Chinatown Alleyway Tours

Awesome work guys! Very informative and insightful look into the history of SFs Chinatown and alleyways. I had a feeling that there was a lot history under the surface, but did not expect it to be this interesting!

Chinatown Alleyway Tours is both a fantastic project for youth empowerment and civic engagement but also just a great tour of Chinatown.
Chinatown, to most people is this weird exotic place (which is actually by design) but at it’s core, it’s a neighborhood full of people trying to make it in America or settle in to their dotage. Chinatown is the toehold to America for thousands of people (including my own family). The young people who lead the tours do a fantastic job of telling you some fun salacious stories but also giving voice to the people who call this neighborhood home.

I always recommend this tour to anyone who visits San Francisco — and now that they offer FREE tours (donations & tips accepted), CATs is even more accessible for my budget-​weary tourist friends.
I’ve been on the tour twice with Jeff, Anna, Rosa, Angelina and others as guides. The tour guides, young people native to Chinatown and others who have studied Chinatown, are resourceful, intelligent and incredibly informative. They know the ins and outs of Chinatown, explain the history of how Chinatown came to be, and show you the real Chinatown — the one seen by those who live, shop and work there. They are approachable, can answer most, if not all, of your questions, and will give you great tidbits and facts you can share back home. I’ve learned a lot from CATs, even though I’m a native San Franciscan who has extensively studied Chinatown.
You’re also supporting the wonderful young people that make up CATs. CATs is a youth empowerment program where young people learn history, public speaking and leadership skills. Older tour guides mentor younger ones. By taking a Chinatown Alleyway Tour, you are truly participating in sustainable travel.

Loved the tour! The youth leading the tour were so enthusiastic and friendly. I can tell that they feel strongly about the work that they volunteer their time to!

To the uninformed outsider, all Chinatowns probably look the same – dirty, gritty, loud, lots of old Chinese folks doing their grocery shopping or passing the time, with their grandchildren at the playground, and people of all ages admiring the trinkets or eating good food. Join a generic SF tour and they’ll probably take you to a few highlights that you could’ve seen yourself walking around the streets. Join CATs, and you’ll see a whole different side of Chinatown that you didn’t even know existed. No other tour will take you to the hidden side streets, the backcountry of Chinatown if you will, and offer you the fascinating stories and history behind them and the people living there. Nor will you find guides elsewhere more knowledgeable about the Chinese American experience or where to find the best dim sum than those at CATs. These guides are genuine and friendly, many of them having personal ties to the area, and you can’t go wrong with any of them. They’re also easy to fit into any travel itinerary, taking only a few hours of your time and asking for whatever donation you choose. Finally, they have much to offer even if you’re a local, so come on down on one of those weekends when you have nothing to do, and learn something interesting about this city!

A great way to see Chinatown and at the same time support the Chinese community in San Francisco. The young guides were excellent, charming and knowledgeable.
A much better choice for experiencing Chinatown than a quick walk through the highly commercialized main street. Top it off with a dim sum lunch, and the tour is complete!

My wife and I booked a private tour and were guided through Chinatown’s alleyways by a wonderful guide named Rosa. She was engaging, knowledgeable and delighted to show us her Chinatown (she grew up in Chinatown and knew it intimately).
Rosa’s information was priceless. We learned much of the history of Chinatown and the experiences of its residents over the years. The focus on Chinatown’s alleyways was fascinating. So much goes on on these small streets that tourists seldom visit: mahjong games, movie settings, murals, fortune cookie factories and so much more.
Rosa’s patience was truly appreciated. She also seemed to enjoy speaking with (as opposed to to) us so the experience was truly interactive. I am not usually a fan of guided tours but I am so very glad that we chose to arrange this tour. Thanks to Rosa and thanks to the good folks at Chinatown Alleyway Tours for setting this up.
I give this experience my highest recommendation.

Incredibly informative and enjoyable tour (probably the best I’ve been on).
Our tour guide, Rosa, was very passionate and knowledgable about all of the places that we stopped at along the tour. It’s great way to get to learn about some of the lesser-​known history of Chinatown (and some fun trivia too!), courtesy of youths who live and have grown up in the area and who really know it very well. I’d really recommend this to anyone who wants to gain a better understanding of how Chinatown came to be and all of the struggles that it’s been through over the course of San Francisco’s history, and see the less touristy parts of the area.

Tour was given by Rosa, who was charming, interesting and thoroughly engaging.
These tours of Chinatown are some of the best tours I have taken anywhere. The nonprofit that runs them is an offshoot of a local youth programme, and the tour guides are all young people who have lived and grown up in the area and care about it a great deal. They know the various alleyways around Chinatown incredibly well, and feel a good deal more authentic than some for profit company. You will learn about the troubled history and continued struggles of the Asian community in San Francisco, and afterwards see the gaudy architecture and shopfronts in a whole new light. Strongly recommended for anyone interested in learning more about the community.

I liked how the tour was led entirely by Chinese youth, some of whom actually live in the neighborhood. they were really educated about the history and landmarks in Chinatown! They talked about the murals, the mah jong dens, and took us to sample freshly baked fortune cookies! yum!
During my tour I found it funny when I bumped into other groups with foreign (white) tour guides who obviously didn’t live in the area. why not get the locals to do it?
Very affordable tour too.

This tour is not only informative, interesting and a great way to spend a Saturday; It also benefits an amazing program. The Chinatown Community Development Center and the program leaders have really empowered the youth to put on amazing tours that provide a service to tourists but also teach the youth business and life skills.
Our tour guides; Evy, Dennis and Tony did a great job for their first tour and were very personable, open to obscure questions and usually had the answers for them!
Anyone visiting San Francisco should definitely check out this tour to get an insider’s knowledge of this rich and diverse history.

This Tour is put on by Asian youths who are excited that people are interested in their culture. Patience is a key on this tour as some of the guides are relatively new to the United States and still learning English.
I hope that more and more people will go and support their non-​profit organization. Its a very moving tour.

The tour guides are the best! They show lots of passion and love for San Francisco Chinatown. They offer fun stories, great information and insite not always available on other tours.
If you have a chance, it’s a must for family and friends who are visiting the Bay Area!

Very informative, very friendly, very engaging (especially on the last day of Chinese New Year) and it felt so cool supporting a youth association dedicated to the cultural preservation and history of one of San Francisco’s oldest neighborhoods. Definitely support this group if you are thinking of doing a China town tour.

I really think this tour is really good and cool because it’s a nonprofit organization. It’s run by youths so you know that it will be historic and fun at the same time. It’s like modern meets past

Chinatown Alleyway Tours is a not for profit, youth-​run and youth-​led program sponsored by the Adopt-​An-​Alleyway Youth Project. The tour guides are all local youth who have in common a love for their community. We were escorted by guides Brian, Ruby, and Rosa (and later joined by Queena) who did a great job of helping us understand some of the local history, the reason why Chinatown buildings are all relatively short while the surrounding areas bristle with high rises, their group’s efforts to work with local business owners to reduce gang graffiti, and more. Our lovely youth guides all shared their own reasons for volunteering as tour guides, ranging from wanting experience to go with a college program in hospitality/​tourism, to developing self confidence and public speaking skills. I think our teenage son got more out of this tour than he might have from an adult-​led tour, since the guides were closer to his age than to his parents’ age. :-)
Our two-​hour tour cost only $ 18 for adults and $ 12 for our son. Payment is collected at the end of the tour and the guides can only take cash, so make sure you have enough cash with you.
This tour was definitely a highlight of our stay in San Francisco!

I had such a great time on this tour that I would recommend it to anyone interested in learning about different cultures that are right next door. In a relatively small area in Chinatown our group was educated about the living conditions of the majority of the residents in Chinatown (3 generations to a 8’x10’ rm), the inability of residents to have mail delivered to their door, and (on a lighter note) the history of fortune cookies (not Chinese!). Eric, our guide, was passionate about his community and this couldn’t have been more evident when tour participants questioned him about aspects of history that weren’t necessarily included in the tour. He started the tour by explaining why an alleyway tour of Chinatown even exists and ended by telling us where we should get good dim sum (Great Eastern Restaurant).
Check it out! Bring a bottle of water if it’s a sunny day.

Do not miss this tour! The Chinatown CDC trained young people from Chinatown to provide tours of the community, focusing on historical alleyways. We had 3 young people as our tour guides and they enthusiastically showed us their community. They were well prepared, sharing the complex history of the largest Chinatown in the US– everything from brothels and where the term Shangai-​yed comes from, to the architecture, the role of chinese family associations, churches and activists. Several of the students are alumni of local universities and know the planning context, zoning and the development strategies being used to preserve this remarkable community. You do walk up and down some hills… but that only builds up your appetite for a fabulous Chinese meal… ask the students for recommendations– you won’t be disappointed.

I took a great two hour tour on a Saturday. As a born and raised San Franciscian, I still learned a lot about The City. Great guides. Can’t beat the price.
Highly recommended.

I had to go on the Chinatown Alleyway Tour for a class I’m taking at SFSU, and was very impressed. We met at Portsmouth Square, and as I was waiting I enjoyed watching the elderly men up so early in the morning, already gambling, playing cards and Chinese chess.
Our group leaders were very informative and took us around the square initially, but once they got us into the alleyways, things really got interesting. The kids giving us the tour really knew their history very well and knew how to engage us as their audience. It was also a beautiful, warm day today, which made walking around Chinatown even more pleasant.
The alleyways tend to be known among Chinatown residents by their Chinese names/​nicknames, versus what the street names are in English, with many of the nicknames originating from the businesses and services that were originally offered on those streets. One of our tour guides said she did these tours because she wanted to eliminate the stigma that alleys in Chinatown are dirty, dank, and dangerous, and many of her fellow guides spend their time cleaning up garbage and graffiti in these areas.
So many businesses and family/​benevolent associations are tucked away in these alleys that often go neglected, or are only appreciated by the local residents of Chinatown (there was even a tiny little fortune cookie factory in one of the small alleys, which we also toured!). This tour was not just informative in the historical sense, but did achieve the goal of our tour guide, to let people know that the word «alley» doesn’t necessarily have to have negative connotations. A really great tour I’d recommend to anyone.