Chinatown Intrigues

 

 

 

 

 

View from the nexus of 

Chinatown, Old Oakland, Downtown 

and West Oakland

 

 

 

 

 Chinatown official begins at Broadway

 

 

 

Bordertown

 

 The streetlights are not coming on
across 8th Street

 

 

 

Navel gazing 
amid the frenzy

 

It's all rather inscrutable

 

 

 

Thriving business in rundown buildings

 

 

 

O Generous Goddess 

fork it over

 

 

As opposed to the joy of non

 

 

 

Game of skill

 

 

 

 Tawdry glamour trumps taste

 

 

 

Abstract tendencies

 

 

 

 Optical taffy 

Graffiti in pre-fab fossil form

 

 

 More optometrists per square mile

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Sidewalk produce markets

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spooky Chinoiserie

 

 

 Woman of mystery

 

 

 Interstices of urban landscape

 

 

 

More spooky altars

 

 

 

 Sign of the Headless Stewardess

 

Lacerated posters

 

Buddhism carved in stone

 

 

 

Former neighborhood Catholic church

my Chinese American friend Chester attended as a kid

 

 

 

 

 

Flower district remnants

 

 

Halloween sky over 9th Street

as seen from Chinatown

 

With lunar stealth Chinatown slips 
into darkness 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Summer-Fall 2021