Narrow blocks of pagoda topped buildings along Grant Avenue, and the Dragon Gate Big Trouble in Little China used for its opening shot.
What Chinatown looks like
runs the length of the neighborhood under cast iron dragon lamps, painted red, gold and green on posts outside the storefronts. At California Street the pagoda topped hold the west corners, green tiled eaves stacked above three and four storeys of shops.
The produce and fish markets line , crates and boxes stacked along the curb outside brick buildings with flats above the ground floor shops. Most of the neighborhood's brick buildings date from just after 1906, three and four storeys, some finished with pagoda parapets and columns.
is narrow and steep, one block off Grant Avenue, chinoiserie balconies in red and green stacked over the shopfronts below. , off Jackson Street, runs tighter still. Fire escapes zigzag up both sides of the brick walled lane.
marks the entrance at Bush Street and Grant Avenue, a green tiled roof over the crossing with a calligraphy plaque hanging underneath and small stone lions along the ridge. West on California Street, keeps a plainer brick facade and a squat bell tower among the pagoda roofs around it.
Shot in Chinatown
Big Trouble in Little China opens with a shot of the Dragon Gate before the story moves inside. Its version of Chinatown, underground fight scenes included, was built entirely on a studio lot in Los Angeles. Junior's opening also passes through the same arch.
Big Trouble in Little China, 1986
The Dragon Gate
The film's brief exterior establishing shot passes through the real Dragon Gate at Bush Street and Grant Avenue. A truck run also crosses on location along Commercial Street onto Grant Avenue and turns into Ross Alley off Jackson Street, before the story moves onto its built sets. Junior's opening also passes through the same arch.
What Chinatown can double for
Pacific Renaissance Plaza in Oakland, California
Oakland's Chinatown runs the same kind of brick mixed use blocks and ground floor storefronts around Pacific Renaissance Plaza, produce stands on the sidewalk and stacked bilingual signage. It sits close enough to shoot as an overflow or alternate without repeating the same storefronts twice. There is no equivalent to the Dragon Gate or the pagoda topped corner buildings, so a production leaning on those needs to stay on Webster Street rather than reach for a gate shot. Try searching brick Chinatown storefront block now.
Central Plaza in Los Angeles, California
Central Plaza's pagoda roofed storefronts and ornamental gate give it the same theatrical Chinese motif architecture as Grant Avenue, built in a similar decorative style. The scale is smaller and the plaza sits apart from the surrounding street grid rather than running block after block. Central Plaza's low rise courtyard reads differently in a wide shot than Grant Avenue's continuous street wall, so tighter frames on the storefronts hold the illusion best. Try searching pagoda roofed plaza storefronts now.
Beach Street in Boston, Massachusetts
Boston's Chinatown has its own ceremonial gate where Beach Street meets Surface Road. Narrow blocks of brick tenements sit over ground floor storefronts nearby, a plainer version of the same idea. The buildings run lower and flatter than San Francisco's pagoda topped corners. New England brownstone and rowhouse details nearby give away the city in a wide shot, so keep the frame close on the storefronts and the gate. Try searching brick Chinatown gate storefronts now.
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