September 13, 2022
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625 Grant Avenue
625 Grant Avenue was the Kong Nam Low circa 1910 (right)
625 Grant Avenue (on the right) was once a chop suey joint shortly after the 1906 earthquake. Then it was a Japanese store for awhile till 1942 when Japanese Americans were forcefully interned in concentration camps. My father took over the store to establish Fueng Wah Company which ran till 1970.
I grew up in that store. We slept in a room right above the store. A mezzanine you can say.
1953 600th block of Grant Avenue
Gddamn imperial arts sign always blocked our sign.
I probably wasn't one year old yet in 1953. I spent probably my first two years of my life being cared for by a white family out in the sunset district.
My mother wasn't able to take care of me while minding the store and my brother who was a year and 3 months older than me.
The family that raised me were the Patterson's on Yorba Street out in the sunset district. I wonder how common was it for Chinese families to do that back then? My sister whom had five kids never did that. My mother throughout played favoritism to my brother over me throughout my life. I wonder if that was a result of me being an extra burden. Don't get me wrong... I loved my mother to her dying day.
I have not walked by the 625 Grant much since the pandemic but I went on Google and punched up 625 Grant to get a picture of it to find that 625 Grant as an address has been totally wiped off the face of the earth. I don't know what is at the location is now. But here's a current Google picture of 625 Grant and the block I grew up on.
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