Grosvenor Suites Near Chinatown San Francisco

Chinatown San Francisco is the quickest trip you will ever make to Hong Kong's present and past. The entrance to Chinatown at Grant Avenue and Bush Street is called the "Dragon's Gate.", with Grosvenor Suites conveniently located a short cable car ride away. Inside are 24 blocks of hustle and bustle, most of it taking place along Grant Avenue, the oldest street in San Francisco.

This city within a city is best explored on foot; exotic shops, renowned restaurants, food markets, temples and small museums comprise its boundaries. Visitors can buy ancient potions from herb shops, relax and enjoy a "dim sum" lunch or witness the making of fortune cookies. Parking here is particularly unavailable so consider taxi's & buses. You can enjoy a great meal in a Chinatown restaurant and purchase imported wares.

Take a trip to the Far East in Chinatown! This place can be a bit of a shock as the smells of garbage and food are pungent in the sometimes dirty alleyways. You will see animals is their natural state, rather than the McDonald's way of food presentation. This can be surprising to some visitors. Portsmouth square was designed in 1839 by city planner J.J. Vioget to face onto Yerba Buena Cove. The gold rush era saw the cove clogged with clipper ships. The cove was later filled in, and became the Financial District.

A pedestrian bridge on the Kearney Street side of Portsmouth Square leads to the Chinese Culture Center. Chinese New Year celebrations in San Francisco's Chinatown last a month or more with street fairs, competition for and crowning of Miss Chinatown USA, parades and dragon dancers.

Don’t miss the open markets on Stockton Street and all the little alleys between Grant and Stockton or you'll miss some of the most interesting parts of Chinatown. Fortune cookies have been made at the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory on Ross Alley in Chinatown since 1962. The cookie itself is made and cooked by a machine then a printed fortune is inserted and the fortune cookie is folded by hand.

The fortune cookie, was first introduced to the U.S. by the Hagiwara family to be enjoyed while taking tea at the tea house in the Japanese Tea Garden. Catch the San Francisco Cable Cars at California and Grant Streets in Chinatown and go west to Van Ness Avenue, east as far as the Embarcadero or transfer to the Powell-Mason line to go south to Union Square or north to Fisherman’s Wharf.

So if you need to experience the far east, stay with the Grosvenor Suites hotel in Chinatown San Francisco.

Downtown San Francisco Map