Chinese American Restaurants in Los Angeles Menu Collection
Scope and Contents
Contains various menus, takeaway pamphlets, and flyers from Chinese and Chinese American restaurants, bakeries, and cafes in Los Angeles. Also contains a small apron from Far East Cafe, matchbooks, and a poster board with a business directory.
Dates
- 1937-2010
- Undated
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open to researchers and to the public for access. Please contact the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California for more information.
Biographical / Historical
Los Angeles Chinatown and Southern California has many historic restaurants and businesses, some of which have been around since the early 20th Century. Restaurants include Grandview Gardens, Hop Woo, Phoenix Bakery, and Empress Pavilion.
Grandview Gardens first opened in Old Chinatown in 1925, moved to New Chinatown, before closing in 1991.
Hop Woo, famous for their roast duck, has been operating in Chinatown since 1993.They moved across the street from their original building after expanding the business. There are two Hop Woo locations, one in the original LA Chinatown location and one in Santa Monica. There used to be another location in Alhambra, but that location is currently closed.
Phoenix Bakery was established in 1938 by the Chan family,and they moved to their current location on N. Broadway in 1977 because their business was doing well.
Empress Pavilion was a dim sum restaurant located at 988 North Hill St that opened in 1989 and closed in 2013.
Extent
0.44 Linear Feet (1 Hollinger Box, 1 Grey Clamshell Archival Box, 1 Short Lid Flat Hollinger Box, 1 Metal Cashbox, 2 Bankers Boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Chinese
Arrangement
This collection is separated into three series as follows: Series 1: Advertising and Souvenirs; Series 2: Restaurant Menus; Series 3: Realia, sub-series: Far East Cafe Artifacts
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Menus were collected over the years by board members and interns at the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California.
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Riona Tsai, an archivist intern. The collection was originally mainly the menus, matchbooks, and the Far East Cafe apron, but other realia, including the dishes and directory were added to the collection. These changes were also reflected in the collection's arrangement as the collection were arranged by series once there was more variety of artifacts in the collection. There was no original order. The items that were deaccessioned were excessive duplicates of menus.
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California Repository
411 and 415 Bernard Street
Los Angeles California 90012 United States
(323) 222-0856
info@chssc.org