Building San Fransisco Chinatown, anno 1901

[AKULA]

Just found this thread - will watch with great interest your progress!

Funnily enough I'm using those beads in my Star Wars project as pots...so many uses 

Plenty of practical suggestions on terrain building on this thread - the point about a mockup to test gameability is a good one

 

[NickNascati]

I don’t know if paper buildings are an option, but The Virtual Armchair General offers several blocks of Chinatown in its Mean Streets collection.  Nicely detailed buildings.

[Gelrir]

I've got a copy of "Victorian San Francisco:  The 1895 Illustrated Directory"; it's a 1996 reprint of the illustrations of a period directory. Most pairs of pages show drawings of one side of a particular block; below each illustration is a list of the commercial or official locations in the buildings shown. Unfortunately, it only extends north from Market Street to about Washington Street ... so about a block or two before Chinatown.

[Carpathian]

Ran across this on YouTube from 1903, interesting street scenes.   Although mostly of Market St and Union Square it looks like, the newer and grander parts of the city.   Chinatown grew up around Portsmouth square, one of the first settled areas after USA took possession.   Rather plain brick buildings from the pictures.   Actually it doesn't look much different than Old Sacramento, the well preserved riverfront  area of the state capital, a steamboat trip from SF.

https://youtu.be/lx6km37pC3U?si=FtgCWmxz83UsbFbR

[FifteensAway]

Nice find Carpathian. 

I checked up on what the event was and it was a visit to San Francisco by President Theodore Roosevelt.  Helps explain all that "Sunday best" attire and all those ladies 'big hats' and all the bunting and flags (45 stars if accurate).  Not so sure it looks like Old Sac (live near and been many times, just two days ago in fact) but it does look a lot like downtown (about 10 blocks from Old Sac as we call it) Sacramento 40-50 years ago - just without the more modern bits.  Striking how similar the buildings under construction look to construction today.

Now, what was the cameraman riding?  Not a cable car, swerving around traffic too easily.  And no horse out front.  My guess is a very early 'horseless' carriage.  First cross country trip by automobile, supposedly, started from San Francisco a week or two after this event so makes sense - and I spotted two horseless carriages in first minute and a half coming towards the camera in the lanes to the left (right hand side drivers).  What ever it was, got some looking over by some, especially by some riders in backs of vehicles, one youth in particular. 

I wonder how long that man high up on that pole was up there - and did he get in trouble when he climbed down?

[Carpathian]

I thought it might be an Independence Day parade.   But TR visiting explains it.     There's another film from 1906 traveling down Market St, with automobiles in the picture.   Cameras had to be hand cranked, so skillful filming.

Portsmouth square views.   DuPont Ave is uphill and behind the buildings.   

As for the particular block of iniquity being modeled, uphill/ right, it's now a public housing project.   Streets haven't changed much, but no cribs, mahjongg parlors or opium dens anywhere!

https://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=Portsmouth_Square:_The_Plaza

[mikedemana]

Impressive video! I particularly love how the street is being shared by bicycles, horse-drawn carriages, early automobiles, and pedestrians. 

Looking back into a vanished world...or mostly vanished!

Mike Demana

[FifteensAway]

And the video gives solid evidence for why I'm including 'street sweepers' in my Old West setup; someone has to clean up behind all the horses - seemed to be one almost every block, though with rather softer bristles than I'd expect on their brooms.

[bc99]

I’m very interested in this. Any updates?

I speak some Cantonese (grade school level but advanced bad words!) and my wife is from Hong Kong so this is especially interesting. I can say that many of the people that first came to the US were from HK, Canton, Toisan (region), southern China. The dialect mentioned from one of the “counties” is likely Toisanwa. My in laws speak Cantonese and Toisanwa. My wife bought her wedding dress in San Francisco Chinatown. I heard the shop has just recently closed after decades of service.

I do not read Chinese, but my wife does (traditional not simplified). I tried to translate some of the Chinese to English descriptions noted in the ongoing discussion.

I’ll try to add context but the English version is my own and does not contain tonal notes.

Gum San = California/San Francisco as known by our family. Lit. Gold mountains as already explained.
Dai Fow= San Francisco lit. Big town or big city.
Fu Tao Jai = Axe men, lit. Axe boys
Fey Jai Hong= correct fat boy alley. Jai = boy.

Hakka are a group of Chinese people that speak their own language and have dispersed throughout the world. Maybe they acted as barbers in old San Francisco China town.

As far as gang activity it is still active in San Fran. In Chinese they are hok say wui, awkward spelling but when I read it makes sense. Black society. Look up Ha Jai “shrimp boy” Chow. There was also a shooting in 1977 that was famous and was gang related.

I have, of course, pictured making some boards for Hong Kong, Macau, or San Francisco to do some Cthulhu or pulp games. Great idea and the collaboration and shared information in the thread is inspiring as well.

[carlos marighela]

Ran across this on YouTube from 1903, interesting street scenes.   Although mostly of Market St and Union Square it looks like, the newer and grander parts of the city.   Chinatown grew up around Portsmouth square, one of the first settled areas after USA took possession.   Rather plain brick buildings from the pictures.   Actually it doesn't look much different than Old Sacramento, the well preserved riverfront  area of the state capital, a steamboat trip from SF.

https://youtu.be/lx6km37pC3U?si=FtgCWmxz83UsbFbR

Remarkable how similar that footage is to roughly contemporaneous footage of Melbourne circa 1910.

[timyeh]

Just found this topic and am looking forward to any updates.

[Sakuragi Miniatures]

Same, I love seeing recreations from this era!