Although not fancy or architecturally distinguished, this building has historical value. Downstairs, now a restaurant, was the barber shop of Fong Get Moo, the legendary first woman barber who gave out candy after haircuts. Upstairs is the Oakland lodge of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance, the first Chinese American civil rights organization established in the early 20th century.

Click Here to View the QuickTime Movie

William Wong was born and grew up in Oakland’s Chinatown. He went on to a distinguished journalism career (The Wall Street Journal, Oakland Tribune, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer). He is the author of Yellow Journalist: Dispatches from Asian America (Temple University Press, 2001) and Images of America: Oakland’s Chinatown (Arcadia Publishing Co., 2004).

Visit his web sites, http://www.yellowjournalist.com and http://www.oaklandchinatownhistory.org.