Background

In the early 1950’s, when Elmer Robinson was the Mayor of San Francisco, Portsmouth Square was still a remnant and reminder of the wild “Barbary Coast” atmosphere of the City’s history.  Fronting the Hall of Justice, Portsmouth Square was just below Chinatown, and the Square was surrounded by bail bondsmen and bars and unsavory characters just let out of the criminal justice system.  Many of the City leaders were bickering about this skid row area of the City that needed cleaning up.  Many said that there was no future here because it would take a massive clean-up and redevelopment effort to change its character.  The City was short on money.  Some things never change.

Nevertheless, a group of Chinese-American business leaders got together in hopes of improving business and tourism in Chinatown.  And when they were met with little positive suggestions from outside the community, they united to try to upgrade Portsmouth Square into a city park for the benefit of the community and they also had the foresight to plan for a garage, as a convenience for the many “hoped-for” visitors to the area.  Of course, they were met with resistance and the general feeling that “it just couldn’t be done.”  City Engineer Ralph Wadsworth basically told them that it would cost too much and add too much traffic congestion.

But these Chinese-American business leaders reached into their own pockets and came up with a few hundred dollars to incorporate the non-profit “City of San Francisco Portsmouth Plaza Parking Corporation.  They raised money to hire local landscape architect Doug Baylis to make a number of presentations to the City Recreation and Park Department, and to help change the City’s mind about this project. 

Needing outside help and financing, Paul Louie and the Board looked to revenue bond money and approached New York Life Insurance Co. and the Union Oil Pension Fund, to raise the $3.2 million needed to build the garage.  The group then had to deflect years of criticism from historians and environmentalists, before the notion of a garage was approved by the Board of Supervisors in November 1959. Their good works for Chinatown and the City of San Francisco had finally succeeded!