William Wong - Oaklands Chinatown

This line drawing depicts an early Chinatown at the foot of Castro Street in what is now West Oakland in the mid- to late 1800s. (Courtesy of the Oakland Cultural Heritage Survey, City of Oakland.)

This postcards caption reads, A typical scene in the Chinese quarter, Oakland, California. The scene is most likely from the late 1800s. (Courtesy of Ed Clausen.)

Pictured here is A typical Chinese restaurant, Oakland, California, according to this postcard. The date is probably from the late 1800s. (Courtesy of Ed Clausen.)

Here is another postcard depicting an Oakland Chinatown street scene from the late 1800s. (Courtesy of Ed Clausen.)

A Chinese refugee camp developed in Oakland in 1906, right after the San Francisco earthquake. The quake and fire drove many San Francisco Chinese across the Bay to Oakland, and many stayed there. (Courtesy of the Oakland Public Library.)

The epicenter of Chinatown is Eighth and Webster Streets. It dates back to the 1870s as the center of the Chinese community in Oakland and is busier than ever now. This is a 1958 view, looking west. (Photo by the Downtown Property Owners Association, courtesy of the Oakland Public Library.)

A 1958 view of Webster Street looking north toward Eighth Street shows the Great China restaurant, a pool hall, and the Asia Low restaurant. In the background is the Oakland Tribune tower at Thirteenth and Franklin Streets. (Photo by the Downtown Property Owners Association, courtesy of the Oakland Public Library.)

This is the corner of Ninth and Webster Streets, looking west, in 1958. The building at left is the Chinese Independent Baptist Church. (Photo by the Downtown Property Owners Association, courtesy of the Oakland Public Library.)

This is a 1990s view of the same block shown at the top of the page. The building on the left with a round window is the Silver Dragon restaurant. The tall edifice in the right background is City Center Towers, built in the 1970s as a condominium apartment building with retail stores on the street level. (Courtesy of Family Bridges Inc.)

The building at Eighth and Harrison Streets is a Chinatown landmark. On the ground floor was the famous barbershop of Fong Get Moo. On the second floor is the Oakland Lodge of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance. Dr. Charles Lee, a pioneering Oakland Chinese American dentist, financed the construction of this building. (Photo by W. Chin, courtesy of Mary Mar.)

In 1958, when this photo was taken, the gasoline station at Eighth and Franklin Streets was owned by Bill Louie, long active in the community. When he sold the property decades later, it went for what was then a record price per square foot. It was converted into a retail and office building. The corner is named after him. (Photo by the Downtown Property Owners Association, courtesy of the Oakland Public Library.)

Another Chinatown landmark, this building at Seventh and Franklin Streets, shown here in the 1980s, was constructed in 1927 and has been a nightclub, low-rent housing, and now a Hong Kong-style restaurant, the Legendary Palace. In the early 1990s, it was at the center of a dispute between social service providers and business interests over the best use for the building. (Courtesy of George Ong.)