October 7, 2019

  • FB Jail and Suey Sing Salinas Memories

    Suey Sing Building Salinas

    I don’t know why for whatever reason I’m in FB jail.

    I have no ideal what I did to deserve this. I’m have become dependent on the messaging and now I cannot keep in touch with certain people.

    Sad to see the Suey Sing Building in Salinas have gone to shit.

    We used to lion dance around Chinese New Year every year. The neighborhood slowly deteriorated as the years went on. This was throughout the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. When we arrived in the morning there were many Mexican winos laid out on the street. The police would clear out the streets and arrest the winos. It was John Steinbeck country. Farm laborers. Many retired Filipinos lived at the Green Jade Hotel. The owner was a Dr. in San Francisco name Collin Dong. There were a small handful of Chinese. I felt we were keeping a tradition alive. Most fellow YC Wong students hated going there. But I felt we were keeping a tradition alive. We were the only lion dance act in the whole Chinatown for the year. I thought of the story The Day the Dancers Came by Carlos Bulasan.

    Soledad Street is now taken over by homeless encampments. I doubt if the Chinatown will ever revive.

    Salinas Chinatown