Today, 1966-1968 and 1972 San Pablo Ave are the only survivors of a thriving Chinese garment district that formed along San Pablo Avenue near City Hall in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.  Hing Chong & Co. occupied 1966-68 San Pablo Ave from 1906 through 1923 (Fong 2005).  1972 San Pablo Ave, Muller’s residence and tailor shop by 1893, also housed an associated service industry (OCHS files).  The two buildings, which share some structural features, are significant as representatives of early 20th century social life and commerce and  provide a window into the long history of an integrated, multi-ethnic Oakland.

1966-68 and 1972 San Pablo Ave are also the immediate successor buildings to the “official” Chinatown designated in 1867 on San Pablo Avenue after the previous “official” Chinatown--established north of 14th Street on what would become the site of the northward extension of Broadway--was that year destroyed by fire (Naruta 2004, 2005; Chew 1952).  

This Chinatown site is also significant as a window into interethnic relations, as it was established on the land of Irish immigrant Edmund Hogan, who had immigrated during the Gold Rush and remained a resident on his San Pablo Avenue property from at least the 1860s until his death in the 1880s (Naruta 2005). 

The significance of these buildings in the resilience of Chinese and Chinese Americans in Oakland continues:  According to the OCHS, a three-person “oriental” household was recorded for 1966-1968 San Pablo Ave in the 1936 WPA survey. 

May 2005 marked the new discovery of these buildings’ significance as the survivors of the turn-of-the-century Chinese garment district along San Pablo Ave near City Hall.  The discovery was made as Kelly Fong (2005) completed a research project that used the Sanborn maps, the 1882 Wells, Fargo Directory of Chinese Businesses, and a sample of the Chinese-Exclusion era Chinese Partnership and Immigration files in the National Archives to discover new information about early Chinese Oaklanders.