Talk:Golden Dragon massacre

Death toll
I should note I think the history channel said that more than 5 people were killed in the Golden Dragon massacre, I might be wrong.--M4bwav 20:34, 15 February 2006 (UTC)
 * Perhaps you were confusing the number killed with the number injured? Combined that makes it confusing... I would understand. But until we find a source for more than five killed, we can't add it to this page.  Lady   Galaxy  05:35, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

Move discussion in progress
There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:Rock Springs massacre which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 04:59, 17 November 2014 (UTC)

Is the picture really the Golden Dragon?
The photograph in the lead infobox states that it shows the Golden Dragon Restaurant. This appears to be the first-story space occupied in approximately the middle of the photograph, with green walls and yellow signboard. Based on the visible signs (Grant Street, prominent in the foreground, and Waverly, approximately where the Restaurant is), this photograph was taken at or near the intersection of Washington and Grant, facing west.

However, the photograph clearly shows Sam Wo (in 1993, known to be at 813 Washington) on the left side, and the restaurant that says "Golden Dragon" is just past it, on the corner of Washington and Waverly. This would be an odd-numbered street address, which is not correct. The Golden Dragon was at 816 Washington.

Instead, there is a signboard that's nearly obscured on the right hand side of the photograph by the taupe awning that has the word "Dragon" on it. This is the correct site of the Golden Dragon (816 Washington would be nearly across Washington Street from Sam Wo).

Contemporary photographs of the Imperial Palace Restaurant (as the business was renamed after 2012) show that building is very distinctly colored above the street-level sign (see gallery below). Therefore, the photograph was switched to a cropped version showing the opposite side of Washington.

Cheers, Mliu92 (talk) 21:52, 20 September 2017 (UTC)



This is a picture I took in January 1983, standing at the corner of Ross and Washington looking east. "Golden Dragon" appears on the right side of the picture. The yellow sign one story high on the building says "Golden Dragon Restaurant". This picture is similar to the photograph in question, taken from the other direction.

I agree that this Golden Dragon Restaurant is on the opposite side of the street from the current location of the successor restaurant to the Golden Dragon. This leaves several possibilities: 1) The Golden Dragon changed location sometime after 1983, 2) there were two Golden Dragon restaurants immediately across the street from each other in 1983, 3) the Golden Dragon moved from 816 Washington Street to 829 Washington Street (the location in my photo) between 1977 and 1983, and then moved back to 816 Washington Street sometime after 1983.

I looked though all of the contemporary reference sources to this article that I was able to (some of them are now behind paywalls), and could find nothing to confirm that the address of the Golden Dragon was 816 Washington Street in 1977. All of the articles referred to a general location of the restaurant, but not to a specific address. It is possible that the reference to 816 Washington Street in the Wikipedia article is an assumption based on the current location of the restaurant of the same name.

Of the three possibilities listed above, #2 seems extremely unlikely, and #3 seems very unlikely. Since restaurants frequently change location, particularly over a period of nearly 40 years, #1 seems possible, and the best of the three explanations. Obviously this is a minor aspect of this thoroughly researched article, but I still think that more evidence is necessary to claim that 816 Washington Street was the address of the Golden Dragon in 1977.

Cheers, Gd9753 (talk) 20:06, 9 February 2019 (UTC)]


 * Thank you for the contemporary photograph! With respect, the New York Times article reporting the shooting describes the restaurant as being "on Washington Street just off Grant Avenue in the heart of Chinatown." The San Francisco Chronicle coverage from the next day also states 822 Washington explicitly. This puts the restaurant close to the corner with Grant, rather than (as the sign in your 1983 photograph indicates) 829 Washington, on the corner of Washington & Waverly. I lean towards your second possibility, namely that a branch or spin-off location was opened at 829 Washington. In your 1983 photograph, at full resolution, on the left side of the photograph (north side of Washington), there is an illuminated green sign partially obscured by other signs which appears to say "GOLDEN DRAGON" in a yellow typeface matching the sign at 829 Washington.
 * Incidentally, contemporary Google Street View of Washington indicates there are two entrances to Imperial Palace, one at 818 and one at 822 Washington. According to the 1977 Chronicle article, the gunmen entered and fled through the downhill entrance at 818. I'm updating the address in the article to 822, matching contemporary coverage. Cheers, Mliu92 (talk) 06:14, 18 March 2019 (UTC)


 * Update: Here's a reverse angle similar to the position and view of the original photograph that sparked this discussion. The illuminated Golden Dragon Restaurant sign at 818-822 Washington has the words "Golden Dragon" in yellow on a green background; this is what I think I see (partially obscured) in your photograph from 1983. Cheers, Mliu92 (talk) 14:19, 18 March 2019 (UTC)

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Failed verification tag re: murders during the war between gangs in motivation
I added two failed verification tags to the article regarding the murder count of either 44 or 55 resulting from the war between the two gangs. I noticed that neither source appears to specify that the murder count was only for the two mentioned gangs. The second cite is actually quite unspecific as it doesn't even specify Chinatown/Chinese gangs. I don't know anything about this topic, so figured I'd leave it here in case any better citations exist. -- Sesame ball Talk 20:17, 4 September 2020 (UTC)
 * It seems that the first source only gives 44 as the death count for general gang violence in Chinatown and not from the two specific gangs, as you mentioned. I’ve just changed that sentence unless someone (I’m not sure who added that original claim) can provide another source. I haven’t taken a look at the second claim yet. — MarkH21talk 20:22, 4 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the fix. I was just re-reading the source and noticed that the article does mention: "In their clashes, since May of this year, 30 people have been killed or injured." That would be in less than 5 months (article date is September), but unsure if that provides better context. -- Sesame ball Talk 06:16, 8 September 2020 (UTC)