40/50.- San Francisco, Bank of Canton building in Chinatown

We arrived now in front of one of Chinatown's historic landmarks: the Bank of Canton of California, Chinatown branch, on Washington St. between Kearny Street and Grant Avenue. This building is mostly important for being the once only Chinese Telephone Exchange in the United States; the exchange was closed in 1949 when rotary-dial telephony replaced the switchboard operating system. The Bank of Canton bought and restored the building in1960. Also here was published in 1847 the first San Francisco newspaper, "The California Star".

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