Series I is a collection of street scenes taken between about 1895 and 1906, during Arnold Genthe's residence in San Francisco. The earliest dated print is from 1898; most are approximately 13 by 9 inches in size. Photographs are arranged alphabetically by title or description.
All of the prints feature Chinese Americans going about their daily lives on the streets of Chinatown. Many photographs are of children, captured alone or with adults, often dressed in ornate, imperial-Chinese clothing (adults are generally not attired in this ornate clothing). One whimsical shot shows a gay parade of Chinese children marching through the streets, each holding onto the long braid of the child preceding him. Another shot captures two elaborately dressed children, standing in front of a porcelain-vase shop, about to cross the street; behind them, people mill about and, in a quintessential San Francisco scene, a streetcar descends a steep cobblestone street. A third striking photograph, titled "Dead to the World," depicts a down-and-out man seated on a grimy stair in a back alley, eyes closed. In Genthe's book of photographs on Chinatown (text by Bill Irwin), this print is captioned "The Hop Fiend," a reference to people like this man who were hooked on opium, the street drug of choice in turn-of-the-century Chinatown. Genthe also took a number of other photos (not in this series) depicting the seamier and sometimes criminal side of San Francisco's Chinatown.
