While exploring San Francisco’s Chinatown last August, I wandered into Ross Avenue vaguely thinking I might stop by the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory for a  tour and a free sample. I probably should have known better; it was a weekend at the height of summer, and plenty of other people had the same idea. I found a long line of folks waiting to get inside and immediately decided to keep on walking.

But that wasn’t the only activity in the alley that day. I made my way past a small group of Yau Kung Moon Kung Fu students who were busy practicing their moves, so I stopped to watch. With so many people coming and going through this relatively small space, you have to look closely to spot the students training with wooden “swords” or working on their hand-to-hand combat skills. Most of those passing by didn’t even give them a second glance; I guess it was just another Sunday afternoon in Chinatown.

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