#wilhelm hester

“Chinatown vegetable market stall, San Francisco California, 1895.”  Photograph by Wilhelm Hester (from the University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections).

Wilhelm Hester’s Old Chinatown

In 1895, photographer Wilhelm Hester captured several images of San Francisco Chinatown’s Washington Place (a.k.a. “Fish Alley”) and other storefronts. In this image, a woman stands in front of a San Francisco Chinatown sidewalk display of vegetables. Based on her plain dress, the viewer can surmise that she worked as a house servant for a merchant family. The proprietor or store helper stands three steps above her and behind the display. Central to the image, a small boy stands at the top of the shop’s stairs, staring out onto the street. His young age suggests that the child is a native San Franciscan, representing the infancy of my grandparents’ generation and the then-miniscule second-generation of the American diaspora.

This seldom-circulated photo remains a personal favorite. The boy’s solitary presence in the image evokes not only the child’s curiosity about whatever was occurring on the street that day, but also his perceiving the newness of everything in his world. A quarter-century after Wong Ching Foo coined the term “Chinese American,” the child in this Hester photo represented the first significant cohort of Chinese Americans, as distinguished from the Chinese merely in America. We know from publications such as the Chinese Digest that the societal conditions in which he was raised challenged his generation to confront and debate the question of whether the future would better be pursued in China or in America.

Unfortunately, this and a second photo of the vegetable stand provide no clues about the location of this store in old San Francisco Chinatown.

“Storefront in Chinatown market, San Francisco, California, 1895″ Photograph by Wilhelm Hester (from the University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections). This is the second of two photos taken by Hester of the same vegetable and meat shop, location unknown.

Wilhelm Hester is perhaps best known for his documenting the maritime activities of the Puget Sound Region and his time spent in Alaska during the gold rush of 1898. According to the University of Washington archivists for the Wilhelm Hester Collection, the bulk of his photos of the early history of ships and shipping in Washington State were taken between 1893 and 1906. Born in Germany in 1872, Hester moved to the Pacific Northwest in 1893. He established successful photo studios in Seattle and Tacoma, principally taking and selling photographs of maritime subjects, as ships from around the world and their crews docked at various Puget Sound ports. 

Fortunately, Hester found his way to old San Francisco Chinatown to capture in several photos life on Washington Place, Chinatown’s then-principal wet market and known to non-Chinese as “Fish Alley” and “Tuck Wo Gaai” (德和街) to the Chinese. 

“Chinatown, San Francisco California, 1895.” Photograph by Wilhelm Hester (from the University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections). This photo shows a view north up Washington Place, a.k.a. Washington Alley (“Fish Alley” to English speakers) or “Tuck Wo Gaai” (德和街) to old Chinatown’s residents.

“Chinatown market, San Francisco California, 1895.” Photograph by Wilhelm Hester (from the University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections). The sign appearing in the left of the frame reads 恆昌棧 (canto: “Hun Cheung Jan”; lit. “Lasting Prosperity store”), which occupied the space at no. 7 Washington Place or Alley. To some readers, the Chinese character “棧” could also be interpreted to be an “inn” or a boarding house. However, the Langley directories of 1894 and 1895 (the same year during which Wilhelm Hester took his photograph of a group of men gathered outside this storefront), lists a fish purveyor, “Hung Chong John, 7 Washington Alley.”

“Chinatown market, San Francisco California, 1895.” Photograph by Wilhelm Hester (from the University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections). In this view of two men in front of the store at no. 12 Washington Place, looking toward the southeast from the middle of the alleyway, the sign on the column (in the right half of the frame) faintly reads 合昌棧 (canto: “Hap6 Coeng1 Zaan2”; pinyin: “Hé Chāng zhàn”) for the Hop Chong Jan fish market.

Chinatown market, San Francisco California, 1895.” Photograph by Wilhelm Hester (from the University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections). In this closer view of two Chinese and one white man in front of the store at no. 12 Washington Place, looking toward the southeast from the middle of the alleyway, the store’s sign cannot be seen. The presence of two lanterns from under the balcony’s overhang indicates that this photo was taken of the Hop Chong Jan (合昌棧; canto: “Hap6 Coeng1 Zaan2”; pinyin: “Hé chāng zhàn”) market at a different time. Certain details such as the window at left, the hanging scale, and the display shelves are identical to Hester’s other photos of the store.

“Chinatown, San Francisco California,” c. 1895. Photograph by Wilhelm Hester (from the University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections). In this street scene showing two Chinese American men and a child in front of a market, the view is of no. 12 Washington Place, looking south down the east side of the alleyway toward Washington Street. Certain details such as the window at left, the hanging scale, and the display shelves are identical to Hester’s other photos of the Hop Chong Jan 合昌棧 (canto: “Hap6 Coeng1 Zaan2”; pinyin: “Hé Chāng zhàn”) market.

In contrast to the experiences of his contemporaries who also photographed old Chinatown, the location of Hester’s studios in the northwest probably saved his work from destruction in the earthquake and fire of 1906. He retired from the photography business in about 1905 or 1906 to pursue real estate speculation, only occasionally taking photographs in subsequent years. In his retirement he lived in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle. Hester died in Seattle in 1947.

“Chinatown, San Francisco California,” c. 1895. Photograph by Wilhelm Hester (from the University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections). Exact address of the store seen in the image is unknown, although the sidewalk display of goods indicates the probable location as Washington Place, a.k.a. “Fish Alley.”

Hester’s suite of photographs of San Francisco’s Chinatown hold significant historical and cultural value as rare visual documentation of the neighborhood’s daily life during the late 19th and early 20th centuries of one of the oldest and most vibrant Chinese communities in the United States. As such, his images serve as an essential resource for understanding the experiences of the first Chinese urban settlers, their commercial artifacts, and their community’s resilience amid the challenges of systemic discrimination and exclusion. The photos not only offer artistic merit but also contribute to preserving a vital chapter of Chinese American history.

Research is continuing, and any viewers who recognize the business or family members may provide additional information to me care of the Chinese Historical Society of America.

Four-masted bark FORTEVIOT at anchor in Commencement Bay, Tacoma, Washington, ca. 1904. 

Wilhelm Hester

Four-masted barkentine T.P. EMIGH moored to dock, Tacoma, Washington, ca. 1904.

Three-masted bark GENERAL DE SONIS at anchor, Washington, ca. 1904.

Four-masted schooner WILLIAM F. GARMS at anchor, Puget Sound port, Washington, ca. 1904.

Ships loading lumber on the wharves of the Port Blakely lumber mill, Washington, 1905.

Master's cabin onboard the schooner H.K. HALL, Washington, ca. 1902.