While crowds and media massed in Old Town for the official unveiling of the resurrected Hung Far Low sign, the actual Hung Far Low restaurant was almost empty. The Cantonese-style Chinese restaurant resided in Old Town from 1928 all the way to 2005, when its owners moved out to the unofficial new Chinatown, 82nd Avenue.
The real Hung Far Low is a squat building surrounded by an asphalt parking lot. Its sign is inglorious, overshadowed by Canton Grill’s racist neon wonder across the street. Canton is one of two Chinese restaurants I can see from Hung Far’s door, along with two tiny Asian markets.
Neil Chan, 28, the manager of Hung Far Low, greets me from behind the counter lined with a golden Buddha and hand-waving cat. He recommends the fried shrimp and I take his advice—I figure he should know what’s good on the menu since his father was Hung Far’s cook for about 20 years before he finally bought the place.
- Neil Chan
Chan says sales at Hung Far Low have held stable despite the recession and there’s a crowd of regulars that still come in despite the move out east. “I don’t consider Chinatown a real Chinatown right now,” he says. “Everybody moved out.” But Chan doesn’t seem bitter at all about the urban renewed Old Town attracting crowds with the symbol of a Chinese landmark that’s no longer there. Articles about the sign are taped to the wall and Chan says he hopes to make it down to the grand unveiling a little later. “I think it’s awesome that they’re putting it back up. It needs to be up there,” he says.
Chan shouts something in Cantonese for his mom, who’s waiting table. Though born and raised in Portland, he can still fluently speak the language of his parents. He credits the fluency to watching lots of Chinese movies and says he’s going to make sure his new baby daughter grows up speaking Chinese, too.
While waiting for the shrimp, I dart across Division to one of the Asian markets, which has little English inside but a charming seafood mural on the outside. I buy a can of crab chips the size of my head for $2 and run back over in time to pick up my neatly-wrapped meal.
Racist neon ??? Sarah Mirk get a grip.. you wannabe hipster hack second rate so called “journalist”
One could spend days on end cataloging restaurant signs and food labeling that contain ethnic stereotypes, some find the energy to be offended by the ‘racism’ of it all.
The racist neon is owned by a chinese family. They appear to be offending themselves on a daily basis for many years.
I eat at that Hung Far Low. It’s great.
I am curious as to how that sign is racist though.
Canton Grill sign racist? No.
But we do appreciate that you’re willing to leave your enclave to slum it with the rest of us, S. Mirk. Please tell us you at least stuck around for a stiff drink. That’s been a Hung’s trademark as long as many of us can remember.
I hope you all realize you look kind of silly saying there is no racist imagery in that sign. You look silly, not because there is or is not racist imagery, but because you are saying ‘no’ like it’s fact, and not opinion. If this sign bothers anyone because of it’s racial stereotyping, then it’s racist to them. Also, you act as if Sarah is saying it’s racist because she’s a liberal hipster who’s oh so offended. Did you not read how she said ‘neon wonder’ (see, wonder) right after racist?
You’re right, BruceWang, we should all pile into a ZipCar and head on down to a sensitivity training class right away. That way we won’t make ourselves look silly when we next face yet more annoying PC bullshit.
I live on NW 4th Avenue several blocks from where we’d love Hung Far Low to COME BACK!!!
Stukas, I could really care less about who offends whom. Also, you can feel free to say all the non-PC stuff you want. It just makes no sense to say ‘No, this is not racist’ like you are the person who decides what offends people. Your opinion on whether or not something is racist, does not make it so.
Really what confused me about this post’s comments was that everyone was complaining about how Sarah was being hipster/pc for using the word racist. But clearly, she was not complaining about the sign at all. So it just struck me as ridiculous.