With crowded streets and bustling markets, curled eaves and pagodas, mysterious alleys, hidden temples, and busy restaurants, Chinatown is easily San Francisco’s most colorful neighborhood. It is also among the cities most famous, and therefore teams with visitors. Beyond the tacky gift shops and tourist traps, there remains an authentic Chinatown well worth exploring. For a peek at this hidden Chinatown, explore the neighborhoods alleyways. Waverly Place is probably the best known and it abounds with Buddhist temples and community associations. In quieter moments you can hear monks and nuns singing and playing Chinese instruments from behind the walls of their sanctuaries. Unfortunately, many of the buildings are not open to the public, one exception being the Tin Hou Temple on Waverly, and the nearby Gold Mountain Monastery on Sacramento (call ahead for hours)

Chinatown Gate: A gloriously decorated gate marks the entry to Grant Avenue's Chinatown. It was unveiled in 1970, and helped secure the street's status as the neighborhood's center. Once you're past the gate, you'll see elaborate 1920s streetlights sculpted to resemble golden dragons lighting the way. Grant Avenue and Bush Street.
Chinese Culture Foundation: Housed on the third floor of the Holiday Inn, the foundation hosts occasional art exhibits and special cultural events. The center also offers the excellent Chinese Heritage Walk ($15) and Chinese Culinary Walk ($30, lunch included). 750 Kearny St., (415) 986-1822.

East Wind Bookshop: This is the place to locate hard-to-find Asian publications about Chinese medicine, Taoism, the martial arts and more. 1435 Stockton St., (415) 772-5877.

Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory: Here, tucked inside a storefront on tiny Ross Alley, some 20,000 fortune cookies a day are handmade by two women, each manning a conveyor belt of what look like miniature waffle irons. The factory opened in August 1962, and though there are other fortune cookie bakeries in the city, this is the only one where the cookies are still made by hand, the old-fashioned way. Anyone is welcome to stroll in and watch the cookies being made, sample a cookie, and pick up a bag of 40 for $3. The factory is open seven days a week, 7 a. m. to 8:30 p.m. Admission is free. But if you want to take a photograph, and how could you resist? A sign by the front asks for 50 cents. 56 Ross Alley (415) 781-3956.

Tien Hau Temple: Each floor of this building has a completely different look to it, ranging from opulent to neon. It was designed in 1911 and achieved its mishmash of influences through the years. On the top floor is the temple, dedicated to the Goddess of Heaven. Brightly painted on the outside, with the scent of incense wafting from its walls, the temple is a sanctuary for the people. Opening time varies. Admission is free, but a donation is appreciated. 125 Waverly Place (at Clay Street), no phone.

Waverly Place: A picturesque street full of sights and smells to overwhelm you. It is also the nexus of temples in Chinatown, including Tien Hau. Parallel to Grant Avenue and Stockton Street, between Washington and Sacramento streets.

Chinese New Year: The neighborhood gets decked out in red banners for one of San Francisco's largest festivals. The Lunar New Year is celebrated with food, flowers, firecrackers and envelopes of "lucky money." The two-week celebration includes music events, street fairs and the Miss Chinatown USA pageant and culminates with a spectacular parade featuring a 160-foot-long dragon.