Abstract Joseph Wah Chu is a Chinese immigrant from Toishan County, Guangdong Province, China born in 1933. He grew up in Guangzhou and Hong Kong before eventually moving to the United States in 1965. In the United States, he worked in different cities such as San Francisco, Chicago, and New York City as a waiter and office worker. Joseph would eventually settle in New York City’s Chinatown, citing better job opportunities and existing friendships in NYC. In 1978, Joseph started working at the New...

Abstract Kam Mak is an artist who emigrated with his parents from Hong Kong to the United States at age ten in 1971. In this interview, he vividly describes growing up in an old tenement building on Eldridge Street and becoming involved with street kids during the seventies. He mentions the strong presence of street gangs during his childhood as well as the turning point during his youth that redirected him towards art as an escape from getting into trouble. Mak also discusses conceptual ideas that...

Abstract Karen Hsin, born in 1982, was a college student living in Chinatown with her mother, a unionized garment worker at the time of the September 11th attacks. In the interview, Karen begins by describing her family and childhood experiences living with just her mother in Chinatown after her parents divorced in 1984. She reminisces about her school life and trips back to Hong Kong as an American Born Chinese and shares her thoughts about her cultural identity and her relationship with her mother....

Abstract Lana Cheung emigrated with her husband from Hong Kong to the United States in 1987. Shortly after her arrival to New York, she remembers being initially surprised by the differences between Chinatown and Hong Kong, particularly in the contrasting architecture and combined residential and commercial areas. Cheung considers Chinatown a safe harbor for Chinese immigrants, where they had a sense of security and could speak their native language. Cheung was employed by a Jewish import...

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Leonard Liao was born and raised in Chinatown and Flushing, New York during the 1970s and 1980s. Given that his paternal grandfather and father once lived in Cuba, Liao grew up eating both Chinese and Latino Cuisine. Given that he was influenced by both Chinese and Latino culture, Liao understands what it is to retain loyal customers from the Latino community. The legacy Liao hopes to leave is to inform everyone to do whatever one is passionate to do.

Abstract In her interview, Mannar Wong describes the changes she has seen in Chinatown spanning the past forty years. Emigrating with her mother and father from Hong Kong in the early seventies, Wong was raised in Chinatown and moved to Brooklyn with her parents in the eighties when she was a pre-adolescent. In the nineties, she later returned to the neighborhood she now refers to as “Chinatown Little Italy.” Wongs parents initially disapproved of her decision to move back into Chinatown, a place...

Abstract Marcella Dear, a longtime friend of MOCA and a generous donor of over 900 objects, joins us to discuss her exciting life and her memories of Chinatown. Marcella goes into depth about many of the objects she donated, and discusses not only their significance as sentimental objects but also how these objects were used in their original setting, at the Rice Bowl restaurant on Mott Street. Marcella’s father founded the Rice Bowl, and she discusses her childhood growing up in and around the...

Abstract Margaret Chin, Deputy Executive Director of Asian Americans for Equality (AAFE), shares her experiences immigrating to the United States with her family in 1963 and growing up on Mulberry Street, and later Mott Street, both of which were inhabited by predominantly Chinese and Italian populations. Her memories of Chinatown reveal that it was a much smaller community then, which eventually expanded and became more vocal about Asian American rights. As a young adult, Chin became increasingly...

Abstract Husband and wife Daniel Carter and Marilyn Sontag sit down with Tomie Arai to discuss their lives living at 218 Centre Street, and all of the changes in the neighborhood that they have watched since they moved in in 1970. They begin by discussing their lives prior to their move to New York City, and how they found their apartment, which was actually designated as an artist’s residence, through word of mouth. Marilyn is a visual artist, and Daniel is a composer and musician. The couple...