For much of the last century, Portsmouth Square has served as Chinatown’s living room. Asian seniors from the neighborhood — and all over the city — come here daily to play poker and Chinese chess, listen to music, or simply hang out and catch up on local gossip.
That was, until this morning. Plaza regulars came to the square only to find it fenced off. The long-awaited, $73 million renovation of Portsmouth Square had begun, and the hunt for a new living room was on.
“They say they are going to Washington Square,” said a middle-aged man in Cantonese. A woman drifted over, drawn in by the rumor. “Washington Square?” she repeated, seeking confirmation.
Yes, Washington Square in North Beach, the man said. “It’s too far; I’m not going.”
“In Chinatown there was nowhere else to go — only here,” he added. His plan: “I’ll just wait a few days and go wherever everyone else is going.”
Most of the people looking longingly at the fence knew that the park was due to close today, and for the next two years. But it was such a routine part of their lives, that they still came.
Many carried pieces of cardboard with them, which they usually use as seat cushions. One man said he had just worked six days in a row, and was looking forward to a day off in Portsmouth Square. Now he sat on his cardboard box outside the Washington St. side of the plaza, staring out into space.
“Well, I guess I’ll go for a walk then,” said the woman, adding that still had a few hours before she had to start her shift at Hon’s Wun-Tun House’s kitchen.
She came to the park often, she told Mission Local, but she doesn’t play cards.
“She plays cards every day!” another man interjected.
The woman said she was considering heading to a mahjong parlor — one of many run by the family associations, and tucked away in Chinatown’s alleyways. But that presented another issue: it would cost money.
The Portsmouth Square Improvement Project will bring a new 8,500 square foot community clubhouse, expanded play areas, flexible event space, and more room for residents to gather at the square, according to the mayor’s office.
It’s something the Chinatown community has called (and been preparing for) for years. Several parks nearby are ready to welcome the seniors who make up the bulk of Portsmouth Square regulars, including St. Mary’s Square, Willie “Woo Woo” Wong Playground, Betty Ann Ong Recreation Center, and Woh Hei Yuen Playground.
But the seniors of Portsmouth square are creatures of habit, said Lily Lo, founder of BeChinatown.
Most only speak Cantonese or Toisanese, and many of them are illiterate. For decades, they have developed the muscle memory of hopping on their respective Muni lines from homes on Silver Ave., or the Richmond, or the Sunset, getting off at a certain intersection in Chinatown, then walking to Portsmouth Square.
Even late afternoon yesterday, as a pile of dirt left over from the elected officials’ groundbreaking ceremony earlier that afternoon lay heaped nearby, the square was as busy as ever, with clusters of seniors enthusiastically playing their games and chattering with each other.
Portsmouth Square was where seniors felt safe, said Lo. It was where all their friends went. On warm summer nights, the square was packed with residents from the nearby SROs, who would dance in the plaza. There’s no other park so close to the center of Chinatown, or with the same sense of familiarity or safety.
Asian seniors who gathered at Portsmouth Square tend to not be savvy with phones, said Edward Siu, president of the Chinatown Merchants United Association. Otherwise, he said, they’d just “gamble” on their apps instead of playing cards.
Still, he added, they are resourceful. “I believe within a week you are gonna find where they are. They are not gonna just stay at home,” said Siu.
A person interested in placing a bet on the next likely living room for Chinatown’s seniors might not want to wager it all on one location. “They will split,” said Siu. Among his predictions: an open space above the Chinatown-Rose Pak Station, St. Mary’s, the Willie “Woo Woo” Wong Playground, but also, impromptu games in the neighborhood’s car-free alleys, right outside the mahjong parlors.
None of these had, as of Wednesday early afternoon, happened yet
But one person, Siu said, will have the best prediction — a small-time entrepreneur who makes money by setting up tables and whatnot for the extremely low-stakes gambling that takes place at Portsmouth Square. “Right now we are looking for that person,” said Siu. Then we will know the seniors’ next destination.
