Chinatown Connects to Muni Metro

Thursday, November 3, 2022

Image of Muni Metro riders smiling at the camera

With the completion of Central Subway, customers will be able to ride the T Third Muni Metro all the way from Visitacion Valley to Chinatown.

Starting November 19, when Muni Metro riders can first take Central Subway's special weekend service to Chinatown, prepare to spend the day in Chinatown enjoying all its sights, sounds and flavors. There is so much to explore in the largest Chinatown outside Asia!

Tourist attractions include the Dragon’s Gate, Old St. Mary’s Cathedral and Portsmouth Square, the site of San Francisco’s original customs house where today, members of the Chinese community spend the days singing or playing mahjong, a traditional and very popular tile-based game.

Fans of Amy Tan’s novel, The Joy Luck Club, can meander the streets of Chinatown searching for the places where her story unfolds. On Wavery Place you can visit the First Baptist Church where the four mothers in the story meet to play mahjong.

Muni Metro customers will find a seemingly endless array of Chinese grocery stores along Stockton Street, with staples like dried fish, assorted teas and unique fresh fruits and vegetables. Dine-in and take-out dim sum restaurants are also abundant, offering sweet and savory treats like dumplings, custard cakes, assorted bao and sesame balls. Don’t forget to stop by Chinatown’s famous Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory!

Traditional tea tastings at the local tea houses, nail spas and cocktail lounges invite visitors to stay a while longer.

Along Grant Street, where traditional red lanterns hang above the street, souvenir shops abound for visitors to take home a little bit of the Chinatown experience. Connect to Chinatown when you hop on Central Subway’s special weekend service starting Saturdays and Sundays, November 19, from 8 a.m.-12 a.m.

Image of Grant Avenue in Chinatown with red lanterns strung across the street from building face to building face.