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San Diego's Chinatown in 1889

Wonderful and large 19th-century manuscript plat map showing part of downtown San Diego, highlighting the city's Chinese neighborhood, south of present-day Market Street. The area shown on the map is bounded in the north by H Street (now Market Street); in the south by L Street at at 5th; in the west by Union Street; and in the east by 7th Street. This part of San Diego became known as the Stingaree District, a vice center marked by illicit drug businesses and houses of prostitution. The area remained blighted well into the 20th century, and was not much improved until the massive redevelopments of the 1980s, particularly of the Gaslamp Quarter.

Other items and sites located on the map:

• Pacific Coast Steam Ship Company Wharf at foot of 5th Ave.
• Santa Fe Railroad route

"Chinese Houses"

The map is color-coded, with red denoting vacant lots, yellow designating lumber yards, brown for "Chinese houses" and purple for warehouses. This brown wash color covers at least 35 lots, mostly along Second and Third Streets, between J and K Streets, but with a few outlying blocks similarly designated as Chinese. A few lots below K Street (along Third and Fourth) are somewhat ambiguously shaded brown with a residue of red wash color (indicating erstwhile vacant lots), suggesting an increasing number of Chinese houses. The map thus stands as a vital and important historical source for understanding the exact location of Chinese residents in this notorious part of downtown San Diego.

Chinatown, Stingaree, Wyatt Earp

San Diego's early Chinatown, established between the 1860s and 1930s, was situated in the area bound by Market, K, First, and Fourth Streets. This area, well known in San Diego history for its illicit activities, hosted a myriad of vice-related establishments, including brothels, gambling halls, and drug dealing establishments. According to some reports, in 1888 there were over 120 illegal businesses operating in the district. Concurrently, during the latter 19th-century Chinese immigrants in California faced considerable adversity, enduring violent anti-Chinese sentiments and discriminatory laws that criminalized hiring Chinese laborers over non-Chinese counterparts. These factors contributed into establishing the Chinese character of this significant section of downtown San Diego. 

Wyatt Earp, the noted western law man and gambler of O.K Corral fame, was a noted resident of the Stingaree at this time: between 1887 and around 1896 he owned four saloons and gambling halls in San Diego, one on Fifth, one on Fourth Street, and two others near Sixth and E. These gambling dens offered the full gamut of card games, including faro, blackjack, poker, keno, and the once-popular monte. At the height of San Diego's real estate boom, Earp purportedly made up to $1,000 a night in profit.

Russell vs. McDowell Election Fraud

In an added layer of interest, the present map played a part in a noted San Diego election case - a contest between Samuel McDowell and a Mr. Russell, for Sheriff of San Diego County. Dated February 1889 and drawn by H. S. Fletcher, Chief Draughtsman of the San Diego County Surveyor, the map was used in the 1890 case of Russell vs. McDowell. Attorney George W. Monteith revealed substantial election fraud resulting in the the votes from three San Diego precincts being invalidated. According to Oscar T. Shuck's History of the Bench and Bar of California (1901), the case had 1600 witnesses in open court, requiring three months' trial. The end of the election contest saw Samuel McDowell confirmed as sheriff. The full story of this early election fraud case has yet to be written, but the case clearly had something to do with San Diego's Chinatown.

Rarity

19th-century manuscript maps of San Diego's Chinatown are very rare in the market.