Grant Avenue

Grant Avenue
	Grant Avenue at Bush Street: The Dragon Gate at the entrance to Chinatown
Former name(s)	Calle de la Fundacion, Dupont Street (1847)
Namesake	Ulysses S. Grant
Location	San Francisco, California
Postal code	94108
Coordinates	37°47′51″N 122°24′25″W / 37.79750°N 122.40694°W
Construction
Inauguration	1845[citation needed]

Grant Avenue in San Francisco, California, is one of the oldest streets in the city's Chinatown district. It runs in a north–south direction starting at Market Street in the heart of downtown and dead-ending past Francisco Street in the North Beach district. It resumes at North Point Street and stretches one block to The Embarcadero and the foot of Pier 39.

Grant Avenue is primarily a one-way street; automobile traffic can travel only northbound. In 2012, however, the two blocks of Grant Avenue between Sutter and Geary streets were converted to two-way traffic in order to ease southbound traffic congestion during the multi-year closure of Stockton Street, part of the construction plan for the Central Subway.

History

In 1835, the very first housing structure of Yerba Buena (the later San Francisco) was erected by William A. Richardson at what today is Grant Avenue, between Clay and Washington streets.^[3]

When California came under the control of the United States following the Mexican–American War of 1846–1848, the street now called Grant was named Dupont Street, in honor of a Naval admiral from the USS Portsmouth (Portsmouth Square, located one block east, was named after that ship). In the following years, Dupont Street became the location for various opium dens, brothels, and Tong wars.^[4]

When San Francisco was rebuilt after being leveled in the 1906 earthquake, Dupont Street was upgraded and given a new name: Grant Avenue, after President Ulysses S. Grant.

Today, the intersection of Grant Avenue and Bush Street marks the southern entrance to Chinatown. Grant Avenue is still written and said in Chinese as "Dupont Gai" (都板街, Gai 街 means street),^[4].

References

^ ^a ^b Philip Choy (2012). San Francisco Chinatown: A Guide to Its History and Architecture. City Lights Publishers. p. 109. ISBN 978-08-728-6540-2.
^ Frank Morton Todd (1914). The Chamber of Commerce Handbook for San Francisco: Historical and Descriptive: a Guide for Visitors. San Francisco Chamber of commerce under direction of the Publicity committee. p. 71.
^ Kamiya, Gary (2013-07-06). "1st S.F. civic improvement: Yerba Buena footbridge". SFGate. Retrieved 2019-01-05.
^ ^a ^b "American Philatelic Society". The American Philatelist, Volume 91. American Philatelic Association. 1977. p. 525.

External links

SanFranciscoChinatown.com: Grant Avenue in San Francisco

[SFC-1] Philip Choy (2012). San Francisco Chinatown: A Guide to Its History and Architecture. City Lights Publishers. p. 109. ISBN 978-08-728-6540-2.

[2] Frank Morton Todd (1914). The Chamber of Commerce Handbook for San Francisco: Historical and Descriptive: a Guide for Visitors. San Francisco Chamber of commerce under direction of the Publicity committee. p. 71.

[3] Kamiya, Gary (2013-07-06). "1st S.F. civic improvement: Yerba Buena footbridge". SFGate. Retrieved 2019-01-05.

[TAP-4] "American Philatelic Society". The American Philatelist, Volume 91. American Philatelic Association. 1977. p. 525.

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v t e Streets in San Francisco
Numbered streets	Third Street 19th Avenue 22nd Street 49-Mile Scenic Drive
North–south streets	Castro Street Divisadero Street Fillmore Street Folsom Street Grant Avenue Great Highway Hyde Street Junipero Serra Boulevard Kearny Street Mission Street Montgomery Street Octavia Boulevard Park Presidio Boulevard Polk Street Powell Street Skyline Boulevard Rescue Row Stockton Street Stanyan Street Valencia Street Van Ness Avenue Vermont Street
East–west streets	Broadway California Street Cesar Chavez Street Commercial Street Filbert Street Fulton Street Geary Boulevard Haight Street Jackson Street Lincoln Way Lombard Street Union Street
Diagonal streets	Alemany Boulevard The Embarcadero Howard Street Market Street Columbus Avenue New Montgomery Street
Alleyways	Balmy Alley Belden Place Clarion Alley Jack Kerouac Alley Macondray Lane Maiden Lane Ross Alley
San Francisco place names etymologies