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Herbalist, Grant Avenue
During the Gold Rush Dr. Li Po-Tai was one of San Francisco's most respected doctors, treating both Chinese and Caucasians, wealthy and poor. Typically he would diagnose 150-300 patients a day. His success in treating rheumatism and sore joints brought him such clients as Leland Stanford and Mark Hopkins, two of the wealthiest men in the city. Dr. Li Po-Tai passed away in 1893 after using his wealth to build the Eastern Glorious Temple as a gift to San Francisco.

Today there are at least 47 herbalist in Chinatown, from dark, ancient shops to modern ones like that pictured above. Each one of these aroma-filled stores typically carries over 2,000 different types of "herbs," one or more of which might be prescribed by an herbalist after checking the 12 different pulses in your body. Even broken bones are treated by Tui-Na, a therapeutic massage to realign the bones after which the bone-setter applies an herbal patch rather than a cast. This allows for fine-tuning of the bones and better support during the healing process.
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