11.28.07

Local Heroes Keeping Chinatown Real

Posted in Chinatown, Activism and Empowerment, Culture at 6:24 am by george_lou

 

The storefront at 21 Mott Street had been unoccupied for over a year as the landlord, Jan Lee, waited for the right tenant to come along.  A bank approached Lee about the vacant space, but he turned them down.  Thank god.  Manhattan’s Chinatown is already bloated with banks.

Finally, the right candidates came along and opened U-Choose Express restaurant.  During the renovation process, an old sign was discovered.  Turned out to be that of a former tenant, Lonnie’s Coffee Shoppe, a family-run burger joint from 1956 to the late 1970’s.

Lee was undecided on what to do with the 50-year-old sign.  Then, owners of U-Choose Express, Peter Wong and Ivan Chang, decided to display it inside the new restaurant as an homage to Chinatown history.  “It’s good to keep it in the original space,” said Chan.  “This is a sense of history.”

I’m a proud patron of U-Choose Express.  The food there is a must-have.  And I met Jan Lee two years ago while videotaping a tv show at his art store, Sinotique. 

This article is to credit those who display selfless appreciation of their culture and history.  Keeping it real.

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