Sanfrancisco Sightseeing Shuttle Tours

SAN FRANCISCO - Behind Chinatown's gild storefronts, dim sum joints and memento shops are well-known stories - regularly unpleasant ones - of civil rights violations, bigotry and public housing struggles. These are some of the tales Wendell Lin spun on last Saturday.

The 20-year-old guide is one of the high-school and college students who guide Chinatown Alleyway Tours, a two-hour glimpse of the otherwise noisy neighborhood's quieter corners. The program is sponsored by a home nonprofit that works to progress residents' quality of life.