Posted on: Wednesday, June 30, 2004

OUR HONOLULU
Sharing the soul of Chinatown

By Bob Krauss
Advertiser Columnist

Stanford Yuen and I sat over dim sum in the Good Luck Restaurant at Maunakea and Beretania. We were discussing Chinatown. I said: "It fulfills at least two functions. One, it's a place where immigrants from Asia feel comfortable. Two, it's a good place to shop."

"Yes, but the question always comes up: How many tourists do we want in Chinatown?"

We agreed that Chinatown in Honolulu, in contrast to the Chinatown in San Francisco, is more of a local than a tourist place. The fish, meat and produce stalls are busier than the art galleries. Would more smart shops make Chinatown more appealing?

Probably. But the people who define Chinatown are immigrants. Without Chinese traditions, Chinatown would be like Hawai'i without hula. So Yuen showed me the soul of Chinatown. An engineer by training, he grew up there and now heads the action committee that is deciding its future.

"My wife and I moved back to Chinatown 10 years ago after the kids grew up," he said. "I was born here. This place has so many memories. Mom and Dad met at the O'ahu Market. Her parents had a stall there. She was 15. My dad came around to check her out and to show off his new pocket watch. Mom said he twirled the chain."

Yuen, executive assistant to the commander of the Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, said his father had a noodle factory in back of Wo Fat restaurant. As a boy, he played on rooftops. When he was in the third grade, he ran errands for the strip tease dancers who worked in the basement of what was called the Crystal Hotel.

He wrote his name in wet cement in the alley behind Wo Fat. It's still there.

He's proud of the new street signs in Chinatown because he helped figure out the Chinese characters for them. The signs are in Cantonese, he said, and follow local pronunciation, like "Maunakea" with "Gai" added on. "Gai" means "street." However Chinese can't pronounced the "r" in River Street so it came out "Ho Bein Gai," "Ho Bein" is "river" in Cantonese.

Yuen gave me invaluable tips on where to shop and eat. For roast pork and char siu, go to the Eastern Food Center on King Street just above Maunakea. For quality food at low prices, you can't beat the Glowing Dragon Restaurant on Maunakea. For dim sum, try the Good Luck Restaurant in the Chinese Cultural Plaza or the Golden Palace Seafood Restaurant on King Street.

Yuen buys his tea — Foojoy Lung Ching Green Tea — at the Hing Mau Market under Wo Fat or at Bo Wah across the street. Hing Mau has excellent roasted garlic peanuts and choice French Vietnamese coffee. It's also where you can buy paper money to burn at Ching Ming. One more thing: There's a restroom at the Chinatown police substation in case of emergency.

Reach Bob Krauss at 525-8073.