  E_hemingway Member Username: E_hemingway Post Number: 1501 Registered: 11-2004 |
Drove by the old Chung's restaurant on Cass this afternoon and there were a couple of workers in a bucket lift in front of it. It looked like they were taking down the sign on top of the building. That building has been hit by vandals recently. It looks like someone crashed a car into the front door, opening up a small hole in the building earlier this winter. One of the side doors has been kicked in recently, too. Graffiti has also been tagged on it in recent weeks. Anyone know what's going on with it? | ||
E_hemingway Member Username: E_hemingway Post Number: 1502 Registered: 11-2004 |
bump | ||
Eric_c Member Username: Eric_c Post Number: 697 Registered: 11-2003 |
Returning to nature, apparently... | ||
Cman710 Member Username: Cman710 Post Number: 587 Registered: 07-2006 |
Chungs back in August 2006, looking (comparatively) decent.  | ||
Eastsideal Member Username: Eastsideal Post Number: 229 Registered: 10-2007 |
Too bad. I remember eating there often, and even more often at the Golden Dragon on the other side of Cass. The last ghosts of Detroit's Chinatown are disappearing. | ||
Detx Member Username: Detx Post Number: 248 Registered: 07-2007 |
Detroit had a Chinatown? | ||
Eric_c Member Username: Eric_c Post Number: 698 Registered: 11-2003 |
Ahhh...indeed it did, young grasshopper... | ||
Kathleen Member Username: Kathleen Post Number: 2148 Registered: 10-2003 |
Dave and I celebrated our upcoming nuptials with lunch at Chung's after we picked up our marriage license. It was quite a place back then...28 years ago!! | ||
Dannyv Member Username: Dannyv Post Number: 526 Registered: 08-2007 |
My ex and I would celebrate special events at Chung's back in the early-mid 70s. We had our wedding dinner at Stanley's on E. Milwaukee. I was shocked to see it closed when I went on a tour of the Masonic Temple last year. The marriage didn't work out either but the divorce has been a great success. | ||
Eastsideal Member Username: Eastsideal Post Number: 230 Registered: 10-2007 |
quote: In fact, it has had two. The first was centered on Third south of Michigan Ave. from the early years of the 20th century. It was cleared out around 1960 as part of the "urban renewal" program accompanying the building of the Lodge Fwy., and there is no evidence at all of what was once there. Most of the Chinese businesses then moved to the area around Cass and Peterboro, which was the corner that Chung's was on. Pretty much all the evidence that remains of that Chinatown now is a couple of Chinese-themed abandoned buildings, like the Chung's building, and the little Chinese sign kiosk that sits at the Cass-Peterboro corner. I think that even the drop-in center that sat behind Chung's for Chinese senior citizens in the area is now closed. | ||
Bobl Member Username: Bobl Post Number: 427 Registered: 07-2008 |
Well, I finally figured it out, Kathleen. Is Dave a drummer? I know him casually through music events, and have always thought I should know you, based on your informative and interesting contributions here. Congratulations to both of you on 28 years. | ||
Hubbardfarmer Member Username: Hubbardfarmer Post Number: 36 Registered: 10-2008 |
My grandfather, a Baptist preacher who lived and had a ministry in the Cass Corridor, loved Chung's! Chinese food was his favorite, and Chung's was by far his favorite restaurant. He's been gone for 10 years or so, and every time I drive by the building I think of him. Thanks, Eastsideal, for the history on Detroit's Chinese communities. | ||
Kathleen Member Username: Kathleen Post Number: 2149 Registered: 10-2003 |
Yes, Bobl. Dave is indeed a drummer. We met when he was doing the bar scene way back when. Do you play? Have we met? I get out to see Dave play at some of his gigs and jam sessions a few times a month. Thanks for the good wishes. BTW...how did my Chung's post make the connection? (Message edited by Kathleen on January 27, 2009) | ||
Bobl Member Username: Bobl Post Number: 428 Registered: 07-2008 |
Might have met at the Music Menu? We don't get out much, and a promised job opportunity evaporated this week. Funds are low. Will introduce ourselves next time after gainful employment is found and we can justify nights out! Chungs had a nice vibe, but for more casual and very late nights I always liked the HO HO INN on Second. It's been long gone, though. Dating myself again, but one can remove oneself from the Cass Corridor, but never the Corridor from one's self.... | ||
E_hemingway Member Username: E_hemingway Post Number: 1503 Registered: 11-2004 |
Update: They took the sign down and the lights that were suspended over the roof under the sign are now hanging there ready to fall down. The door on the left side of the picture is kicked open again and the glass block above it is now gone. | ||
Cman710 Member Username: Cman710 Post Number: 588 Registered: 07-2006 |
Anyone have any idea why it's being knocked down? Is this part of the city's demolition of sometimes seemingly random buildings, or is something actually going to be put there? Kathleen, yet another building I owe it to you to have seen! | ||
E_hemingway Member Username: E_hemingway Post Number: 1504 Registered: 11-2004 |
I want to say there might be some sort of renovation going on because someone went to the trouble to get a bucket truck to take the sign down. But then I remember I live in Detroit where renovation is a dirty word and people really believe that "demolition is progress" malarkey. Looks like it won't be long until this building is another weed-choked, blighted parking lot. | ||
Cman710 Member Username: Cman710 Post Number: 589 Registered: 07-2006 |
That's unfortunate. If you get a chance to take any pictures when you pass by, I'd be curious to see. Since I live hundreds of miles away, I cannot take a ride myself! (Message edited by cman710 on January 28, 2009) | ||
1kielsondrive Member Username: 1kielsondrive Post Number: 832 Registered: 08-2008 |
I ate at Chung's pretty regularly as recently as the late 80's. It became too much of a hassle getting in and out, between the druggies, hookers and other streeters. I parked as near the corner and as close to the door as possible. I'd come out and people would be sitting on the hood or leaning on my truck. It was a nice place with good food, much like Chris & Carl's, but street activity, robberies and auto break-ins were frequent. Not that I remember Chung's being robbed. I did miss being held up at Chris & Carl's by about 4 or 5 minutes one time and 10 minutes another. | ||
Kathleen Member Username: Kathleen Post Number: 2150 Registered: 10-2003 |
Bobl: We'll look forward to meeting. Cman: It's amazing how much we did manage to cram in on your two visits. I'm glad that they are continuing to prove worthy! | ||
Kryptonite Member Username: Kryptonite Post Number: 62 Registered: 11-2008 |
I remember Detroit's Chinatown fairly well, the one on Cass. It was still fairly ethnic until the late 1970's. There were restaurants, a Chinese grocer or two, a couple of Chinese restaurant supply businesses I think. Aren't all major Chinatowns established by money from the Chinese government? It seems like the elaborate Chinatown block created in Philadelphia in the 1980's was done by money granted from China. I had friends living in Philly then and saw a newspaper article about their new Chinatown. Maybe if downtown and midtown Detroit keep drawing more crowds and residents a new Chinatown could be in the future of Detroit? Who knows the president of China in this blog? Email him and drop a hint. | ||
Marshall Member Username: Marshall Post Number: 23 Registered: 09-2008 |
We used to frequently drive from Northwest Detroit (Livernois and 6 mile area) to the Chinese restarants in what was then Chinatown. Chungs, the Ho Ho inn on 2'nd and Prentice, the Golden Dragon, and for a treat Henry Yee's Forbidden City downtown. Going down there was always worth the drive. | ||
Eastsideal Member Username: Eastsideal Post Number: 232 Registered: 10-2007 |
The Taiwan government bankrolled several Chinatown improvement projects in other cities back after we cut off relations with them in favor of the mainland. I don't know if they put any money into Detroit or not, or if there is still money flowing directly from overseas for this sort of thing. But there has not been all that much Chinese immigration into the Detroit area in recent years compared to other big cities, and that which there has been has gone into the suburbs. So I don't see any money coming here, and what money there has been has been spent on junk for which there was no market (see: Asian Village). What a weird thread for people to be venting their emotional dramas on. But then I'm happy that anyone out there still cares about this city. | ||
Sean_of_detroit Member Username: Sean_of_detroit Post Number: 2149 Registered: 03-2008 |
A little while ago, a forumer made a map of Illitch owned properties. What was the URL to the map with the Illitch Midtown Properties? (Message edited by Sean_of_Detroit on January 28, 2009) | ||
E_hemingway Member Username: E_hemingway Post Number: 1506 Registered: 11-2004 |
http://www.theverifiabletruth. com/ The map is in the right-side column midway down the page. | ||
Eastsideal Member Username: Eastsideal Post Number: 234 Registered: 10-2007 |
More on the original Detroit Chinatown. Here is a picture of a Chinese celebration, sometime during the '40s, along Third. The WSU site says "honoring Chaing Kai Shek" but I think with the lion dancer it looks like Chinese New Year. You can see Chung's in its original location of 1343 Third here. Its sign is just below the American flag on the left.  Here is the same building probably in the late 50s and very near the end of the neighborhood's time. Note that the streetcar tracks are now gone. In the foreground is what was my parents' favorite restaurant in the area, Wong's, which apparently had really good shrimp dishes. They used to eat there before shows at the Cass or Shubert theaters, before Tigers games, and after Lions games.  Of course, both of these photos are from the great WSU Virtual Motor City site. More old Detroit Chinatown, including larger versions of these pictures, can be seen here: http://dlxs.lib.wayne.edu/cgi/i/image/image-idx?c=vmc;page=index Go to "Topics" - "Local" - "Ethnic Groups" or just search on "Chinese" (Message edited by eastsideal on January 28, 2009) (Message edited by eastsideal on January 28, 2009) | ||
Oldestuff Member Username: Oldestuff Post Number: 112 Registered: 01-2007 |
Victor Limm's was downtown too. Next to Michigan Mutual. Didn't have to drive to get Chinese on lunch hours. It was pretty good. | ||
Rustic Member Username: Rustic Post Number: 1161 Registered: 10-2003 |
I know a woman who grew up near the area of the orginal "Chinatown" in the 30s and 40s. She once told me she had quite a few Chinese American classmates in her grade school. I can't recall which grade school she attended. She estimated that her grade school was probably 1/5 chinese american at one point but that they were moving out of the neighborhood rapidly at the time, replaced mostly by white families from the deep south (like her own family). This would hav been before post-war freeway and urban renewal projects completely changed that part of Detroit. She described her grade school as a real melting pot at first: kids from old detroit families (I figure mostly Scots Irish and Germans in this part of town) and a few Irish Catholics mixed with kids who were "Syrian", southern white (I reckon Scots Irish), Chinese, plus a lot of various kids with central/eastern european lineage who passed through for a year or two before moving on to other neighborhoods. | ||
Chub Member Username: Chub Post Number: 260 Registered: 11-2003 |
My only memory of Chung's when it was still open, was when my former band would play at the Gold Dollar. We'd make a point to get carry out from Chung's before every show. Good food! (Message edited by chub on January 28, 2009) | ||
J_to_the_jeremy Member Username: J_to_the_jeremy Post Number: 164 Registered: 03-2007 |
So it's up in the air regarding what's going on there, I guess. Yesterday I drove by but the trailer/bucket truck was gone. It's definitely on my list of places to watch now. | ||
Jtf1972 Member Username: Jtf1972 Post Number: 111 Registered: 08-2008 |
From what I understand, Chinatown was never the same after the Lodge ripped through the center of it. | ||
E_hemingway Member Username: E_hemingway Post Number: 1508 Registered: 11-2004 |
Here's what gets me about it. It would be easy to chalk it up to a slumlord who doesn't care and is leaving it to rot. That would explain why the door is left ajar, the holes in the Cass-side walls left open to the elements and why the graffiti hasn't been cleaned up. However, someone spent the money to properly take the sign down. If it just disappeared one day I would chalk it up to scrappers, but someone took the time to bring in a bucket truck to do it. Also, the back of the building facing Peterboro looks like it could be occupied. I have no idea if that's true or even what might be there, but I think I remember seeing some sort of signage (in some sort of Asian writing) toward that end of the building. And to top it all off, graffiti has been consistently kept off the building until recently. The building always seemed like it was mothballed quite well until something crashed into its front door a few weeks ago. I don't what's going on with Chung's. Actually I hope someone is doing something with it because it would be a significant addition to the corridor. However, I am not holding my breath. Empty building with doors left wide open in this town don't last very long. | ||
E_hemingway Member Username: E_hemingway Post Number: 1509 Registered: 11-2004 |
Also, here are a couple of threads that touch on Detroit's old Chinatown and some of the Asian influences in the city. I thought there was one big thread a few years ago about Detroit's Chinatown, but I can't find any evidence of it. https://www.atdetroit.net/forum/mes sages/91697/93468.html https://www.atdetroit.net/forum/mes sages/10041/169833.html | ||
Toolbox Member Username: Toolbox Post Number: 423 Registered: 10-2003 |
quote: Who would question a work crew removing a sign? Just look official, some froms from Staples and a clipboard. Not all scrappers are destitute crackheads. | ||
Verifiable Member Username: Verifiable Post Number: 99 Registered: 05-2007 |
No need to visit TVT in order to get the link to the map that E_hemingway is referencing simply click: Map of Foxtown area Property Owners |
