This is 99% invisible. I'm Roman Mars.

If you're walking in San Francisco, you might not know when you're crossing from the Western Edition neighborhood in Dehays Valley,

or if you're in Portola or Excelsior. But you could be aimlessly wandering

around any western city of significant size, including San Francisco or Oakland, and you'll

know exactly when you're in Chinatown.

Those visual cues may be simple to pick up on, but it turns out the origin stories of

Chinatown and the architecture and food that come from it are far more complex and interesting

than you can imagine.

We did a couple stories on this a few years ago and we've compiled them together into this

episode.

I hope you like it.

In 1968, George Soy stepped off a plane from Hong Kong and into the San Francisco

International Airport. It was his first time on American soil. At 22 years old he had

left his homeland of China and traveled across the ocean to build a new life for

himself and his young wife in this land of opportunity.

When immigrants first come to the US and this is such an old trope and an old story is that

you expect, you know the streets are paved with gold.

This is Bonizoy, George's daughter.

She's also the author of a book about American Chinatowns.

Even today, like Chinese people still call San Francisco Gamsan, meaning gold mountain. This is where you find

your fortune in San Francisco. George Choi's very first stop in San Francisco, his very first

stop in America like generation

...