Chinatown’s living room for decades, Portsmouth Square, closed on Wednesday for a long-awaited $73 million renovation.
The construction is expected to last two years. It may be much longer by San Francisco speed. In the meantime, folks living in nearby SROs, and the Asian seniors who come from all over the city to Portsmouth Square are having to make do without a central gathering space to dance, hang out, work out, play poker and beat the loneliness that sometimes comes in old age.
When construction first began on Wednesday, Asian seniors were still showing up to the square, a little unsure of where to gather next. A few hours later, it became clear that many had elected not to leave at all. They set up their card games outside the green fencing closing off the square, and proceeded with business as usual.
From then on, all day and into the night, Walter U Lum Place, the alleyway on the west side of Portsmouth Square became the new gathering spot. People sat on the sidewalks and engaged in heated poker matches, surrounded by crowds of onlookers, while city vehicles came and went into the construction site.
At its peak, the games on the sidewalk drew as many as 50 people on Friday, sources told Mission Local.
That, however, has created a headache for merchants on the alley. Edward Siu, president of the Chinatown Merchants United Association, and Lily Lo, founder of BeChinatown, have both heard complaints from small business owners that the poker games are blocking the sidewalk and storefronts, and that the card players’ constant smoking is deterring customers.
Nearly all the players sit on white plastic buckets with a red line painted down the middle. Siu told Mission Local on Wednesday that there was a small-time entrepreneur who made money by setting up tables for the extremely low-stakes gambling that took place at Portsmouth Square. And, Siu said, he strongly suspects that same person is the one organizing the new games.
“Why is the city not doing anything?” said Siu. Known in some corners of city hall as “The Complaint Guy,” for his attentiveness to local street conditions in Chinatown, Siu has already messaged his contacts at various city departments demanding interference. He also plans to bring this up during his meeting with Mayor Daniel Lurie next week. “They should not wait for me to complain.”
The city should fund some temporary services to direct the seniors to other destinations, said David Ho, political consultant and longtime Chinatown organizer.
The city did put up posters before Wednesday to encourage Portsmouth Square regulars to visit nearby parks. But, said Lily Lo, the seniors are creatures of habit. “They don’t know how to go to” these other parks, Lo said. Plus, their friends are now on Walter U Lum Place.
Central Station police officers visited the impromptu games Friday afternoon and spoke with with the players. After that, one of the tables moved to Wentworth Pl and Washington St, one block away.
The whack-a-mole game is probably going to continue for a while. And very soon, this will become Lurie’s headache: Ho said he was going to call Lurie on Friday.
2 years is a long time for people to congregate on overflowing sidewalks. In addition to gambling seniors also perform Chinese opera on weekends. I hope RPD staff will consider directing some of those folks to St Mary’s Park that is 2 blocks south of Portsmouth Square, approximately the same size, also 1/2 block downhill from Grant, and not as heavily used.
One of our lunch “dates” is to buy dim sum on Good Mongkok Bakery and eat al fresco at Saint Mary’s Square. Benny Bufano statue of Sun Yat Sen. Comfort woman statue caused Osaka to end sister city relationship with San Francisco.