SF Chinatown Night Market

[sandra]

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A taste of Hong Kong returns to San Francisco Chinatown as the annual Chinatown Night Market Fair starts another six month run. Chinatown's Portsmouth Square in transformed from a park into a marketplace of bargains, entertainment, and arts. The similarity to Hong Kong is uncanny. On some occasions there is so many people, you can barely move. The Chinatown Night Market Fair is giving a much needed boost to the ailing Chinatown economy.

The Chinatown Night Market Fair was created with the help of the Mayor's Office after 1989 earthquake. Due to the earthquake, the Embarcadero Freeway was demolished in 1991. The loss of the freeway caused visitors to the Chinatown area to dwindle even further. To revitalize Chinatown, the Night Market Fair was created. From the looks of it, it is succeeding very well.



Locals and tourist are dropping by this San Francisco attraction. With lots of Chinese CDs, VCDs, DVDs, and plenty of bargains, this is one event you don't want to miss out on. The Chinatown Night Market Fair will be put on every Saturday from July until October from 6pm to 11pm. From week to week, you will see a new aspect of Chinese culture, including lion dancing, martial arts, chinese operas, karaoke singers, and musical performances using traditional Chinese instruments. Young and old alike can come out and enjoy this family atmosphere. With almost 100 booths, there is bound to be something you will enjoy.




source: http://www.sanfranciscochinatown.com...ghtmarket.html

[tvbdude]

cool...boston sucks lol

[misschopstix]

My mom's favorite hangout on Saturday nights!

[sandra]

Originally Posted by misschopstix

My mom's favorite hangout on Saturday nights!

really? what does she do there and how long does she stay? i haven't been since...like 1996.

[deez nuts]

i used to go to night markets all the time when i was growing up in taiwan.

[sandra]

Originally Posted by Chasiubao_Boy

i used to go to night markets all the time when i was growing up in taiwan.

what were they like in taiwan? what'd you do?

[DaMuo]

Nightmarkets in Taiwan.

Eat. Usually at night markets there are lots of "specialities" that are tasty -- if you are not afraid to eat stall food. Make sure you have all your shots. Scary some times!

Buy junk. You can find pretty much anything that is cheap and shoddy. Best place to buy slippers for the home, t-shirts, belts, whatever. You probably don't want to buy anything expensive at a night market. Lots of kitsch.

Just hang around people. Sometimes you just want to go for the social experience and the crowd.

[deez nuts]

Originally Posted by DaMuo

Nightmarkets in Taiwan.

Eat. Usually at night markets there are lots of "specialities" that are tasty -- if you are not afraid to eat stall food. Make sure you have all your shots. Scary some times!

Buy junk. You can find pretty much anything that is cheap and shoddy. Best place to buy slippers for the home, t-shirts, belts, whatever. You probably don't want to buy anything expensive at a night market. Lots of kitsch.

Just hang around people. Sometimes you just want to go for the social experience and the crowd.

yup. some are even like traveling night flea markets of sorts that travel from area to area.

[moJo]

i've never really been. i didn't even know they existed until last year, when i guess it was re-opened? don't know when it was actually closed before that, though.

i'm generally averse to crowds and tourists, although i'd like to check it out sometime. from what i've seen while passing through (to go to a restaurant nearby), it seems more geared for tourists than anything - lots of tables selling chinese/asian knickknacks. if it was more like the "street/stall" food stands, i'd totally be more interested in checking it out. i really liked that about HK when i was there.

[Irezumi Kiss]

Nothing like that here in NYC, but it'd be cool if it were.

Is there anything special inside the night market that you can only get and/or experience there? If so, I wouldn't mind travelling just to check it out.

[misschopstix]

Originally Posted by kasia

really? what does she do there and how long does she stay? i haven't been since...like 1996.

Hi Kasia. My mom stays there pretty late and enjoys watching the chinese opera and the other shows there. Also a lot of her friends are out there with her. Kind of girls' night out for old ladies. Heeheehee..

[cheapfujianese]

Is there anything to eat? How come they didnt mention anything?

[robotic]

are there also night markets in vancouver?

not really aware of any in toronto...

[BillHoo]

After the world Trade Center Attack, chinatown in NYC was a ghost town. I was at a Peking Duck dinner and the president of the chinatown chamber of commerce asked me "Bill, what would you do to bring more people into chinatown? (he asked everyone that)

I answered that when I was in the Army 1986 and stationed on a smoldering rock in the South Pacific, called Hawaii, they had celebrations and street fairs at the Chinese Cultural Center which is something like a shopping mall.

In 1989, I was working on a multi-cultural magazine proto-type with some friends and our cover story was Chinese New Year. My friends insisted that I bring them to chinatown on chinese new years eve to watch ireworks. I told them, it doesn't work like that. Chinese folk are family oriented. Chinese New Year is more like thanksgiving than the Western New Year. We ran around the deseerted streets all night long looking for revelers, fireworks and dragon dances and found none. Finally, just after midnight, we heard fireworks and scurried over to see a dragon dance. Our cameras clicked for the cover photo. It was sponsored by the Brooklyn Kung Fu club. when they removed the costume, we found not a single asian among them. They were all african americans who didn't get the memo.

Comparing chinese new years at both locations, I suggested that Chinatown adopt more street fairs, similar to the Feast of San Genero in neighboring Little Italy.

when I visited chinatown, NYC before going to Iraq, I noticed that every week there seemed to be some kind of asian festival there. It's good for business.

I think a Night Market in chinatown NYC would work well!

-Bill_H

Originally Posted by kasia

"The Chinatown Night Market Fair was created with the help of the Mayor's Office after 1989 earthquake. Due to the earthquake, the Embarcadero Freeway was demolished in 1991. The loss of the freeway caused visitors to the Chinatown area to dwindle even further. To revitalize Chinatown, the Night Market Fair was created. From the looks of it, it is succeeding very well.

[Anaestacia]

Originally Posted by robotic

are there also night markets in vancouver?

not really aware of any in toronto...

Yes, there most certainly are.

In the city, and in Richmond. They're like mini-fairs; nothing as what I'd imagine SF's to be but still fun.