Blog

Short blog posts, journal entries, and random thoughts. Topics include a mix of personal and the world at large.

Cheap Chinese food

A friend told me his favorite Taiwanese restaurant is closing down. The owner couple are retiring, and there’s no one to continue on the legacy.

This is similar to the story of Sam Wo, the restaurant in San Francisco Chinatown operating for over a century. It is also closing down by the end of the year if no buyers can be found. The owner is retiring, and his children wants to so something other than working long days serving up food.

It makes sense, right? Parents start a humble restaurant to provide their children with a better life. Because their children got a better life (they are Asian, failure is not an option) as white-collar workers, there’s no one to take up the wok and spatula once the parents are of retirement age. Another friend of mine, his parents also closed down their long-running restaurant upon retirement. The friend and his siblings all have successful careers, far from the physical toil of the kitchen.

I think Chinatown is going to look very different in the coming years. Lots of restaurants there are run by the older generation. I suspect many will close down soon enough, because my generation are either unwilling or do not need to take up the proverbial mantle. The margins are too low, and the hours are too long.

I hope I am wrong about that projection, and there is an unknown cohort out there that’s going to step up and take over running these legacy Chinese restaurants. Because we cannot let Panda Express win the cheap Chinese food game!

Another one

Word on the street is that Little Paris - a staple restaurant in San Francisco’s Chinatown for decades - is planning to close up shop. Among the cited reasons are low customer traffic that never recovered to pre-pandemic levels, and the landlord raising the rent. Jokes on the landlord: he (I’m going to presume it’s a he) went from hopeful increase in rental income, to now having zero income. Congratulations, you played yourself.

According to the linked article, the landlord refused to negotiate. In this economy? Honestly, are folks chomping at the bits to open a restaurant in Chinatown? The problems that are causing Little Paris to close down are not going away for potential new tenants. The landlord would rather risk vacancy than coming to a suitable agreement with the proprietor of Little Paris. I know inflation is wild these days, but I highly doubt the landlord was losing money at the old rental rate. As far as I know, property taxes in California have not gone up.

It is greed. Pure greed. Anyone raising prices for the sake of it alone is shortsighted at best, evil at worst.

I can’t say I have too much memories tied to Little Paris. My family was too poor to afford me an allowance back then. There was no getting a sandwich and sugary drink with friends, no matter how cheap the banh mi is there. For my school mates with spending money, Little Paris was seemingly a popular destination. For them I guess it would be sad to see a piece of their childhood going away.

Chinatown futures

This past weekend there was a car show in San Francisco’s chinatown. Organizers closed down Grant Avenue, from California all the way to Broadway. A reputed 100 cars of varying price and exoticism showed up for the event. It was a amazing to see. One, because you generally don’t expect to see a car show in Chinatown. Two, it’s great that people are holding events in Chinatown to stimulate the local economy. We absolutely cannot let this historic enclave die.

It’s tough, though. The pandemic have knocked more than a few places out of business. The remaining restaurants and shops are mostly run by people of my parents’ generation. You really don’t see my generation accepting the baton and continuing on the legacy (so to speak). And it makes sense: Asian parents toil endlessly to give their children a better life. They aspire for us to be people of power and influence in corporate America (plus the usual doctor and lawyer). Running a gift shop in Chinatown is most certainly not that.

I have a friend whose parents recently retired from operating a restaurant out in the east bay. My friend and his siblings have no desire to takeover the family business. Because they’ve all got better jobs and a far easier life than sweating in a kitchen six days a week. The family ended up selling the restaurant.

So there is a some latent concern about what Chinatown will look like in a few years’ time. Who will take up the mantel once the current owners and operators retire - if it won’t be their offsprings? I think it will have to be the same type of people who my friend’s parents sold their restaurant to. Working-class Chinese immigrants who’ve been in this country for a bit - so they have some saved capital - and are looking for the next step up in investment.

Asian excellence

The annual Chinese New Year Parade in San Francisco was this past Saturday. I’ve lived in San Francisco since 1996, and not once have I attended the festivities - as a spectator. One year during high school I was part of the color guard team leading the parade. It was a cold and rainy night, and we marched behind SFPD mounted on horses. Said horses would poop on the street right in front of us from time to time. We literally had to march around those natural landmines while maintaining strict composure. Fun times.

This year, a friend wanted to attend the parade to have content for his Youtube channel. He bought bleacher seats situated right at the end of the parade route - on Kearny and Jackson - next to the VIP judging section. I didn’t realize one had to pay for seating to attend the parade. Of course, there’s plenty of free standing room along the entire route. Enterprising people would get there early and plop down a portable stool.

We were quite enterprising ourself: we got to Chinatown way earlier than necessary. In doing so we didn’t have to detour (and get stuck in traffic) because they haven’t closed down the streets yet for the parade. We parked at the historic Chinatown Hilton hotel for $16 flat fee, then went to explore the street fair on Grant Ave that was also happening the same weekend. It was a sunny afternoon, atypically great weather because it usually rains during the Chinese New Year Parade. Thanks. global warming?

The parade itself was spectacular and surprisingly long. It’s one thing to watch on television, but to be able to see absolutely everything in person is a completely difference experience. Being next to the judges’ pavilion meant every participant stopped and performed in front of us, which was nice. $50 to sit where we sat might be a bit expensive, but I think it’s totally worth it to do it once. The atmosphere is wonderful; super heart-warming to see Asian culture on display.

Afterwards we walked around Chinatown some more. Revelers were lighting up (probably illegal) fireworks and firecrackers on just about every intersection of Grant Ave. A fitting aural tribute to the Lunar New Year celebration.

I think it’s time they change the new to Lunar New Year Parade.

Chinatowns around the country

You might be wondering why did my friend and I travel through four cities in the span of 12 days. It’s not typically how I would like to travel; that’s too many destinations in such a short timeframe. My preference would be to spend at least a whole week at a particular city. Travel days - the days when you have to get on a plane or train to go somewhere else - really drains you. Another friend of mine just came back to San Francisco from Hawaii. She was utterly drained, even though all she did the entire day was sit on an airplane for five hours.

The hectic schedule was dictated by the want of my friend. The whole reason for our trip was to visit the various Chinatowns in Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle, and Portland. My friend has a travel Youtube channel that’s currently focused on Chinatowns. His goal is to visit as many as possible, culminated in actually doing a long tour of China. Please go give it a watch and subscribe!

It’s super interesting to actually visit the Chinese communities that have sprouted up throughout the country. I think it’s fantastic our people back then did well to build their own communities and support each other. It’s invaluable to the newly immigrated who lack any knowledge of the language and customs of their new country. Take a walk through San Francisco’s Chinatown and you can see all sorts of services specifically catered to Chinese people who don’t yet have the ability to navigate from themselves. My family have certainly used translation services way back when.

It’s important then for our generation - and younger - to not forget about these enclaves. It’s great that we’ve largely assimilated to American culture and achieved monetary success. Now we must use those resources to keep Chinatown communities going for the next wave of immigrants. It’s also about protecting the traditions and culture. The concern is that once the older generation of Chinese proprietors currently operating in Chinatown retires, there wouldn’t be any successors to continue on. I sincerely hope the people in charge of Chinatowns have a plan for that.

To Fresno

This past weekend, I finally left the San Francisco Bay Area for the first time since the pandemic started. One of my good friends is a Chinatown enthusiasts, and he’s on a quest to visit all the major Chinatowns in this country and beyond. Now that I’m fully vaccinated - and so is my friend - I’ve decided to join him on one of these adventures. This time, it happened to be the central California city of Fresno.

The result: I’m pretty sure I got enough vitamin D to last the rest of May. It was a dry and sunny 90 degrees in the Central Valley, a complete weather opposite to the foggy mid 50s that I am used to in San Francisco. After more than a year in pseudo hibernation, perhaps it was a bit overboard to go from zero to that much sun exposure at once. I was certainly feeling the effects by the time we finished lunch (surprisingly good Chinese food in nearby town of Hanford): a mild headache and decently dehydrated.

Turns out, it was an exceptionally dry weekend in the San Joaquin valley, with a few wildfires igniting in the Merced area. We damn picked a good time to go and torture ourselves! It didn’t help that I was breaking in a new pair of Allbirds wool shoes, in what turns out of be a one size too small. My feet sure was feeling it being stuff in those things for 10 hours in the heat. I’m in the process of returning them for a pair one size larger.

Overall it’s nice to finally get out of the house for an extended period. I really miss going on road trips, and the three hour trek to Fresno is a good appetizer for things to come. My BMW M2 has yet to go on a long trip of any sorts, so that is something at the top of the list as California nears its fully reopen date. I’m sure my friend has other Chinatowns to explore in Southern California, and up the coast into Oregon and Washington.

I’m still recovering from being sun-drunk two days later, but this is good for my body. I’ve gotten too used to nature’s air conditioning, living in the west side of San Francisco. A little bit of heat now and then is beneficial.