In honour of the 2013 Chinese New Year, I thought I’d write a bit about the festivities in San Francisco. Every year, Chinatown is the focal point of San Francisco’s Chinese New Year celebrations and the Lunar New Year Parade, which is one of the few surviving lighted parades in the U.S. This year, Chinese New Year falls on a weekend and the parade is on Saturday, February 23, 2013.
San Francisco’s Chinatown is the oldest in North America (1848) and is the core of the largest Chinese community outside of Asia. One thing I noticed right away is that it has a warm peaceful feeling… something I’ve never felt before. As I meandered the streets taking photos, people were happy to chat, wave or just plain smile.
The entire strip is bright, open and colourful. If you want to make the walk a bit of a multi-cultural adventure, start at the Grant Avenue Gate (the Dragon Gate), slowly wander up the hill and meander the shops, check out one of the Chinese restaurants (SF’s Chinatown is the birthplace of Chop Suey) or Dim Sum destinations. At the end of Chinatown is North Beach (Little Italy), which also has a large number of great restaurants and coffee shops. Restaurants in Little Italy tend to be open later than those in Chinatown.
