RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of California >> Santa Clara County >> Chinatown >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in Chinatown, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Chinatown and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • Astronomy & Satellites ...
    • Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
    • To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for Chinatown:
    • 37.333830, -121.890233
    • Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
    • Open the Heavens-Above website centered on Chinatown
  • Bird Watching ...
    • We enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
    • The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected Santa Clara County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Santa Clara County
    • Since Chinatown is near Alameda County and also Santa Cruz County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Alameda County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Santa Cruz County
  • Waymarking ...
    • Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for Chinatown

Communities Also Named Chinatown ...

We found eleven communities that are also named Chinatown.

There are four communities within California that are also named Chinatown.

Beyond California, we know of seven communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Located In California ...
    • Alameda County
      • This Chinatown is located in Alameda County and lies 38 miles [61.2 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Chinatown that is located in Santa Clara County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Alameda County community of Chinatown.
    • Amador County
      • This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the California community of Chinatown [Amador County].
    • Mono County
      • This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the California community of Chinatown [Mono County].
    • San Francisco County
      • This Chinatown is located in San Francisco County and lies 42 miles [67.6 km]<1> to the northwest of the Chinatown that is located in Santa Clara County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the San Francisco County community of Chinatown.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Hawaii
      • This Chinatown lies 2,411 miles [3,880.1 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Chinatown that is located in Santa Clara County.
    • Illinois
      • Cook County
      • This Chinatown is located in Cook County and lies 1,836 miles [2,954.8 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Chinatown that is located in Santa Clara County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cook County community of Chinatown.
      • Madison County
      • This Chinatown is located in Madison County and lies 1,731 miles [2,785.8 km] to the east northeast of the Chinatown that is located in Santa Clara County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Madison County community of Chinatown.
    • Massachusetts
      • Suffolk County
      • Although located in Suffolk County, we don't know the location within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Suffolk County community of Chinatown.
    • Montana
      • Beaverhead County
      • This Chinatown is located in Beaverhead County and lies 689 miles [1,108.8 km]<1> to the northeast of the Chinatown that is located in Santa Clara County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Beaverhead County community of Chinatown.
    • Nevada
      • Humboldt County
      • This Chinatown is located in Humboldt County and lies 323 miles [519.8 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Chinatown that is located in Santa Clara County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Humboldt County community of Chinatown.
    • New York
      • New York County
      • This Chinatown is located in New York County and lies 2,547 miles [4,099 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Chinatown that is located in Santa Clara County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the New York County community of Chinatown.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Chinatown ...

As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.

  • Alum Rock
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Alum Rock is located in Santa Clara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alum Rock
  • College Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • College Park is located in Santa Clara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for College Park
  • Fruitdale
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Fruitdale is located in Santa Clara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fruitdale
  • Lick
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Lick is located in Santa Clara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lick
  • Meridian
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Meridian is located in Santa Clara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meridian
  • Robertsville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Robertsville is located in Santa Clara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Robertsville
  • Seven Trees
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Seven Trees is located in Santa Clara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seven Trees
  • Willow Glen
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Willow Glen is located in Santa Clara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow Glen

How Far From Chinatown to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Chinatown to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic community of Chinatown once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Chinatown and extending to:

  • San Jose, which is the Seat of Santa Clara County, lies just to the West.
  • Sacramento, which is the State Capital of California, lies 88 miles [141.6 km]<1> to the north northeast (NNE). If you could drive a straight line from Chinatown to Sacramento, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,414 miles [3,885 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 95 days and walking would take 138 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,434 miles [11,963.9 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 8,201 miles [13,198.2 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,248 miles [10,055.2 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Chinatown) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Chinatown, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day.
<4>The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from Chinatown to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Chinatown. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.3338, Longitude: -121.8902       In this case, the coordinates for Chinatown have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 339.709 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 340.538 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 327.839 degrees.