“No. 145. Chinese Restaurant, San Francisco. Cal.” c. 1875. Stereograph by J.J. Reilly (from the collection of the Oakland Museum of California).
A Long-forgotten Jackson Street Restaurant
The albumen stereograph card by pioneer photographer John James Reilly held by the Oakland Museum of California (“OMCA”) depicts the exterior of a three-story building in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Taken from an elevated position across the street and at a diagonal to the building, Reilly captured two façades visible from the street. The exterior balcony of the third floor shows at least ten statues of venerated deities placed just outside the balcony’s railing across the entire width of the building’s frontage on Jackson Street. Numerous potted plants wrap around the front and half of the balcony’s length along the side of the building facing out onto Washington Place (also known as “Fish Alley” to non-Chinese). Two different pairs of lanterns are suspended from under the portion of roof overhanging the balcony. Elaborately carved wooden floral pieces frame the center pair of doors opening to the balcony. A common form of pennant can be seen hanging from an iron cross-mast mounting to one of the narrow columns supporting the cantilevered portion of the roof, probably advertising a tearoom at the topmost floor.
At the second floor’s balcony, English language signage appears above a circular, center window which the OMCA curator has erroneously discerned as “Chin Ying Low” over the word “Restaurant." The barely discernible Chinese characters on the glass lanterns of the second floor balcony further attest to the restaurant’s name as 聚英楼 or, Cantonese pronunciation, “Jeuih Ying Lauh”).
The Bishop directory of 1875 confirms, however, that the name of the restaurant’s name was “Choy Yan Low,” and its address listing read as follows: “restaurant SE cor [sic] Washington alley and Jackson.” According to the maps of that era, the southeast corner of the intersection corresponded to 633 Jackson St.
The OMCA’s estimate about the year during which Reilly took his fascinating stereograph of the Chinese restaurant proved remarkably accurate – to the precise year. As the 1876 Langley directory discloses, the restaurant had moved and reestablished itself one block away as the “Choy Yan Lou, 2 Washington Alley.”
The Wells Fargo Chinese business directory of 1878 confirmed its ongoing operation with a listing in Chinese as follows: 聚英樓號酒晏茶居德和街享, literally “Choy Ying Low, wine, quiet tea house – Tuck Wo Street [i.e., Washington Place]” (canto: “Jeuih Ying Lauh houh jau nan cha geui Duck Wo gaai heung;” pinyin: “Jùyīng lóu hào jiǔ yàn chá jū dé hé jiē xiǎng”).
A portion of “No. 145. Chinese Restaurant, San Francisco. Cal.” c. 1875. Stereograph by J.J. Reilly (from the collection of the Oakland Museum of California).
Another restaurant was located next door to the Choy Yan Low on the 600-block of Jackson Street. In the far left of the Reilly photo, the frontage of the “Yen Nem & Co Restaurant” (燕南樓; canto: “Yeen Nahm Lauh”) can be seen on the easterly adjacent side of the building in which Choy Yan Low was located. For a half dozen years, the Yen Nem restaurant would continue to appear in listings variously and at alternate addresses as the “Yennem Low (Chinese) restaurant,” at 629 Jackson or “Yen Nam Low & Co.” and the “Yen Nem Low restaurant” at 627 Jackson. The vertical signage along the left border of the photo is barely visible. However, other photos of this block (notably by Carleton Watkins), show that the sign advertised arrangements for literally “Manchurian meat and vegetarian banquets” or follows: “燕南樓包辦滿漢葷素歌筳酒席”(pinyin: Yàn nán lóu bāobàn mǎn hàn hūn sù gē tíng jiǔxí; canto: “Yeen Nahm Lauh bau baan wuhn hon fun soe gaw ting jauh jik”). With the presence of two major restaurants, ground floor retail stores, and the New Chinese Theater at 623 Jackson Street, this block of old Chinatown must have constituted a vibrant, commercial entertainment strip.
A detail from the 1885 map prepared for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors from the Cooper Chow collection (at the Chinese Historical Society of America).
Reilly’s inclusion in his photograph of the western frontage of the Choy Ying Low building on Washington Place (now known as Wentworth), provides an intriguing hint about the three men seen to the right of the photo. Two individuals are standing outside the doorways to the ground floor spaces on Washington Place; a third man stands closer to the curb. All three men appear to be doing nothing except observing the street. Based on the detail of the 1885 map for this corner, their positioning coincides with the presence of gambling establishments and a pawnshop -- around the corner from the restaurant’s entrance and a couple of doors south on Washington Place, as would be shown a decade later on the city’s 1885 vice map. Thus, it would not be unreasonable to infer that Reilly’s photo captured two to three “look-see” men standing guard for the alleyway’s gambling operators .
With the presence of two major restaurants at 633 and 631 Jackson, ground floor retail stores, and the Cantonese opera offered by the New Chinese Theater at 623 Jackson Street, this block of old Chinatown must have constituted a vibrant, commercial entertainment strip during the late 1870′s.
“Chinese restaurant, Jackson St., S.F. 3753″ c. 1875. Stereograph by Carleton Watkins (from the public domain collection of the Getty Museum). Judging from the angle of the sunlight along the length of Washington Place at the right of the frames, the photo was taken around mid-day.
Choy Ying Low, c. 1875. Photograph by Carleton Watkins (from the collection of the California State Library). This print captures a wider angle view of the restaurant than the ones used for the stereograph.
Sometime in 1880, the Choy Ying Low apparently ceased operations. By the following year, the Sing Sing poultry store occupied the 2 Washington Alley address, and another legendary Chinese restaurant had passed into history.
