SAN FRANCISCO — Once a safe haven for Chinese immigrants facing discrimination, the Chinatown YMCA in San Francisco is now a vibrant hub welcoming youth of all backgrounds with cultural activities like cooking classes.

Each day, Titikor Paisansiri walks through a grand, far-East-style entrance at the YMCA in San Francisco’s Chinatown where he teaches culinary classes to teens. Once a mentee now a mentor, he gives back by serving kids in the community.

“Teens can kind of come here and not worry so much about, like, money or what high school you go to, they all come from anywhere in the city to this one spot which is Chinatown YMCA and they have a great time,” he said.

That is precisley the kind of safe haven Reverend Chan hoped for back in 1911 when the Chinatown YMCA was established.

From services for new immigrants to access to quality recreational experiences, the thriving cultural hub has been serving members of all backgrounds for over a century.

Paisansiri says teaching teens about specialty Asian dishes as an homage to the neighborhood means much to him because of some cultural misunderstandings he dealt with as a teen of Thai ancestry. He recalls some of those dishes his mom packed for him at school.

“Its like fried beef jerky, almost like a very Thai style. And they become like little brown pieces of beef jerky because they’re dried, essentially, and I just remember I dropped it one time on the floor and a kid was saying it looked like turd, so I remember that day I was super sad or disappointed. But when you’re a kid, you look at things in such a one-dimensional view … Thinking about it now, I’m more sad that I dropped the food rather than him saying anything because the food tastes great, my mom makes amazing food so I’ll never be ashamed of that anymore,” he explained.

Now, his confidence as a teacher has grown. He loves empowering his students at the center. From understanding kitchen etiquette to learning new recipes, students like Margaret Chan say all the new knowledge is inspiring.

“The thing I enjoy the most about this program is just like the trial and error. But then, in the end, how we manage to just, like, top all those failures and come out with something successful makes me really happy,” Chan said.

And learning how to properly sear duck is not the only perk of the culinary program, according to Paisansiri. The experience allows teens to expand their community and learn more about their own interests.

“I want them to know that the Y and me and all other adults will do our best to push them to pursue whatever they love, whether it be cooking or, like, things they can take from cooking like being organized, clean and being ready, I want them to take all those things and push into what they love doing and finding what they love to do.”