From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Grant Avenue
in
San Francisco, California
, is one of the oldest streets in the city's
Chinatown
district. It runs in a north?south direction starting at Market Street in the heart of downtown and dead-ending past Francisco Street in the
North Beach
district. It resumes at North Point Street and stretches one block to
The Embarcadero
and the foot of
Pier 39
.
Grant Avenue is primarily a one-way street; automobile traffic can travel only northbound. In 2012, however, the two blocks of Grant Avenue between Sutter and
Geary
streets were converted to two-way traffic in order to ease southbound traffic congestion during the multi-year closure of
Stockton Street
, part of the construction plan for the
Central Subway
.
[
citation needed
]
History
[
edit
]
In 1835, the very first housing structure of
Yerba Buena
(the later San Francisco) was erected by
William A. Richardson
at what today is Grant Avenue, between Clay and Washington streets.
[3]
When California came under the control of the United States following the
Mexican?American War
of 1846?1848, the street now called Grant was named Dupont Street, in honor of a Naval admiral from the USS
Portsmouth
(
Portsmouth Square
, located one block east, was named after that ship). In the following years, Dupont Street became the location for many Chinese stores,
[4]
along with some
opium dens
,
brothels
, and
Tong wars
.
[5]
When San Francisco was rebuilt after being leveled in 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 the southern entrance to Chinatown. Grant Avenue is still written and said in Chinese as "Du Pon Gai" (都板街, Gai 街 means street).
[5]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
KML is not from Wikidata
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