Update 5/12/26: Thank you to everyone who made our kick-off event a success! Our next steps will be to reach out to the owner of the parking lot site to start a conversation about interpretive material as part of the planned housing development there. Read a recap of our event and initiative in this KQED story by Cecilia Lei, and reach out to us at kyoung@sfheritage.org if you are interested in supporting/joining our efforts.
Join the Chinese Historical Society of America, San Francisco Heritage, and city officials in supporting permanent interpretive programming at the former site of Yick Wo laundry, the birthplace of the one more consequential civil rights cases in US history.
San Francisco Heritage, the city’s leading preservation nonprofit, will join the Chinese Historical Society of America (CHSA) and several Chinatown, Asian American, and affiliated organizations in commemorating the 140th anniversary of Yick Wo vs. Hopkins on Monday, May 11, 2026. The event will be held at 349 Third Street in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood. Today a parking lot, the former site of the Yick Wo laundry is the birthplace of a case that changed civil rights in America.
Commemoration
SF Heritage and CHSA will mark the anniversary by hosting a public gathering at the parking lot site at 349 Third Street, on the northeast corner of Third and Harrison, on Monday, May 11 from 4:00 pm to 4:30 pm.
In addition to short addresses from SFH, CHSA, and public officials, the commemoration will kick-off a campaign of support for permanent interpretive programming at the site. Ideas include a sidewalk marker and a mural.
