An assortment of vintage and luxury cars drew crowds out to San Francisco’s Chinatown Saturday. It was the first of a two-day event aimed at showing off a wide range of automobiles.
As the city explores different ways to boost its downtown economic recovery, merchants in Chinatown told NBC Bay Area events like the car show make all the difference.
Before a parade of cars circled Chinatown Saturday afternoon, festive activities like live music and dance kicked off earlier in the day.
All of it was a welcome sight for Tane Chan, who owns The Wok Shop
“I just love it,” said Chan. “We don’t get this very often, but can you imagine a nice car show like this? Everyone is interested in cars and classic cars. So it’s just worth it. It’s nice to have them here, it draws a crowd.”
Chan said foot traffic in the area around The Wok Shop has been steady with some signs that it may pick up in the future. Still, challenges remain.
“Business, for me, it could improve. But luckily we are online, that keeps our business going,” Chan said.
And improving business is part of what the car show’s organizers hope to achieve.
“Bring visitors who haven’t been back for a long time,” said Nancy Yu Law, one of the organizers. "So they can come back and check out new things. So the event is to boost our economy, of course, and revitalize Chinatown.”
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At the Chinatown Kite Shop, Albert Chang said the city needs to do more to boost how people perceive downtown areas.
"I think they need to clean it up, basically," Chang said.
