The first theater within what later became the North Beach neighborhood, built on Dupont (Grant Ave.) near Green, was the Hook Tonk Tong Opera Theater, a pre-fabricated structure from China that opened on 23 December 1851; it was still in use in 1867. In 1857 it was described as “a curious pagoda-looking edifice painted outside and in an extraordinary manner.” (Choy 2008: 6)