San Francisco's Chinatown Before the 1906 Earthquake (23 Photos)

Between 1839 and 1860, as the Opium Wars raged on, many Chinese left their homeland for the United States in search of a better life, drawn by the California Gold Rush and the prospect of work on the Transcontinental Railroad.







Settling in cities along the U.S. West Coast, Chinese immigrants formed tight-knit enclaves that came to be known as Chinatowns. These enclaves helped newcomers adjust to life in a new country. Today, many of these neighborhoods still thrive as cultural, commercial, and historical landmarks. (1900)





Life in San Francisco's Chinatown was extensively documented by photographer Arnold Genthe, who moved from Germany to San Francisco to work as a tutor for a wealthy German family. When his contract ended, he decided to stay in the city and opened a photography studio.



Genthe was fascinated by Chinatown and took hundreds of photographs of the neighborhood and its residents. He used a small camera, which often allowed him to capture candid scenes unobserved.



These images are among the very few visual records of Chinatown that survived the devastating 1906 San Francisco earthquake, having weathered the disaster inside a bank vault.



Following the earthquake, Genthe rebuilt his studio and continued working in San Francisco and the surrounding area until 1911, when he relocated to New York.













1906