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My father was born in San Francisco on June 15th 1922. His birthday would be next week, and, ah, the house that he lived in was on Stockton Street very close to the Stockton Tunnel. And apparently all many of the lose from his particular village lived in

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this building. I just recently ran into a woman who said, Oh, she was Alou and that that was kind of like the blue apartment building. What village? Um, so it's, uh so it's Southern China. So it's Guandong. Long knock Leo. So it would be like the

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county and the little township. My grandfather came in as a merchant because, as you know, there was the, um the period where Chinese could only come to United States if they were educators or truncheons, came in as a merchant and could not bring his family over.

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He was able to eventually bring his wife over after they had their first child, and then they basically tried to have their Children here. They were American citizens, and he went back to China twice because the first time, um, my father vaguely remember system if I

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was very young. When his father died. But he remembers his father basically coughing up blood and so probably tuberculosis. So they went back to China and the it was easier for them to live. Um, money went further, and, um, we went back twice. And the final

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time his both of his parents died when he was in China and he came back as, ah, teenager. It's interesting the little profits they would give them. And they only had one photograph, a zoo, Children. That's the only photograph they had. So it was in a

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studio in San Francisco before they went back to China. So I'm assuming this is the first time he went back to China. My grandfather's profession was keening our village red tan caning chairs on um, many of our relatives did that, and only one continues to do

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that as profession. So that would be like their generation. Um, my father kind of remember it brought up one time the discrimination that his father, I kind of had to endure with the chairs because he would go and redo these chairs of the homes in Pacific

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Heights and things like that in San Francisco, and he would have to walk with the chairs back to the homes that they couldn't take the streetcar to deliver the chairs when my father came back, as it has Ah, middle aged teenager. He was a houseboy for

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a variety of families in San Francisco, and he came back alone. He he came back with his brother, and they lived in the Chinese Liu apartment building was Stockton Street, and he was able to get some jobs and they worked laundry. And, uh, when he worked

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for someone, he actually lived in their home. And he would talk about, you know, who talk warmly about this one family who said they really liked Tim and they bought him a buycott Christmas. And, uh, well, he would play with their son. But, you know, he

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didn't menial tasks like cleaning and polishing silver and remembers those things. Those things that, you know are his household didn't really have he moved to Los Angeles. His brother had really relocated there. Um and I don't know what drew there, So my uncle and so he

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went down there, and, uh, he, along with his brother and the brother in Los Angeles, I'm all enlisted in the service one Navy, one army. What was the brother's name? Uh, Kenny and his last name is Chung. And as you know, um, the way Oh, that's

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how my That's how my uncle got to United States. Um, he was a paper son. So my grandfather purchased papers to get his son to America on that. And that's the reason why he does not bear the loo. Last name. So when my father and the

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rest of the siblings were born here in the United States, all this brother was can and then his other brother is Tim, who is still alive. My father, Norman, his sister, Molly and Jeannie and Molly's deceased. Ingenious, still life. This my dad's other sister, younger sister

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and her husband on her wedding day. And she lives here in San Francisco. And she's a number of Children my dad's sister and my dad's aunt and then and her husband. My dad Sister actually had to swim out of China swim because the Japanese were coming

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and she was still in China and they hired a huh a person to get her out. So apparently she she was. They took her on a boat and they threw in the water and she to swim to another boat. And that's how she got out of

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China. And this woman, Mrs. Liu was my dad's aunt and she basically he looked at her as his mother here in America. So she was a very, very instrumental and kind of giving him that family experience in China. Em in in the United States when he

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came here, since he didn't happen. Um, yes. His brother Tim lives in San Francisco and his sister Jeanie also lose in San Francisco. Can you tell me a little bit about his service in the army? You know, im He talked a lot about it, but, you

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know, I was little and didn't really pay attention. I know we hated mashed potatoes. Could never eat. Mashed potatoes cannot eat. Um, Lam. Apparently, those are some of the things that they served his rations when he signed up for the service. I think they didn't really,

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except in right away, cause he only weighed 100 £14. He talked about how cold it waas, but I think this is where he had his moat had the greatest experience in a more diverse background because as a child, he basically on Lee del with people who

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were Chinese and worked with, you know, location, family. So when he went into the service was predominately occasion, and so he became Americanized. He learned a lot about what the American man was supposed to do and be and and I think it somewhat shaped his personality.

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Um, I had a cousin who grew up here in Petaluma in He said your father was not the traditional Chinese man who was really macho, and and I can see that I think it made him more assertive. Um, but all along he would remember and always

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continue to be Chinese on the inside and his thinking and how he would rationalize things, eyes, strategy in life and, um, understanding that it was, um, a difficult journey and that this is how you make it in the world. So you got to figure it out

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was interesting, too, because obviously, has first language was Chinese, but he didn't have an accent. His English is really good. Um, he learned all of hiss table manners from watching movies. I kind of remember him telling me that, you know, as I grew up. You know

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the napkin on your lap. You know, this is the knife you use. So it was important to him to be to fit in and to be has American eyes is he could be. And those are the things that he really felt were important because that's part

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of the assimilation. No, I look at some of hill of photos where we had a pencil thin mustache or had a cigarette in his hand, and that was of the time. You know, I think that you want to become Americanized. You do what everyone else does.

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What do you know? I really don't know. Um, up until, uh, your call. I didn't really, ever think about it. He he talked about it, but I just figured he was just a footman and, um, you know, didn't really was supposed to dio and was honorably

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discharged. Did some of the paperwork show that he was a draftsman? Yeah. Um, so, uh, I kind of remember as a kid, apparently in high school, he was excel ing in that of which, If I look back now here, that perfect kind of penmanship of draftsman

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and I could see him being a drafts would. So So I got out of the service. And he and another fellow who was in the service with him and his last name was Liu also no relation. Ah, they had heard a Chinese store was being built

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in Petaluma. And, you know, everyone was looking for work at that time. So he ventured up to Petaluma. I met the owner and got job. So because in those days, the Chinese and they didn't venture for out of San Francisco because they what were much more

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comfortable around their own. At that time, he was handling the produce department and also butcher and things he basically learned on the job on, probably in the fifties. He eventually married the boss's stepdaughter and, um, then, through a lot of hard work and kind of working

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away into the family, became a part owner of it. And so he started working for the peddling. My grocery 47. Yeah, I'm assuming for some 40. I'm not really quite sure when he actually arrived in Petaluma. Um, so with that, there were a number of other

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family members who were part owners of the store or or Maybe at that point they weren't part owners, but they joined forces. So the person who opened the store, my grandfather, was a Raymond Shin Hang. And he came from China via Mary's Phil self. You know,

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native of China stopped in Marysville, worked in some a store and with some other investors, opened a very, very large grocery store in Petaluma. Call Petaluma Grocery. And, um, Hiss, um, brother in law worked here. Henry Chan Hiss, other brother in law. Oh, actually, yeah, his

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other brother in law, Elwood Chan. And then there were a number of years because my grandfather, although his last thing was hanging, he actually isn't a Chinese last name. It's actually the middle name. Got mixed up when they came over, says What's your name? And you

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know, So they used hang. So it was chin hang. So chin he was actually chin. And then some of the relatives were also yeasts. How? Ah, a couple of other members of the family also worked in the store. My aunt is in the in the red.

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Her name is Helen Chan and her husband, Elwood, would be my grandmother's brother, and she was the secretary of the store really kind of represented the the liaison to the community. She was involved with Chicken Little in Petaluma, which was some sort of, ah, women's auxiliary

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group. They had a fashion show, and, uh, they look quite sophisticated for the women of the day. So marrying boss. So Raymond hangs. Stepdaughter. When was that? Um, probably 19. 50 3 52 And then I was born in 56. That was my birth mother. Of which

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then they divorced shortly after I was born, and he retained me and raised me. So I was raised by my stepmother, Chan Lu, and l i u was her maiden name, Spelling or Lou. And, uh, they were married in 2 61 And that's the record. Correct?

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Correct. Right. Um, so what was it? So what was it like growing up in Petaling? Um, so, yeah, it was really, really ah kind of, ah, charm childhood of the part owners or five families. Everyone had Children. And, um, we all attended school. My grandmother was

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a real specific about being Americanized, but also ex tres ing, the cultural, our cultural identity. Um, and most importantly, I think through Chinese New Year's much like how everyone revolves around your memories of Christmas. Are their memories of Chinese New Year them, whether it was about

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the food or about the customs or about the dress, that was the time to really kind of show your spirit. And, um, yes, they had, Yeah, they had apartments upstairs on a cook in the kitchen, and it was really kind of its own microcosm of Chinese

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community within under one roof. I think when my father first started, I think he lived there. And, um, I remember my grandmother mentioning when the cook had broken his arm, she wouldn't cooked for everyone. They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner. And I only remember one time

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and I was very young, Um, because my dad carried me. Ah went up there and it was a really smoky. Now they're all smoking at that time, and the cook made me a poached egg and toast and my dad ripping up the toast. And and then

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that's what I ate. I vividly remember that. So you didn't live in? No. Where did you, Um, when my father was first married, they lived in a small apartment off of West Street. Oh, man. In fact, all the relatives who worked at the store basically lived

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very close or even a wanting distance. Um, I lived on Oak Street by on Oak and Kyoko Small little cottage. It was just my father and I, of which my grandmother took care of me. Um, because obviously, my father was a single father for a while

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before he married my mom. And, uh, I see did was there in a discrimination towards Yes, um, it personally didn't happen to us. Um, but obviously, as as Children, you know, I think all Children are somewhat Ah, a little bit more sensitive or insensitive to other

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Children. But on my parents and my relatives, my Uncle Elwood, Chan Elwood and Helen Chan. They lived on Keller Street between Oak and Galland. And apparently, when they went to go purchase the house, the real estate agent I actually went around the neighborhood and asked the

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neighbors if they mind might it if a Chinese family purchased the home in luck. And so they lived in that house on my grandparent's. I lived across from the creamery on on Western, and it was oak on the corner of Western oak terrorists. They lived only

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in one house the entire time they lived in Petaluma. And they're buried here peddling. You know, my father's buried in San Francisco? Yep. No. Well, we're remembered the my grand parents who were buried here in Petaluma. We're, um my birth mother's parents. So? So it wasn't

00:18:22.150 - 00:18:45.420

like family plot thing. Yeah. Okay. Um well, they're still living, lived in Petaluma until 1998. And she had two houses, the house cross street from us when my wife and I got married, and she also had a place in the city. Now that she's 80 this

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year, she likes she prefers living in the city because you could get around with public strand transportation. But she comes upto Petaluma and plays margin with her friends up here. And, um, which I love to tell people she's 18. She bought a new Lexus, and she

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says she drives up once a week just to blow off the carbon. Um, I think that one of the things that we can talk about Chinese New Year's to and about education I think that families who settle in an area that, um, people are not familiar

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with. It was really important for family to educate them about what we dio, whether it's what we stuff a turkey with Teoh, how we celebrate a holiday or what we do for a funeral. Those things were important to our family. Obviously, we would use those customs

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to kind of ah Dr our day to day lives. Um, Chinese New Year's has been very close to me, and I have in the last eight years raised $110,000 for a for 12 nonprofits in Sonoma County in the town of Sonoma. At Snowmen Harvest Wine Auction,

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I host a Lunar New Year dinner, 10 course Lunar New Year dinner, and it's paired with wines from hands on Winery. But how this all came about was educating, um, my guests on the customs and the foods of the Lunar New Year, because those are the

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things that I remember my grandmother always talking about, and the stories would all come about when would eat each of the dishes much like how ah ah, Passover Seder is, and that helps carry on your tradition food and stories in the store. Did they try to

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educate their their customers. Yeah, yeah, they would. They would. Obviously much different than today. Where you you walk in a Safeway end, um, during lunar Junior and you'll see tangerines with leaves on and yellow chrysanthemums and things like that kid. A ring to the Chinese customer

00:21:24.990 - 00:21:42.570

when we had our store. Obviously, the Chinese community was very small beyond ourselves. We would basically bring in one case of tangerines with leaves on it, just for ourselves. And anyone else who was living in town would gravitate towards store toe. Pick up what you would

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need. Otherwise, you have to go to San Francisco and pick up things. Um, I can remember. In the sixties, Chinese food was somewhat elusive, was really all about chop suey and and American Chinese food. But every now and then we would find someone who picked up

00:22:02.190 - 00:22:17.220

a cookbook and wanted to cook something Chinese, and they would come to our store looking for the items should talking mushers who going by a Costco. Now, in those days, people, we just had it at home. So if a customer came in was looking for this

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or that, my father would just drive home and takes him over our stash and bring it into the store and give it to the customer. So we aided in the culinary education of our customers. Um, you mentioned eating and so forth and meals. And that means

00:22:36.940 - 00:23:00.960

you remember that? Yes. And I forgot about that. Um, someone, they opened the store, Uh, on a pillow boulevard north 6 61 I think that's the address. Six. So one. Yes. Um, they also had a restaurant in downtown Petaluma, which was called the egg basket. Happily

00:23:00.960 - 00:23:20.760

named, um, and it was located two doors down from Graziano's, which is now re CBC. So that was the restaurant, um, Chinese American food as well. Askew. No chops and mash potatoes and all that. So I had a cook, and after the in those days that

00:23:20.760 - 00:23:39.020

closed the grocery store at seven o'clock and then they would go from the grocery store over to the restaurant and work until they close That, um I understand that the only thing that remained that said the egg basket was a neon clock, which apparently is at

00:23:39.030 - 00:24:05.250

the Canton restaurant on Lakeville. Because that family purchased the restaurant around 19 between 1985 90. And then when they moved locations, they took that clock with them. When did your you know? I know they owned it in the fifties, but by the time in the sixties,

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I know it was already sold. I was born 1956. So not really sure when that closed. I don't remember ever going there. And then what? Go grocery business? Um, my grandfather, uh, became quite a successful businessman. He owned 1/2 of the shares of the store and

00:24:32.400 - 00:24:54.160

all the other part. There's owned 1/5. So, um, in the later years in the seventies, he went to Hong Kong quite a bit. Um and he did a lot of investing their and essentially made his his pot of gold in Hong Kong. And he died in

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Hong Kong and my grandmother died about It's several years later after, Yeah, I mean, so many. Five in the 19. Yeah, she lived more than 10 years after he passed. Um, interesting parts of that family was my grandfather's sister. Married an Olympian, uh, and he's swam

00:25:25.070 - 00:25:46.500

for China, and he was part of the USOC of Olympic Committee. So they were this very well known family, and they would periodically come and visit. And I remember when they would always have the little pins from the Olympics. And I looked around now that I

00:25:46.500 - 00:26:04.980

worked at NBC Olympics Air every other other year, I'm dealing with the Olympics and a promotion of promotional sense found the little pen, so that family was very successful. Other my grandmother's family was she was one of 13 and her two of her brothers worked at

00:26:04.980 - 00:26:29.670

the store. Elwood Chan and Henry Chan Henry left in the sixties. But l would remain in Petaluma until close to, uh, time you passed away. Um, they that that particular family was very, very well known in the Chinese community. Her oldest brother, her oldest brother, was

00:26:30.200 - 00:26:57.030

notorious gambler and had a number of casinos and gambling houses, all through, uh, Oakland area. By the mid seventies, my grandfather wanted to retire, and it prompted Thea other horn owners to consider selling or not. Um, since I was one of the youngest, my father didn't

00:26:57.030 - 00:27:18.500

want toe close yet because I had a son in school. And then there was another part owner whose Children wrote a couple years younger than I am. So, um, around by 1979 the store was officially closed and they sold the building. They own the building and

00:27:18.500 - 00:27:40.160

was pretty big lot. It went from peddling boulevard to Kentucky Street and became a thoroughfare almost because of the stoplight. I kind of remember, actually, when they put the stoplight in, that wasn't a stoplight. Always have lake film Home Boulevard. So what did your father him?

00:27:40.160 - 00:28:02.530

He was He was horsing a retirement and basically worked for someone else. Part time just to kind of keep himself busy. So 79 to, you know, I got out of school in 81. Um, and, uh, my mom was working in Santa Rosa. She worked for the

00:28:02.850 - 00:28:25.340

franchise tax board. She was too young to retire, and then they bought, bought a house in San Francisco, another house in San Francisco, which I lived in and worked. And then my father passed away in 1985. Um, my mom retired in 87 from the state. You

00:28:25.340 - 00:28:49.780

know, a zai look at, um, the families that are immigrants here in Petaluma now and how they work so hard to kind of maintain a quality of life that might be better than their homeland. It's It was much different in the early days. There are more

00:28:50.710 - 00:29:14.460

immigrants in Petaluma. Um, you know, people had accents, you know, it's it's much different now. And I think people were more engaged and opened. Um, I like to refer to, ah, family friend of ours who's jumping these and they were The family was in turning camp,

00:29:14.620 - 00:29:34.620

and when they left, the family that lived next door said, we watch her house. And when they came back from Interment camp, though, jar of change that was on the dresser still had all the money that was in the jar when he left. And I think

00:29:34.620 - 00:29:56.450

that my father, when he died, he was. It was quick. He wanted to come back to peddling because he always felt that people in peddling there were nicer and more thoughtful and hiss. And if he felt that this was home, where many times people live here

00:29:56.450 - 00:30:16.110

and then they leave and never to return. And I probably think that was the impetus for me to move back to Petaluma When I got married and raised my family here. It was such a warm experience that I wanted my family to experience in that, but

00:30:16.110 - 00:30:34.250

much different because both my wife, when I work out of town and you don't get an opportunity to see people on a day to day basis. But being a native of Petaluma, constantly running into people who may have known my father or my grandfather her shopped

00:30:34.250 - 00:30:48.720

at our store. I know that a number of years ago, when we had the exhibit here at the museum, people came up to me people I did not know, talking about their experience, you know, when we moved to peddle in when we came to your store

00:30:48.720 - 00:31:08.240

and we needed money and didn't have forgot my checkbook. And I need money to put a down payment on Ah house and your uncle lent us $200. And, you know, we brought the money back on Monday when the bank opened, but those air stories that really

00:31:08.250 - 00:31:19.720

those are the stories that I cherished because it talks about my family being part of the community. The thread that kind of weaves ah community together