Ross Alley

North Beach & Chinatown


Colorful murals hint at the colorful characters who once roamed SF’s oldest alleyway – known during the Gold Rush variously as Mexico, Spanish or Manila St, after the women who staffed its back-parlor brothels. More recently Ross Alley has been pimped out as the picturesque backdrop for action movies like The Karate Kid, Part II and Big Trouble in Little China. Find inspiration at the Chinese Culture Center's contemporary art gallery (No 41), then seek your fortune at Golden Gate Fortune Cookie.