17.12.06

F I R S TP R E V439NEXTLAST

FOGBAY IS BACK FROM VACATION!



Ross Alley, Chinatown
In the 1800s laws that kept Chinatown from expanding led to the creation of a maze of secondary streets and alleyways to maximize space. This alley, then known as 'Gow Lo Sung Hong' or 'Old Spanish Alley,' was one of those. In the 1880s dozens of brothels and fan-tan gambling dens lined this narrow alley. The small establishments were fortified with iron boiler-plate doors and a series of hidden trapdoors and escape hatches. These fortifications would slow the SFPD sledgehammers down enough to allow the businesses to transform into innocent mah-jong clubs. Today if you walk down Ross Alley you can still hear the sound of the mah-jong tiles being played in the legitimate clubhouses located here.
[ MAP E-14 ]


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