Chinatown, San Francisco, California

This is the interior. A plethora of tea cups, tea tasting sets and bags of tea fill the shelves.

This is what is served: One cup for each sort of tea that you have ordered, and a kettle of hot water. The tea leaves are already in the cups.

My two teas - the left one is "Monkey Picked Tieguanyin" and the right one is "Silver Needles". You start off by soaking the leaves in a splash of water and smelling them. Then you fill the cup with water and use the lid to push the leaves around, squeeze them against the side of the cup and push them into the water. (The people working there will give you a quick rundown on how to do this.)

Exterior shot.

Judge Lillian Sing (...) made history when she was appointed as the first Chinese American woman judge in 1981. Serving as a judge for 22 years, Judge Sing held almost every type of assignment in both criminal and civil courts, and also pioneered Drug Court, where drug addicted persons receive treatment and counseling, before retiring from the bench last year.

- Asian American Bar Association

(You can read more about her using the Wayback Machine[a].) Apparently she didn't like retirement and campaigned to get back. How did she do? She won.[b]

The gate to Chinatown. The area known as Chinatown isn't walled in any way, but there is still a gate.