Explore the real-world places that appear in Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q Sutanto. Each location on the map shows what happens there in the novel, the real history of the place, and what's there today. Featured locations include Vera Wong's Tea Shop (Fictional), Dragon's Gate, Portsmouth Square, Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory, Tin How Temple and 7 more.
Chinatown, near Grant Avenue — Vera's shop and home
Vera Wong lives in the apartment above her struggling tea shop, which she has barely kept alive. One morning she comes downstairs and finds a dead man, Marshall Chan, on the floor, a flash drive in his hand. She pockets the drive and starts her own investigation, serving tea to the suspects who wander in. The shop gradually becomes a gathering place for Riki, Sana, Julia and Vera's newfound found family.
The shop is fictional, but it is modeled on the many family-run tea and herb shops that have occupied Chinatown's narrow storefronts since the late 1800s. Chinatown is the oldest in North America and was rebuilt after the 1906 earthquake and fire.
The location is a stand-in for the busy blocks of shops along Grant Avenue and Stockton Street. Visitors can browse real tea merchants in the neighborhood and imagine Vera's shop among them.
Grant Avenue & Bush Street — Chinatown's entrance
Vera walks through Chinatown's streets constantly, between her shop and the markets. This gateway marks the boundary of her world and the community she knows well and has gossiped about for decades. It is the symbolic doorway to the neighborhood where she tends to her unlikely flock.
The Dragon's Gate, officially the Chinatown Gate, was a gift from the Republic of China (Taiwan) in 1969 and was dedicated in 1970. It was designed by Clayton Lee and marks the entrance to the oldest Chinatown in North America.
It is one of San Francisco's most photographed landmarks and a gateway to Grant Avenue's shops and restaurants. It is open to the public at all hours.
Visit: Dragon's Gate (Chinatown Gate) (monument)
733 Kearny Street — Chinatown's living room
Portsmouth Square is the kind of Chinatown spot where elderly residents like Vera's acquaintances play cards and mahjong and trade gossip. It reflects the community life surrounding Vera's shop. It is the sort of place where Vera might wander to observe neighbors and think over her suspects.
Portsmouth Square was the center of the original Yerba Buena settlement and is where Captain John Montgomery raised the American flag in 1846. It has been Chinatown's central gathering place for over a century.
The park has playgrounds, tables where residents play Chinese chess and cards, and a replica of the Goddess of Democracy statue. It sits above a parking garage.
Visit: Portsmouth Square (park)
56 Ross Alley — Chinatown alley landmark
Ross Alley and its small food makers represent the Chinatown that Vera moves through on her rounds. Vera, who bustles about with unsolicited opinions on everything, fits this world of tiny family businesses. It is a good stand-in for the neighborhood errands that fill her days between suspects' visits.
The factory has operated since 1962 and still makes fortune cookies by hand. Ross Alley is one of the oldest streets in San Francisco, once lined with brothels and gambling halls in the 1800s.
Visitors can watch workers fold cookies by hand and buy fresh bags of them. The alley is also a popular spot for photographs.
Visit: Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory (landmark)
125 Waverly Place — Chinatown's oldest temple
Temples and the lanterned balconies of Waverly Place form the cultural backdrop for Vera's neighborhood. Her traditional sensibility, superstitions and sense of fate belong to this setting. The area stands in for the traditions that shape her view of luck, family and justice.
Tin How Temple was founded in 1852 by Day Ju, a Chinese immigrant, and is considered the oldest Chinese temple in the United States. It is dedicated to Tin How, Queen of Heaven and Goddess of the Seas.
The temple occupies the top floor of a building on Waverly Place and is open to visitors, who are asked to be respectful and donate. Incense coils hang from the ceiling.
Visit: Tin How Temple (historic site)
965 Clay Street — Chinatown history
Vera's life in Chinatown is rooted in generations of immigrant history. The novel's themes of family, immigration and mothers' sacrifices echo what this museum documents. It is a fitting place to understand the community that Vera guards so fiercely.
The Chinese Historical Society of America was founded in 1963 and its museum occupies a 1932 building designed by Julia Morgan, originally a Chinatown YWCA.
The museum presents exhibits on Chinese American history in the US. It is open to the public with regular hours.
Visit: Chinese Historical Society of America Museum (museum)
831 Grant Avenue — Real Chinatown tea merchant
Vera prides herself on her knowledge of tea and uses each suspect's mood to choose a brew, from Wulong to chrysanthemum. Though her shop is fictional, shops like this embody the tea culture she uses as a weapon of kindness. Tea is how she coaxes confessions from Riki, Sana and Julia.
Red Blossom Tea Company was founded in 1991 and is a longtime San Francisco purveyor of Chinese teas. It has had its Chinatown storefront on Grant Avenue for years.
The shop sells loose-leaf teas and offers tastings. It is open to the public as a working retail store.
Visit: Red Blossom Tea Company (landmark)
1 Pagoda Place — Dim sum off Sacramento Street
Vera's investigations lead her through Chinatown eateries, where food is currency and Vera is always ready with comments about what people should eat. Meals shared with Riki, Sana and Julia knit them into her chosen family. Dim sum restaurants like this one capture the mealtime warmth at the center of the book.
Hang Ah Tea Room, founded in 1920, is often cited as the oldest dim sum restaurant in the United States. It sits on a small alley called Pagoda Place.
It continues to serve dim sum and is a popular stop for visitors and locals. It is open as a restaurant.
Visit: Hang Ah Tea Room (restaurant)
766 Vallejo Street — Where Officer Chen would work
After Vera calls the cops about the body, Officer Tom Chen, a young detective, handles the case. Vera runs rings around his investigation, hiding the flash drive and interfering in the evidence. Their awkward back-and-forth drives the tension of whether she will protect her chicks or hand them over.
The San Francisco Police Department's Central Station serves Chinatown and North Beach. It has served that district for decades from its Vallejo Street location.
It remains an active police station serving the Central District. It is not a tourist destination.
Stockton Street — Vera's grocery runs
Vera shops at Chinatown's crowded markets, haggling with vendors and collecting gossip. Her market trips supply the food and tea she uses to feed her suspects, turning interrogation into hospitality. They also show Vera as a fixture of the community who knows everyone's business.
Stockton Street between Broadway and Clay has been Chinatown's main produce and grocery corridor for generations. Many markets are family-run.
The street is lined with produce stands, fish markets and bakeries, and is crowded with locals daily. Visitors can walk through and shop.
Visit: Stockton Street Markets (landmark)
1 Telegraph Hill Boulevard — Overlooking the neighborhood
The skyline view from Telegraph Hill reflects the wider San Francisco of Vera's son Tilly's world beyond Chinatown. Vera's worries about her distant, grown-up son motivate much of her meddling. The city around her shop is the wider stage on which her suspects' lives unfold.
Coit Tower was built in 1933 with funds bequeathed by Lillie Hitchcock Coit. Its interior is decorated with Depression-era murals painted by a group of artists.
The tower is a city landmark with an observation deck and murals open to the public. It offers views of the bay and the city.
Visit: Coit Tower (landmark)
660 California Street — Chinatown's edge
This landmark stands at the edge of Chinatown, near Vera's daily haunts. It is part of the world she moves through as she tracks suspects and seeks clues. Its presence frames the blend of old and new in her neighborhood.
Old St. Mary's was dedicated in 1854 and was the Catholic cathedral for the archdiocese until 1891. It survived the 1906 earthquake and fire, though the interior burned.
It is an active parish and a historic landmark, with lunchtime concerts and public hours. Visitors can enter during open hours.
Visit: Old St. Mary's Cathedral (historic site)
More by Jesse Q Sutanto: All Jesse Q Sutanto books
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