In October, we noted that the space was for rent as the Snip N Sip beauty parlor reduced its size in half. Our tipster at the time reported that the hairdresser "said that he hopes whoever comes in keeps the 'Harry Chong' lettering on the windows. When I expressed skepticism that would happen, he added that the landlord would like the sign to stay too!"
The skeptic was correct, unfortunately.
Piro Patton, flickr, 2006
Pushed out after 60 years in business here, Harry Chong originally had additional signage on its windows--reading "LAUNDRY" and "DRY CLEAN." Now, there's nothing left.
By nightfall, the windows were bare.
Heartbreaking... although the laundry's passing was a terrible shame, at least the new tenant had the aesthetic/historic sense to keep the wonderful signage intact. Sadly, that kind of acknowledgment is becoming rarer and rarer...
ReplyDeletethe reason that most of the chinese laundries disappeared was because they were the means for chinese in former times to make money in a place where other opportunities were limited (other than restaurant work). the money they made helped their children become "american" and it was rare for their kids to follow in their footsteps (not to mention, not encouraged). what they did not know, nor probably care about, is that they were in fact the progenitors of the gentrification, which now comes back to their own community (chinatown, for example)
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