Postcard - San Francisco, California - Chinatown - Grant Avenue - 1953 Linen - Color - Used

Color, linen postcard entitled, "Grant Avenue, Chinatown, San Francisco, California."  Postmarked August 22nd 1953 from Berkeley, California and sent to an addressee in Blenheim, Ontario, Canada.  Back reads, "Chinatown Street Scene, San Francisco - To spend an evening or day sightseeing in San Francisco's Chinatown will well repay the visitor.  Here one may see displays of merchandise in bewildering variety, ever changing and remarkable, not to be seen elsewhere.  Small stores and great bazaars welcome you with greatest courtesy.  Chinese costumes, schools, telephone exchange, Joss Houses, theatres, restaurants as truly Oriental as though they were in Shanghai or Canton, intrigue you."  Produced by Stanley A. Piltz Company, San Francisco, California; Pictorial Wonderland Art-Tone Series.

Grant Avenue is one of the oldest streets in the city's Chinatown district.  A one-way street, it was originally called Calle de la Fundacion (Spanish for "Street of the Founding") in 1845, when the town was named Yerba Buena.  When California became U.S. property, following the Mexican-American War, the street was named Dupont Avenue, in honor of an admiral from the U.S.S. Portsmouth.  In subsequent years, Dupont Avenue was the site of opium dens and Tong warfare.  When the city was rebuilt after the 1906 earthquake, Dupont Street was upgraded and given a new name "Grant Avenue" after President Ulysses S. Grant.  Today, the intersection of Grant Avenue and Bush Street marks Chinatown's southern entrance and the area is a major tourist attraction drawing more visitors than the Golden Gate Bridge. 

Classic North American postcard; great collectible with potential for appreciation.