goods to Western tourists, while Stockton Street served mostly Chinatown residents, many of them recent immigrants living in high-density upstairs apartments and struggling to keep above the poverty line. ![]()
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