“Empress” Cynthia Yee and the Ladies of the Grant Avenue Follies
Hidden Gems of Chinatown
Chinatown has many hidden gems and San Francisco’s Chinatown has been a tourist destination for over 150 years. Many people who flock to the neighborhood, come to explore the cuisine. The culinary scene is significant and should definitely be included in your exploration of the neighborhood. There is, however, much to be discovered, beyond the best Dim Sum and Peking Duck.
A Glimpse into Chinatown’s Past
In the post-prohibition 1930’s, Chinatown became a place of great intrigue. New “east meets west” nightclubs were popping up all over the place. The clubs offered world class entertainment in the form of dinner and a show. The cuisine served was Chinese and most of the performers were Chinese, as well. The clubs offered burlesque and caberet style entertainment and the performances mixed popular western entertainment with Chinese culture. The performances were advertised as exotic. The costumes were glamorous and sexy, but although many of the woman were scantily clad, the shows were still very tasteful. They were a mix of Dance, Music, acrobatics and comedy. The shows attracted tourists, celebrities and locals of various backgrounds.
During this era, things were very different from how they are today. Americans and Chinese people rarely mingled in social settings, and the Chinese Exclusion Act was still in effect. Mixed marriages were still illegal. These nightclubs were the exception at the time.
An American born Chinese man, by the name of Charlie Low, was a trailblazer of the era. His night clubs helped bridge the gap between Chinese and American culture. His mother, Chew Fong Low, was also a a trailblazer and an entrepreneur. She was the very first Chinese woman born in San Francisco. She was born into a merchant family and she went on to open general stores in Nevada, Missouri and Arkansas. When her husband died, she returned with her children to San Francisco, with the fortune she had amassed from her stores. Chew and Charlie used that money ($250,000) to build a 6 story, 25-unit apartment building for residents of Chinatown.
When Charlie wanted to open nightclubs in Chinatown he was faced with opposition on all sides. He was faced with discrimination from the white population and fear and skepticism from the Chinese Immigrants in his neighborhood. He did not let any of this negativity stop him. He had a vision and was convinced his dream would be successful. And it was.
His most famous club, “Forbidden City” was a huge success and people flocked from all over to go there. Over the years it changed hands several times. It remained open until about 1970, when the new era of Topless and Bottomless Clubs, ushered in when Carol Doda first dawned the Monokini at the Condor Club at Columbus and Broadway.
Charlie Low inspired the opening of many clubs in Chinatown, including The Trocadero, The Lion’s Den, Club Shanghai, The Chinese Sky Room, the Lotus Club, The Chinese Dragon, The Ming Palace, The Lotus Club and many, many more.
Important Entertainers of the Past
Toy and Wing
Dorothy Toy and Wing Rat were billed as “Chinese” American entertainers on the Vaudeville circuit. They were a very important part of the entertainment scene in Chinatown’s nightclubs of the Golden Era. They performed all over town, but were closely affiliated with Charlie Low’s Forbidden City. There acts were energetic and comedic dance numbers that really captured the attention of the audience.
Dorothy Toy had a secret. Her real name was Shigeko Takahashi, which she changed to sound Chinese instead of Japanese. She was a performer during the anti-Japanese era of the Second World War.
One of Dorothy Toy’s fans and members of her social circle was none other than Frank Sinatra, who loved coming to the shows in Chinatown when he was in San Francisco. Some say they were romantically linked.
Dorothy Toy is the reason that “Empress” Cynthia Yee became a dancer at Forbidden City and part of the Chinese American Club Circuit in the mid twentieth century. Cynthia Yee, grew up in San Francisco’s Chinatown & took ballet lessons as a child. Dorothy Toy happened to live in her building and took note when Yee was coming to and from dance classes. When Cynthia Yee was 17 years old, there an opening for a dancer to perform at Forbidden City. Dorothy Toy saw something in the young girl and reached out to her mother. The rest is history.
“Empress” Cynthia Yee
Cynthia Yee had to sneak in the back entrance of the nightclubs when she first started dancing, as she was underage, but dancing in Burlesque and Caberet shows became her career and took her all over the world. In the 1960’s she was even crowned Miss Chinatown.
Cynthia Yee is still living in San Francisco’s Chinatown and lives quite an active life. She was the inspiration for this article.
Coby Yee:
Coby Yee was a remarkable female entrepreneur, entertainer and seamstress. Although there is no relation to Cynthia Yee, she was also a career dancer, who sewed all of her own costumes. She was very clever and made matching storage bags for each costume. When she packed for shows abroad, she would be able to grab the bag of the costume she needed for each particular show and go. She eventually became the owner of Forbidden City, which she ran until 1970 when it finally gave way to the topless and bottomless shows on broadway. Forbidden City was located in the building that currently occupies the historical grand department store Wilkes Bashford.
Present Day Chinatown
My research on Chinatown for the CrawlSF neighborhood guide, led me to a myriad of blogs, youtube videos and reddit discussions. I was determined to learn all I could about the neighborhood and provide the best information to you, our readers. Somehow, the wacky maze that is the internet, brought me to a topic that has always intrigued me. The subject of intrigue is Asian Burlesque Nightclubs, of the mid-twentieth century. Over the years, I have come across film footage snippets of this long gone type of night life entertainment. These nightclubs must have been something in their heyday. Oh how I wished I could travel back in time and go to nightclubs like Forbidden City and the Chinese Sky Room, where people dressed up and enjoyed a meal and a show with beautiful costumes, music and dance. I always figured the era of these glamorous dance performances was lost to history. Instead, somehow, I had found my way to a web site for a “Show Girl Magic Museum”. It did not have too much information. But it had a phone number to call, to contact Empress Cynthia Yee. The name was familiar. I had seen a few you tube segments, with a walking tour of Chinatown, given by a Chinese woman, named Cynthia Yee. She was a native of Chinatown and told great stories on her tour, the kind of stories only multi-generational locals could tell. Could this be the same Cynthia Yee?
I called and asked for a tour. It was, in fact, (“Empress”) Cynthia Yee on the phone. She was concerned about the heavy rain and said a tour was not available over the weekend but she invited me to the Clarion Center in Chinatown, to meet with a woman named Clara. I accepted and was quite intrigued. I had no idea what the meeting would entail. It turned out to be a magical encounter, indeed!
Who is Cynthia Yee?
Empress” Cynthia Yee is a living legend. As mentioned above, she was a dancer at the Asian burlesque nightclubs of the mid-20th century, starting her career at the age of 17. She went on to work with some of the most famous Asian dancers in show business.
Cynthia Yee is one bad ass woman. She is a fascinating San Francisco native, with a lifetime of great stories to share. Over the years, she performed in some of the most famous dance revues in the city, working alongside renowned Asian dancers in the business. In the 1960s, this beautiful and talented woman went on to become Miss Chinatown. Later in life she went on to give tours of Chinatown, and has been active at the Clarion Performing Arts Center, a non-profit that hosts cultural activities and does work for children and the elderly who live in San Francisco’s Chinatown. In addition to all of this, Empress Yee is still dancing. She created a dance troop of ladies, who are 67 and older. They put on Burlesque and Cabaret style dance performances, wear beautiful costumes and travel the world. They perform in Shanghai, London. Las Vegas, San Francisco and many other places. The troop is called the “Grant Avenue Follies”. They recently performed at The Clarion Center in March 2025.
The Grant Avenue Follies dance troop is made up of Chinese women ages 67 to 90 years old! In addition to the burlesque dance performances, the Grant Avenue Follies have also made some original rap videos with a humorous edge. One entitled, “Gai Mou Sou” rap is a fan favorite. Gai Mou Sou in Chinese is a feather duster. It is the Chinese equivalent of the wooden spoon, as a tool of punishment for kids years ago, when Gen x and earlier generations were growing up. It is a humorous tribute to those days. The ladies rap and dance with feather dusters in their hands. They sometimes perform this number at street fairs in Chinatown. Check out the video on you tube. Fans of the rap love posing for photos with the ladies pretending to wack them with the feather dusters.
The Clarion Performing Arts Center
The Clarion Performing Arts Center is a non-profit, run off of donations. They offer free classes in Cantonese and activities for children. They host movie nights, dance performances and other cultural activities, like the pot luck I attended. They are the home of the incredible Show Girl Magic Museum, the ladies of the Grant Avenue Follies and the place where you can contact Cynthia Yee for her original and informative foot tours of Chinatown.
Prior to 2019, the Clarion Performing Arts Center, offered music lessons and rehearsal space, until the pandemic shutdowns forced them to close. During this time, Empress Yee had an amazing idea. Instead of letting the music rehearsal space sit empty and serve as a constant reminder of the crisis, she suggested they turn it into a “Showgirl Museum,” to tell the history of Chinatown’s Asian nightclubs. She donated many of her own possessions and the volunteer staff at the Clarion pulled together and used the time during the shut downs, to create a really cool museum. I highly recommend calling the Clarion Performing Arts Center and scheduling a time to see the museum and to take a tour. It will be well worth it. This corner spot, which is easy to walk past without a second thought, is a hidden gem.
My Saturday Experience at the Clarion Performing Arts Center
On that rainy Saturday morning, during Chinese New Year, I ventured up Sacramento Street, away from the Grant Street tourist hub of Chinatown and soon spotted the sign for the Clarion Center. A pot luck was going on, for the Chinese New Year and the place was busy with activity. I walked in and asked for Clara, who was very welcoming and invited me to join in the pot luck and told me she would be right back. As I stood there, feeling a little like a party crasher, I said hello to a couple of people. One of them was Pat Nishimo, who is one of the ladies involved in the Grant Avenue Follies Dance Troop. Pat is a wealth of information about Chinatown and the history of Dance in Chinatown and she escorted me to the downstairs of the Clarion, where the Showgirl Magic Museum is located.
The museum is incredible. It shows the history of dance in San Francisco’s Asian community. There are costumes on display that were worn decades ago. There are menus from venues like Forbidden City, CynthiaYee’s personal photo albums and scrap books and many, many interesting things to see and explore. Pat walked me through and was very informative. You are allowed to take pictures and you are allowed to page through the photo albums on display. It is a really cool tribute to the mid-20th Century nightclubs that put on these burlesque performances, not only in San Francisco but Shanghai and other cities world wide.
I learned many things about San Francisco’s Chinatown from Pat. Most of the Chinese people that live in the neighborhood live in SRO’s. This is why places like the Clarion Center, Portsmouth Square and, even, nearby Washington Square Park in North Beach are always bustling with activity like Tai Chi, playing chess, activities for children and other forms of entertainment and socializing. These places serve as living rooms and common areas for those living in small quarters.
Pat Nishimo is a wealth of knowledge on the Golden Age of nightclubs in San Francisco. She saw these venues first hand and was friends with some of the most famous dancers of the era, such as Coby Yee. I highly recommend asking of Pat is available to walk you through the museum when you go.
Your Future Visit to Chinatown
If planning a visit to Chinatown on a Saturday, be sure to book an appointment at the Show Girl Magic Museum and a tour with “Empress” Cynthia Yee. It really is a fun way to spend an afternoon.
