Chinatown (descriptive)
...ager buyers. I crossed beneath the concrete dragon gate which beckons to visitors to enter a world different from that which they came. The first blocks of Grant Avenue, adjacent to it's origin at the dragon gate, are lined with the formal shops of the up-scale antique and gem businesses which form a large part of the Chinese business community. As I climbed the hill toward St. Mary's church and Xalifornia Street, the business decorum of the street began to give way to the colorful shops that sell the gifts and trinkets that visitors take home to reinforce the memories of their visit. These shops, which look small from the street, open up into catacombs stacked high with every imaginable implement from rice bowls to heavy metal pots to children's toys. Many shops display the colorful costumes of times past in China. Finely embroidered silk apparel, containing the intricate Chinese designs worn by Mandarins of ancient China, decorate racks everywhere. The blocks between St. Mary's church and Columbus Avenue are dominated by food shops and restaurants of all kinds. The air in this area is alive with the smells of myriad foods, spices, teas and herbs. My favorite restaurants are the smaller shops on the cross streets, which run uphill from Grant Avenue. These restaurants, although smaller by China Town standards are not necessarily small in the usual sense. Every imaginable Chinese dish, su...