“B3099 Rag Alley, Chinatown, S.F.” c. 1887. Photograph by Isaiah West Taber (from the Marilyn Blaisdell Collection).
Rag Picker’s Alley in Photos and Paintings
The precise location of the alleyway known as “Rag Picker’s Alley” or “Rag Alley” in pre-1906 Chinatown appears to have been lost to memory. The alley was probably located slightly east and parallel to Dupont Street (modern day Grant Avenue) and running south from Washington to Jackson streets, between Washington Place (now known as Wentworth) and Kearny Street.
Detail from the July 1885 “vice map” commissioned by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors showing a “court” running along the eastern side of the Baptist Chinese Mission, a possible location of “Rag Alley” (from the collection of the Chinese Historical Society of America).
Some archival sources refer to the alleyway as the “Devil’s Kitchen” which is probably incorrect, as contemporary sources located the Devil’s Kitchen as a mid-block courtyard located in the mid-block area behind the addresses of 618 and 620 Jackson Street.
“Chinese Ragpicker. San Francisco.” No date. Photograph by Houseworth & Co. (from the collection of The Society of California Pioneers.
In the old San Francisco Chinatown prior to 1906, rag pickers worked in the streets to collect and sort through various materials, such as rags, paper, bones, and scrap metal, that could be sold to recycling companies for a profit. Chinatown in the late 1800s served as a hub for recycling and rag picking, as Chinese immigrants who were excluded from other industries due to discrimination and limited job opportunities often turned to this profession to earn a living. Rag pickers would roam the streets, searching for discarded materials and hauling them back to their sorting facilities or storage spaces.
“San Francisco, Cal. – A Chinese Rag-Picker’s House on Dupont Street.” No date, drawing based on a photograph by Houseworth & Co. In old San Francisco Chinatown, rag pickers’ homes often doubled as sorting and storage facilities.
In addition to collecting and selling recyclable materials, rag pickers also played a vital role in keeping the streets of Chinatown clean. Since sanitation services were often inadequate or nonexistent in the area, rag pickers would help clear away trash and debris, preventing the accumulation of waste that could lead to disease outbreaks.
Despite their contributions to the community, rag pickers faced numerous challenges and prejudices. They were often viewed as lower-class individuals and faced discrimination from the wider society. Additionally, the work was physically demanding and dangerous, as rag pickers had to navigate through crowded streets and handle sharp or hazardous materials.
Two Chinese residents of “Rag Alley,” c. 1890. Photograph by Isaiah West Taber (from the Underwood Archives). The woman seen in this photo is the same person seen in Taber’s photo, “B3099 Rag Alley, Chinatown, S.F.”
Overall, rag pickers played an important role in the economy and cleanliness of San Francisco's Chinatown pre-1906, despite facing significant challenges and obstacles.
In 2008, The Bancroft Library acquired 13 paintings of San Francisco’s Chinatown by Charles Albert Rogers. Born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1848, Rogers studied art in New York and pursued further training in Munich, Paris, and Rome. From 1901 to 1902, Rogers painted various subjects in old Chinatown, including three paintings of Chinese subjects in Rag Picker’s Alley.
“In Rag Pickers Alley,” 1901. Painting by Charles Albert Rogers, oil on canvas (from the collection of the Bancroft Library). The alley, also known as the “Devil’s Kitchen,” was probably located off of Washington Street, between Washington Place and Kearny Street.
Bancroft curator Theresa Salazar has written about Rogers’ Chinatown paintings as follows:
“By 1877 he was in San Francisco, where he painted oil and watercolor portraits, landscapes, and coastal scenes. When the San Francisco earthquake struck on April 18, 1906, the wooden buildings of Chinatown suffered only minor damage; but the area was completely destroyed in the ensuing days by the raging fires that engulfed the entire eastern half of the city. Rogers’ studio, located at 108 Stockton Street in Chinatown, was destroyed along with all his work. After the earthquake he moved to Los Angeles; during the summer of 1911 he painted in Yosemite. He died in Alameda, California, in 1918 (Hughes, p. 949).
“Rogers’ depiction of Chinatown before its destruction in 1906 was fortuitous. Capturing the people and places of this city within a city, he records Chinatown before the earthquake, rendering the typical dress of its inhabitants and the flavor of the humdrum and humble activities of its back alleys. Its ramshackle wooden buildings and tenement houses were far from important architectural structures, as Rogers’ paintings attest; but they also attest to the existence of a vibrant community and culture. Each painting bears the artist’s original annotation as to location and date, with the time of day also noted on some works. In this image, Rogers captures the overlay of Chinese artifacts on the nondescript 19th century brick building—the Chinese artisan, the lanterns, baskets, cooking pots, and other objects all create the distinctive characteristics of the neighborhood.”
“Home of the Vegetable Pedler [i.e. Peddler] Rag Picker's Alley Chinatown,” 1901. Painting by Charles Albert Rogers, oil on canvas (from the collection of the Bancroft Library).
“Opium Den, Rag Picker's Alley,” 1901. Painting by Charles Albert Rogers, oil on canvas (from the collection of the Bancroft Library).
Rag Picker's Alley,” 1901. Painting by Charles Albert Rogers, oil on canvas (from the collection of the Bancroft Library).
“Hitting the Pipe,” c. 1900. Photograph by Charles Weidner. The photograph was often reproduced in postcard format.
“No. 140 San Francisco, California. Hitting the Pipe in Chinatown. Driven out by earthquake and fire Apr. 18, 1906.” Photograph by Charles Weidner (postcard from the collection of Wong Yuen-Ming). In another such postcard in a private collection, postmarked Oakland 2/17/1908 (earlier variants date from 1904), the sender noted that the caption "Hitting the Pipe" was intentionally misleading, as it suggested opium smoking instead of smoking tobacco. Several of Weidner’s Chinatown photos, including this one, appeared in the polemic “Why The Chinese Should Be Excluded,” published in Railroad Trainmen's Journal (Vol. 19, Issue 1, Jan. 1902). The article printed a wider angle image of the same location with the caption “Ragpickers Alley.”
“No. 278 – Rag Pickers Alley” no date, pre-1906. Photograph by R.J. Waters.
“Rag Pickers’ Alley, Chinatown” no date. Photographer unknown (from a post-quake,1906 magazine). The photograph shows the last dwelling unit before the stairway in the same location shown in the preceding photo by R.J. Waters.
“Rag Pickers Alley,” c. pre-1906. Photograph by Edmond H. Walter (from the collection of the Library of Congress). This photo is often dated as taken in 1920, but the hair of the elderly pipe-smoker is bound in a pre-1911 queue, and the buildings seen in the background represent the type of construction of pre-1906 earthquake and fire buildings in San Francisco Chinatown.
[updated: 2023-5-25]
