Filming in Chinatown-International District, Seattle
Brick storefronts and tong society halls along King Street, and the alley The Paper Tigers used behind them.
What Chinatown-International District looks like
King Street is the district's main spine, four and five storey brick buildings running block after block with grocers and restaurants at street level, under stacked window bays above. Cornices and pressed brick trim cap most of the fronts, and the clock tower of King Street Station is visible above the rooftops at the block's western end.
A steel paifang gate faced in glazed ceramic tile spans King Street at 5th Avenue South, marking the district's west entrance. Farther along King Street near 7th Avenue South, a tan brick hall has a band of dark green glazed tile at street level, with red Chinese lettering painted on white tiles beside the door.
Canton Alley runs through the block south of King Street, a narrow paved lane with iron fire escapes on the brick walls on both sides. One stretch has storefront doors and painted panels at eye level. Farther back, the alley narrows to plain brick and chain link fencing, with waste bins along the wall.
Newer buildings sit beside the older brick without matching it. The International District Chinatown Community Center occupies a corner in dark green corrugated metal and glass. On a nearby wall, painted lettering for a chop suey parlor and a dance hall is still legible above the rooflines, weathered but readable against the brick.
Shot in Chinatown-International District
The Paper Tigers, a 2019 martial arts comedy, filmed on King Street itself. and the appear along the street, and stands in for the alley behind the restaurant. The production also shot at the Nisei Veterans Committee Memorial Hall on King Street and the Mak Fai Washington Kung Fu Club on Maynard Avenue South.
The Paper Tigers, 2019
Wing Luke Museum
The museum occupies the ground floor of the East Kong Yick Building, its large storefront windows and recessed entrance visible from the sidewalk. The production used the building's exterior and street frontage for The Paper Tigers. Street View
The Paper Tigers, 2019
Canton Alley South
The narrow paved alley behind the King Street storefronts stood in for the alley behind the restaurant in The Paper Tigers. Fire escapes and doorways line both brick walls the length of the block.
What Chinatown-International District can double for
Old Town Chinatown in Portland, Oregon
Portland's Old Town Chinatown shares the same era of low rise brick hotels and family association halls built after a turn of the century regrade, with painted signage and recessed upper floor balconies close in scale to King Street. NW 4th Avenue has the same mix of tong buildings and single room hotels above street level shops. Portland's blocks run wider and its brick tends toward a darker red, so a tight frame on one storefront reads more convincingly than a full block width shot. Try searching brick tong hall now.
Pender Street in Vancouver, British Columbia
Pender Street in Vancouver's Chinatown has recessed balconies and painted tong society lettering on brick storefronts, developed in the same early twentieth century wave along the Pacific coast. The Chinese Freemasons Building's narrow front and recessed upper balcony are close in scale to the halls on King Street. Vancouver's storefronts run to darker paint and neon signage rather than Seattle's more muted signs, so a wider shot risks giving the difference away. Try searching recessed balcony storefront now.
Waverly Place in San Francisco, California
Waverly Place in San Francisco's Chinatown is a narrow alley of brick buildings with stacked balconies and lanterns strung overhead, close in feel to Canton Alley behind King Street. Both alleys run behind larger commercial buildings rather than fronting a main street. San Francisco's balconies carry more elaborate paint and ironwork, so a longer lens on the upper floors reads more like Seattle's plainer fronts. Try searching narrow brick alley now.
