This small painting is based on a larger one, San Francisco Chinatown Window, 1976, in the collection of the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Because the collectors, Dorothy and Herbert Vogel especially liked the Corcoran painting, Clark made a copy and gave it to them as a New Year's gift in 1980.
In 1974, the artist spoke about the "human element" in his window paintings: "Looking at windows, for example, the appearance of the shades, the position of the curtains and the blinds, suggests something about the life inside."