SF Chinese Hospital has renamed its outpatient center after philanthropist Charles Huang, honoring his $7 million donation in 2020 that funded infrastructure upgrades to the wing, which helped pave the way for a forthcoming cancer clinic.

Officials with San Francisco Chinese Hospital held a ceremony Thursday formally renaming its outpatient center after Southern California philanthropist Charles Huang, whose foundation donated $7 million to the hospital in 2020, as San Francisco Business Times reports. The gift funded major upgrades to the building's aging HVAC, electrical, and mechanical systems, including integrating infrastructure between the hospital's older outpatient facility and its newer patient tower.

Huang, who’s chair of the Pasadena-based private equity firm Pasaca Capital, said he hopes his 2020 donation encourages continued investment in community healthcare.

"The mission that I have for not only for my foundation but also mostly for every other business I invest in, the companies I create, is to bring innovations to benefit the entire world, not just for a few people," Huang said. "This is the mission of the hospital, the mission of my business — it really, really works very well."

Hospital leaders said the improvements were especially critical as the facility prepares for a planned outpatient cancer and chemotherapy center, which builds on the hospital’s existing cancer programs and is intended to increase access to oncology and chemotherapy services for residents of Chinatown and surrounding neighborhoods.

The hospital secured $1 million in state funding for the new cancer center last year, which is expected to include six infusion bays, two exam rooms, and consultation space. The funding, which was obtained with the support of State Senator Scott Wiener, reportedly went toward planning and development of the facility.

The Business Times reports that the hospital’s fundraising goal for the cancer clinic and chemotherapy center is set at $5 million, which includes $1 million naming rights.

Officials emphasized that additional government support, community partnerships, and fundraising efforts will still be needed before the project will launch, noting that independent hospitals often struggle to cover costs because reimbursement rates frequently fall short of expenses.

According to SF Examiner, Chinese Hospital marked its 125-year anniversary in 2024, having served Chinatown through the bubonic plague outbreak, the 1918 influenza pandemic, and COVID-19. Prior to 1998, when the hospital's labor and delivery unit was transferred to California Pacific Medical Center, more than 50,000 babies were born at Chinese Hospital — including martial arts legend Bruce Lee in 1940.

Former longtime District 3 Supervisor Aaron Peskin, whose district includes Chinatown, credited the hospital's survival to its deep community ties.

“It has defied economic realities,” said Peskin. “It has defied the hospital industry that has continually consolidated and left people out. It is a remarkable community resource that we need to make sure not only continues to get by, but it’s the best thing that The City could invest in.”

Related: Remembering When Rose Pak Used to Harangue Politicians From the Stage at the Chinese New Year Parade

Image: San Francisco Chinese Hospital

Three suspects from Vallejo were arrested in connection to multiple pickpocket thefts in Chinatown that began in early April. Police later found additional items at the suspects’ residence tied to thefts dating back to 2024.

The San Francisco Police Department announced Monday that three suspects were arrested Saturday under suspicion of committing a string of targeted pickpocket thefts in Chinatown. The department began receiving reports of multiple cases throughout the neighborhood beginning in early April, with one victim having about $4,000 worth of property stolen.

Foot patrol officers from the Central Station reportedly identified the suspects with the help of the community after a weeks-long investigation.

On Saturday, police were able to track the suspects’ vehicle using the department’s various intelligence tools, including automated license plate readers and a drone, according to the SFPD. The department located the suspects in their car in Chinatown, sizing up their next victims.

As can be seen in the video footage shared by the SFPD, the thieves allegedly worked in tandem to form a shield while one suspect reached into the victims’ bags — all in broad daylight on busy Chinatown streets.

Officers arrested Stefan Ruset, 35, Marian Constantine, 30, and Florin Matei, 26, all from Vallejo, Saturday. They were booked into the San Francisco County Jail on felony charges of grand theft and conspiracy, and misdemeanor possession of stolen property, which was recovered and returned to the victims.

On Sunday, officers served a warrant at the suspects’ residence in Vallejo, where they recovered more than $14,000 in US currency, as well as stolen property allegedly connected to a 2024 pickpocket case, per the SFPD. Police also found clothing that was believed to have been worn during previous thefts.

The investigations remain open and active. Anyone with information should contact the SFPD at 1-415-575-4444 or Text-A-Tip to TIP411 and begin the message with “SFPD.”

Related: SF Man Charged In 27 Separate Walgreens Thefts In SF; Other Alleged Prolific Retail Thieves Also Nabbed

Image: Screenshot from video, courtesy of SFPD

The elderly driver who allegedly crashed into a Chinatown building while parallel parking last month, killing one person and injuring another, was arrested for vehicular manslaughter Friday, and it turns out he crashed into the building from across the street.

The San Francisco Police Department announced Friday that 76-year-old Zhuo Ming Lu was arrested for vehicular manslaughter and driving at a speed greater than is reasonable in connection to the crash. As SFist previously reported, the collision occurred on the morning of March 27 near Grant Avenue and Jackson Street when the driver allegedly jumped the curb while parallel parking and crashed into New Lung Ting Cafe, also known as Pork Chop House.

Forty-nine-year-old pedestrian, Cutberto Zamora, a San Joaquin County resident who was in the neighborhood installing flooring in a nearby apartment, was killed, and another pedestrian was injured. Zamora was declared dead at the hospital, and the other victim was treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

KTVU reported at the time that Lu was parking across from the scene of the collision before allegedly losing control and crossing the street directly into the restaurant.

"The gentleman was trying to park in a parking spot and lost control of his vehicle, drove across the street and unfortunately hit two folks on the sidewalk," said Capt. Christopher Del Gandio of the SFPD Central Station.

As the Chronicle reports, a GoFundMe has been set up for Zamora’s family.

Zamora’s death was the seventh pedestrian death in San Francisco in three months. The hit-and-run death in SoMa on Monday marked the city’s eighth pedestrian death in four months.

Additionally, the crash occurred less than a week following the sentencing of 80-year-old Mary Fong Lau in the 2024 deaths of Diego Cardoso de Oliveira, his wife, Matilde Pinto, and their two children at a West Portal bus stop. Many believed the sentence was too lenient, as Lau managed to dodge jail time and house arrest.

While Lau also avoided having to take the stand during the criminal trial by pleading “no contest,” she will be required to face relatives of the victims during the civil case, which was initiated last year and can now move forward following the conclusion of the criminal case.

The investigation remains active, and anyone with information is asked to contact the SFPD at 1-415-575-4444 or Text-A-Tip to TIP411, beginning the message with “SFPD.”

Image: Citizen

A 76-year-old driver allegedly jumped the curb while parking and smashed into a building in SF’s Chinatown Friday, striking two people, one of whom may have been a construction worker. One person died at the hospital, and the other is in serious condition.

The incident occurred around 7:45 am Friday on the 600 block of Jackson Street, near Beckett Street, when a 76-year-old driver crashed into New Lun Ting Café while attempting to park, as KRON4 reports.

A Citizen report said police confirmed the crash was fatal at 8:26 am, but news outlets reported the person was taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries where they later died. The other person is reportedly in serious condition. According to KGO, witnesses believe a construction worker may have been one of the people struck by the vehicle.

Person Fatally Struck by Silver SUV That Jumped Curb @CitizenApp

Grant Ave & Jackson St 7:45:37 AM PDT

KRON4 reports that the driver remained at the scene, and alcohol or drugs are not suspected.

This marks the seventh pedestrian death in San Francisco in three months.

Related: Man Killed By 38-Geary Bus Near SF's Union Square After Apparent Fall Into Street

Image: Citizen

Chinatown residents are unnerved by a seemingly random attack in which a man waiting to cross the street was randomly and violently stabbed in the back by another man who said nothing and proceeded on his way.

From the looks of the March 5 attack, which was caught on surveillance video that was quickly shared with the media, the suspect appeared to specifically target the victim, approaching on the sidewalk from behind, aggressively thrusting a weapon into his back, and then strolling on across the street with a plastic shopping back in his hand.

The attack happened at the intersection of Stockton and Sacramento streets.

A witness has since come forward saying that the suspect, 37-year-old Jian Feng Huang, had just been eating in a restaurant down the street before walking, perhaps with leftovers in that plastic bag, down the sidewalk and stabbing the victim.

The victim could be seen in the video — it's here on YouTube and not embeddable because it is age-restricted — grabbing his back and then falling to his knees and collapsing on the ground.

As ABC 7 reports via court documents, the knife only narrowly missed the victim's aorta, and he was put into a medically induced coma.

Prosecutors now say that Huang "acted without mercy and with the specific intent to kill the victim," though investigators have said that the suspect and victim did not appear to know one another.  As prosecutors said in court documents, the act occurred with "no words spoken, no threat posed."

Huang was apprehended shortly after the stabbing about five blocks away, on the 600 block of Powell Street, on Nob Hill.

ABC 7 spoke to people in Chinatown who said they knew Huang's father.

Huang has a previous conviction for arson in 2020, in San Mateo County.

Huang has been charged with attempted murder and several other charges. He pleaded no guilty in court Tuesday.

Previously: Stabbing In Broad Daylight In SF's Chinatown Leaves One Man Critically Injured

A seemingly unprovoked stabbing Thursday afternoon in San Francisco's Chinatown left one male victim with life-threatening injuries. Police have arrested a suspect.

The attack took place at the corner of Stockton and Sacramento streets in Chinatown around 1:13 pm Thursday. The SFPD responded to the scene and found the male victim suffering from a stab wound to the back.

KRON4 subsequently obtained surveillance video that shows the attacker, dressed in a black hoodie and carrying a shopping bag, approach the victim who was waiting at the intersection to cross the street. The suspect then thrusts a knife forcefully into the victim's lower back, and continues walking into the intersection.

The victim can be seen grabbing his back, and then falling to his knees in apparent pain.

Passersby seem to ignore the victim, but one person is seen stopping to call for help on their cellphone.

The victim was said to be suffering from a life-threatening injury, and was hospitalized. His current condition is not known.

Police quickly located a suspect matching the description of the stabber on the 600 block of Powell Street, and he was reportedly detained without incident. As KRON4 notes, no pending charges have been publicized.

This seemingly unprovoked attack took place several hours before an altercation in the Tenderloin that left two members of Mayor Daniel Lurie's security detail injured.

Top image: Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The ‘Fire Horse,’ which arrives every 60 years, is long associated with upheaval and transformation, appearing at pivotal moments in modern San Francisco history as far back as the Gold Rush era and revealing recurring social patterns across generations.

Based on the lunar calendar and dating back more than 3,500 years to the Xia dynasty (circa 2070–1600 BC), the Chinese zodiac was used by rulers to track time and plan significant events, according to expert Vicki Iskandar, who spoke to the History Channel. While most people know the zodiac’s 12 animals, the underlying system is older and more complex.

It operates on a 60-year sexagenary cycle that pairs the 12 Earthly Branches with the 10 Heavenly Stems. The Branches mark the hours, months, years, seasons, and natural rhythms, while the Stems reflect the yin and yang forms of the five elements — wood, fire, earth, metal, and water, forces seen as expressions of shifting cosmic energy, according to the site Imperial Harvest.

The 12 animals were added during the Han dynasty (206 BC–AD 220) to represent the years and make the zodiac system easier for the public to use. Each year is assigned an animal paired with an element in its yin or yang form, as each element stays on the calendar for two years. While most years are simply known by their animal name, certain combinations — like the Fire Horse — carry a strong reputation.

See the Ted-Ed video below for a whimsically illustrated explainer on how the animals were chosen for the calendar via the “Heavenly Gate Race.”

The 60-year cycle shows how history ebbs and flows, with familiar tensions resurfacing during each generation. The years preceding a Fire Horse (Water and Wood years) typically see a buildup of social tension and unrest. The Fire Horse year brings upheaval to the surface, while the following years (Earth and Metal) often usher in reconstruction and institutional reform.

1846

The first significant Fire Horse year in modern-day San Francisco dates back to 1846, during the Mexican-American War, just a couple years before the first Chinese immigrants arrived during the Gold Rush. In July 1846, when the region was a small Mexican colony known as Yerba Buena consisting of a few hundred people, US soldiers came ashore and raised the American flag at what’s now known as Portsmouth Plaza in Chinatown, marking US occupation of the area. In January 1847, Yerba Buena was renamed San Francisco, and California became a state in September 1850.

Before 1846, Spanish-speaking landholders under Mexican rule, called Californios, dominated politics and land ownership, including a few women, such as Juana Briones, who was often referred to as the “Founding Mother of San Francisco.” Large ranchos concentrated wealth among Californio families, while many Native Californians were left landless and forced into wage labor. Political authority was precarious, and foreign traders were expanding in Yerba Buena. After the US takeover, new laws stripped many Californios of their land.

During the Gold Rush (1848–early 1850s), San Francisco’s frontier boom transformed the city’s population from around 1,000 full-time residents in 1848 to 25,000 by 1850, creating extreme gender imbalances that pushed men into domestic roles, drag performances, and same-sex social bonds.

Amid this fluid social scene, Indigenous, Latino, Black, and Chinese migrants built communities even as legal exclusions like the 1850 Foreign Miners’ Tax targeted minority laborers. Indigenous residents faced dispossession, disease, and targeted killings, while other migrants risked violence over mining claims.

The scarcity of women and the high demand for sexual services fueled sex work, including coerced labor, especially among migrants and Indigenous women, while others ran boardinghouses, laundries, and food businesses.

Notable female entrepreneurs included Ah Toy, the first and best-known Chinese American sex worker and madame in SF, and Black abolitionist Mary Ellen Pleasant, who built a network of laundries and boardinghouses, helped fellow Black migrants secure jobs and housing, and used her wealth to advance civil rights causes in the city.

San Francisco grew rapidly following the Gold Rush. The 1850s saw the city grappling with lawlessness, marked by the Vigilance Committees, while the 1860s brought expansion and connection through the transcontinental railroad. Tensions rose in the 1870s and 1880s, with anti-Chinese riots and labor strikes reflecting social and economic unrest. The 1890s were shaped by the fallout from the Panic of 1893, which brought widespread unemployment and hardship, followed by a slow recovery that laid the groundwork for the city’s turn-of-the-century growth.

1906

In April 1906, a 7.9 magnitude earthquake and subsequent fires killed more than 3,000 people and left roughly 250,000 homeless. Relief favored property owners, pushing working-class, poor, and minority residents — especially Chinese — to refugee camps. Indigenous people and migrants continued to face dispossession and violence, while displaced Black residents moved to East Bay neighborhoods. Women and working-class residents, including activist Mary Kelly, led direct actions to secure food, clothing, and housing, shaping early urban advocacy.

In the years leading up to 1906, conservative groups like the Asiatic Exclusion League (1905) pushed for immigration restrictions and segregation, while labor disputes and national Progressive Era reforms shaped debates over public health, suffrage, and working conditions.

In the years after, reconstruction and reform reinforced racial, class, and gender hierarchies. Anti-Asian and anti-queer policies intensified, yet displaced communities, including Black and Chinese, rebuilt commercial and entertainment districts, sustaining vibrant social life and laying foundations for San Francisco’s enduring cultural institutions.

From the devastation of the 1906 earthquake and fire, San Francisco spent the following decades rebuilding its streets, neighborhoods, and social fabric. The 1910s and 1920s brought expansion in finance, shipping, and culture, even as Prohibition and labor unrest stirred tension. The 1930s Depression tested the city with unemployment and strikes, while World War II transformed its economy, drawing in a diverse workforce and accelerating migration from across the US. By the 1950s and early 1960s, San Francisco had become a hub of postwar growth, suburban influence, and cultural ferment, setting the stage for the social, artistic, and political upheavals that would define 1966.

1966

During the years prior to 1966, grassroots campaigns, union organizing, and student protests at UC Berkeley built networks that would fuel new movements. Local communities faced police violence, housing inequality, and poverty, setting the stage for radical responses.

In 1966, several pivotal events marked a revolutionary Fire Horse year. The Black Panther Party was founded in Oakland to combat systemic racism and provide community programs, while the Hunters Point Uprising erupted after the police killing of 16-year-old Matthew Johnson. That same year, trans women and queer patrons resisted police harassment during the Compton’s Cafeteria Riot, which predates the Stonewall Riot in NYC by three years. Feminist activism also surged nationally with the formation of NOW.

In the years that followed, intersectional activism expanded. San Francisco’s first Pride event, a Gay-In in Golden Gate Park, was held in 1970. The Black Panthers grew nationally, the San Francisco State College strike won ethnic studies programs, LGBTQ+ and feminist organizations emerged, and anti-war movements mobilized. Local unrest intersected with global currents like the Chinese Cultural Revolution, which inspired anti-elite and anti-capitalist ideas among Bay Area radicals.

San Francisco over the late 20th and early 21st centuries underwent waves of cultural, economic, and political transformation. The 1970s saw countercultural movements, LGBTQ+ activism, and protests against the Vietnam War reshape neighborhoods and civic life. The 1980s and 1990s brought tech-driven economic shifts, gentrification, and growing social tensions. Activism during the Iraq War and the Occupy movement shaped the early 2000s, along with the election of Barack Obama, followed by the Trump administration’s policies, the rise of Black Lives Matter, and conflicts like Gaza and climate change fueling mass demonstrations. The city also confronted public health crises, including fentanyl and COVID-19, alongside housing instability and climate pressures.

2026

Leading up to 2026, the tech industry and billionaire influence have continued to steer urban development, labor structures, and the pace of public policy. Under Trump’s administration, aggressive ICE enforcement, attacks on diversity and equity protections, and threats to programs like SNAP and Medicaid inflamed community tensions, while vaccine debates and public health policy became cultural battlegrounds.

Trans rights emerged as a flashpoint in schools and public discourse, sparking both fierce advocacy and organized backlash. Additionally, the impact of the climate crisis intensified, and artificial intelligence accelerated, largely optimized for profit, automation, and market dominance rather than public good.

There has also been resistance. Union victories, including wins by SF hotel workers in 2024 and most recently, the United Educators of SF's historic teachers' strike in February — its first strike in nearly 50 years, signaled renewed worker power, alongside local efforts to expand housing protections, raise minimum wages, and strengthen safeguards for gig and service workers. ICE and Gaza demonstrations, as well as broader civil rights organizing kept the streets politically vibrant, even as economic consolidation continued forging its path.

As we move through a tumultuous 2026, the patterns of the Chinese zodiac serve as a reminder of the cyclical nature of life, with the Fire Horse bringing long-simmering tensions into the open.

If technology has so far been wielded primarily as a wealth-extraction engine, this moment presents a fork in the road — to redirect AI, data systems, and digital infrastructure toward climate resilience, equitable healthcare, strong labor networks, and civic participation.

We were promised a future of connection and liberation. The next turn of the cycle asks whether we’re finally ready to build it that way.

BEIJING, CHINA - FEBRUARY 17: A Chinese dancer dressed in traditional style clothing waits before performing a Yingge dance, from southern China, during Lunar New Year celebrations at the Dongyue Taoist Temple, on February 17, 2026 in Beijing, China. China is celebrating the Lunar New Year of the Fire Horse and Spring Festival which began on February 17th. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

Previously: Photos: Pair of Giant Horse Statues Ring In the Lunar New Year ‘Year of the Horse’ In SF

• The 19-year-old UC Berkeley student who died three days after a non-fatal drowning at the Alpha Delta Phi swimming pool has been identified as George Mauricio Salinas of San Diego. [Bay Area News Group]
• A fire was reported at San Francisco’s Chinatown Rose Park Station at Stockton and Washington streets at 8:53 pm Friday, which was resolved by emergency crews less than an hour later. [KRON4]
• Pop star Kesha made a surprise appearance at a bar in Palo Alto and began performing her 2009 hit “Tik Tok” Tuesday night before getting kicked out by security who weren't aware who she was. [SFGate]

• A coastal hazard alert has been issued along the Pacific Coast, effective through 10 pm Sunday, with potential sneaker waves and rip currents along with potential 13- to 18-foot breaking waves. [Hoodline]

Image: Leanne Maxwell/SFist

Esteemed filmmaker Spike Lee received a Tribute Award at the Mill Valley Film Festival this weekend. While on stage with Oakland-based actor Delroy Lindo, who starred in four of Lee’s films, Lee suddenly remembered he directed the 2004 film Sucker Free City.

As the Chronicle reports, Lee was on stage with Lindo, who most recently starred in the Ryan Coogler film Sinners, when it dawned on Lee that he’d shot a film entirely in San Francisco. Struggling to remember the film’s name, Lee asked the audience to pull up IMDB.

According to a 2005 SFGate post, Sucker Free City was directed by Lee and written by San Francisco-raised Alex Tseas, of The Watchmen fame, as a pilot for a Showtime series that never came to be. SFGate writes that the film, which highlights conflicts among white, Black, Latino and Asian street gangs in San Francisco, didn’t get picked up as a series because Lee couldn’t commit to filming more than the pilot episode.

Per SFGate, the film explores the concept of displacement through various San Francisco-specific themes, including the history of the formation of Chinatown, the Navy’s divestment from Hunters Point, and artists being pushed out of the Mission.

During Saturday’s event, Lee credited his neighbor for giving him a Super 8 film camera when he was young, which determined his fate as a filmmaker.

“I say my prayers and blessings when I go to bed every night because it could have gone this way or that way,” Lee said, per the Chronicle. “It wasn’t a straight path, and if I did not go see (my neighbor) that day, I would not be here. You would never have heard Spike Lee.”

Image: Delroy Lindo and Spike Lee attend Mill Valley Film Festival Award ceremony For Lifetime Achievement: Spike Lee at Smith Rafael Film Center on October 11, 2025 in San Rafael, California. (Photo by Miikka Skaffari/Getty Images)

The old-style banquet hall is coming back to Chinatown’s New Asia restaurant that is now a grocery store, along with 175 units of affordable housing on top, thanks to a $33.5 million state grant that Mayor Lurie says just came through.

It’s been eight full years since the City of San Francisco bought the land on which Chinatown’s New Asia restaurant sits (772 Pacific Avenue) with plans to build an affordable housing complex for seniors on top of the restaurant and banquet hall. Though not much has happened with that plan since. But plenty has happened to the restaurant itself, which transitioned into a grocery store during the pandemic, when the banquet hall model became infeasible.

We heard some rumblings right before Chinese New Year weekend 2024 that the affordable housing plan was back on. It was not back on for long, though, as this past August, the Chronicle reported that the state funding to help build the project had fallen through.  

Meanwhile, the interior of the New Asia remains a grocery store at a time when restaurants are perfectly viable again, with the puzzling sight of chandeliers and a stage amongst the racks of produce and food.

But Mayor Daniel Lurie held a Wednesday morning press conference to announce that the affordable housing complex that was going to be built above the building is back on track, with its funding restored.

“Today we are excited to announce that the new Asia Project is moving forward,” Lurie said at this morning's announcement. “We are ready to build 175 new homes for seniors, and I’m proud to say that every single unit will be 100% affordable.”

And Lurie says the old banquet hall is finally coming back, too. “In the next chapter of this site, the project brings the banquet hall back to life on the ground floor while providing affordable housing for our seniors above it.”

Lurie’s speech was long on promises, though short on details of just how they got the money that the state had yanked. But Chinatown Community Development Center executive director Malcolm Yeung, whose organization will be managing the project built on city land, explained that a $33.5 million grant just came through this week.

“The reason why it will be moving forward is that we were just notified on Monday morning that funding that we thought was in jeopardy from the state of California has now been officially awarded to the New Asia Project,” Yeung told the audience.

He also teased another aspect to the project that has still not been announced. “This isn’t just going to be a banquet hall,” Yeung said. “We will unveil that plan hopefully in the coming months, we’re not quite ready to get into the details.”

The City of San Francisco had already pledged an additional $45 million to make the project happen, and the whole financing is still contingent on some sort of tax credits whose details are still being worked out. Yeung predicted that “We’ll be able to get those tax credits and break ground in early 2027.”

While that plan says they'll break ground on the project in 2027, a press release from Lurie’s office says the full affordable housing complex and new banquet hall’s openings are “anticipated in 2029.”

Related: Long-Stalled Plan to Build Affordable Housing on Top of Chinatown’s New Asia Restaurant Back in the Works [SFist]

Image: Kevin Y via Yelp

Sam Wo restaurant in Chinatown is set to reopen yet again this Friday, under the new ownership of two veteran Bay Area restaurateurs, after the 116-year-old favorite seemingly closed for good in January.

Few Chinatown restaurants captured San Francisco’s heart and imagination like the famed Sam Wo, mostly because of its cheap prices, very late-night hours, and the legacy of the “world’s rudest waiter” Edsel Ford Fung. Many will also remember a 2007 Conan O'Brien bit about Sam Wo (seen below). But the restaurant served its last jook this past January, closing after 115 years, as chef and former owner Mister David Ho retired after more than 40 years, and the place was unable to find a new owner.

But a few Redditors noticed something going on in the Sam Wo location at 713 Clay Street in recent weeks. And today, NBC Bay Area confirms that Sam Wo is indeed reopening this Friday, September 3, with pretty much the exact same menu it had before.

Sam Wo Restaurant set to Re-Open!
byu/kpmgameryoutube insanfrancisco

The Chronicle reports that the new Sam Wong ownership group is Norris Song, (Millbrae’s The Kitchen and Zhen) and his cousin Ming Duong (SF’s Begoni Bistro and Osmanthus Dim Sum Lounge). Both grew up eating Sam Wo, and brought the chef Ho temporarily out of retirement to train the new employees.

"He's training our staff. I'm so happy. I even took a couple pictures with him," Song told NBC Bay Area. "He's the chef I grew up with."

And they’re going to try to return to late-night hours, or at least, somewhat late-night hours. "What we want to do is send out the message that Chinatown is going to be open again, after 9 o'clock, right? We're going to go ahead and invest the time and try to be open on the weekends at least to 11 or 12," longtime primary investor David Lee said to NBC Bay Area. "We're going to invest the money into the community by opening late again."

This is not the first time Sam Wo was resurrected. The restuarant closed its old Washington Street location in 2012 because the place was nowhere near up to code, though reopened at the current Clay Street location in 2015.  

And by the way, there is no human being named Sam Wo. It’s a Chinese language term meaning “three harmony.”

Related: This Week In Food: A Fond Farewell to Sam Wo [SFist

Image: Erick T via Yelp

The messy and complicated drama between Chinatown restaurant China Live and its landlord seems to be resolved in favor of the landlord, but the restaurant might stay put with a bankruptcy restructure, and could even still win in the end.

The celebrated Chinatown restaurant and food court China Live saw some ugly, behind-the-scenes drama spill out in public view when the landlord tried to evict the restaurant over $4.2 million in unpaid back rent back in March of 2023, much of which was even pre-pandemic rent.  Then things really hit the fan when the bank foreclosed on the building a year later, sending the 644 Broadway property into receivership, and making it very unclear whether China Live owner George Chen, or the former landlord Cypress Properties, would prevail in this complex dispute.

Well, Cypress Properties has won this round, and China Live’s Chen has been dealt a major setback. The SF Business Times reports that a judge ruled in favor of Cypress Properties, declaring that China Live was liable for $6.7 million in back rent, some of which goes all the way back to 2018. The Chronicle confirmed with Chen that the restaurant intends to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which could allow China Live to stay open and continue operating.

There is certainly plenty of bad blood between Chen and Cypress Properties. But the fact remains that Cypress technically no longer owns the 644 Broadway property, and Cypress blames Chen’s massive back rent bill for their loss of the building.

“After five and a half years, we finally achieved justice in court,” Cypress co-founder Chris Wight told the Business Times after the ruling. “China Live owes all back rent totaling $6.7 million and had the financial means to pay rent but chose not to, which ultimately forced me into default.”

But whether China Live remains at 644 Broadway is no longer a decision in the hands of Wight or Cypress Properties. That decision likely falls on the appointed receiver of the property, Gregg Williams of Trident Pacific (Williams is also managing the defaulted SF Centre, which is still headed for auction).

The Business Times says that Williams is asking the court to render China Live’s lease “terminated and forfeited," which could theoretically allow China Live to just sign a new and much more favorable lease. After all, it’s difficult to imagine there are many tenants the caliber of the well-established China Live who are lining up and waving money around wanting to move in. And Chen actually occupies the upper floors of the building as well, which are home to a banquet space, the cocktail bar Cold Drinks, and the currently closed, upscale Eight Tables. (The basement is home to the Palace Theater, the main base of Boxcar Theatre, which is having some issues of its own.)

Chen thinks he still holds some cards here, or at least how he’s playing it publicly. The Chronicle reported in December that Chen was scouting new locations for China Live, and was even in talks to move to the Financial District’s Crocker Galleria. Yes, that shopping is also about as moribund as the former Westfield Mall, but is apparently slated for an ambitious renovation.

And Chen’s restaurant operations are not waving any white flags or anything. He’s got other places in the works in Paris and New York City, plus his “Asia Eataly” concept called Asia Live is lined up to open this year in Santa Clara’s Westfield Valley Fair mall.

So yes, China Live has been dealt a nearly $7 million setback, and bankruptcy proceedings are incredibly difficult. But China Live could ultimately stay alive, and thrive, right at the very 644 Broadway location where the former landlord tried to evict them, and beat them in court.

Related: Chinatown Food Hall China Live Hit With Eviction Lawsuit, Allegedly Owes $4.2 Million In Back Rent [SFist]

Image: James F via Yelp

Penny Wong has been Chinatown royalty ever since 1948 when she won the first-ever Miss Chinatown Pageant, and now she’s gearing up to celebrate her 100th birthday.

We’re not sure if you’re familiar with the Miss Chinatown USA Pageant, which these days is a lead-up event to the Lunar New Year Parade on Chinese New Year weekend. It’s a charmingly old-school affair, with tiaras and opulent, glitzy dresses. But it was once its own stand-alone event, originally in 1948 just a swimsuit competition intended to be called the “Bathing Beauty Contest.” It was renamed the Miss Chinatown Pageant, and its first winner was Penny Wong.

KGO caught up with Penny Wong this week, who’s still alive and kicking at an assisted living facility in Millbrae. And the reason KGO caught up with Penny Wong is because the first-ever Miss Chinatown is about to celebrate her 100th birthday.

“It was fun to be in it, I did not expect to win,” Wong told KGO. “I just walked around where people could see us. It’s not easy to go up there and show your whole body.”

And even so, she won that 1948 swimsuit competition in a one-piece. A one-piece!

You can learn more about the life of Polly Wong in the above mini-documentary Miss Penny Wong, which was shot around the time of her 93rd birthday. “This crown was made of cardboard,” Wong says in the documentary, looking back at her vintage photo album of keepsakes. “I don’t think anybody ever wore bathing suits except to go swimming.”

And what was it like being the first Miss Chinatown?

“After I won, I went out every night, partying, partying. That’s how I got fired,” Wong says. “I never got to bed before 5 o’clock. So you can imagine, I cannot get up to go to work in the office.”

Penny Wong’s actual 100th birthday will be April 12, 2025. We’ll see if she stays up partying until 5 am.

Related: The Chinese New Year ‘Year of the Snake’ Statues Are Now Up in SF [SFist]

Images: Chinatown Shorts: You Are Here Series via Youtube

A two-year effort to put up a statue to martial arts film star Bruce Lee in Chinatown is really kicking into high gear, and supporters held a press conference today with Willie Brown involved.

The image above of a Bruce Lee statue is not the one that various community groups are hoping to put up in San Francisco's Chinatown, an effort that dates back to at least 2023. The image above is of a Bruce Lee statue in Hong Kong. But we do think we know what this theoretical Bruce Lee statue in Chinatown would look like, as the Chinese Historical Society of America Museum (CHSA) has put out some promotional materials to announce a Friday press conference on this undertaking.

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We are guessing that the statue — if built — would look like what is seen above. The CHSA said in a Friday press release that “this project focuses on eternalizing Lee in action through a singular moment from his most lucrative and well-known film, Enter the Dragon (1973),” and announced formal kickoff to this effort would be announced today.

“Join us this Friday, March 7, at 11 AM at CHSA Museum’s We Are Bruce Lee exhibit for the official launch of the Bruce Lee Statue Project!” the museum posted to Instagram. “We’re bringing Bruce Lee home to San Francisco’s Chinatown with a monumental tribute to honor his legacy. Former SF Mayor Willie Brown and community leaders will share details about this historic project and its impact.”

In addition to Willie Brown, the CHSA is also working with the Rose Pak Community Fund, The Bruce Lee Foundation, and Stand With Asians. And they’ve apparently already commissioned Korean sculptor Arnie Kim for the project.

Though according to their press release, they seem to still be looking for a location, saying that they’re working with “community representatives across the city to find the ideal permanent home in Chinatown for this statue.”

And more significantly, the groups don’t seem to have the money for this yet. The press release says that “CHSA is asking for the community to pledge a 1:1 match to fundraise $150,000 for this entire project,” though some funds have already been raised.

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So this statue may take years to become a reality. But in the meantime, the We Are Bruce Lee exhibit is ongoing at the Chinese Historical Society of America (965 Clay Street), with art and artifacts celebrating the legacy of Lee, who was born in SF’s Chinatown in 1940.

Related: Shirtless Bruce Lee Look-alike Rapping On BART [SFist]

Image: HONG KONG - NOVEMBER 27: A bronze statue of late martial arts legend and movie superstar Bruce Lee is seen after an unveiling ceremony at the Avenue of Stars on November 27, 2005 in Hong Kong, China. The ceremony is part of the Bruce Lee Festival to celebrate what would have been the star's 65th birthday. Lee died in 1973 at the age of 32. (Photo by MN Chan/Getty Images)