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01:10:51
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Transcription: [01:10:51]
{SPEAKER name="Esther Chow (Interviewee)"}
Well, Jenna Chow. Harry Chow. So, they, they were brought up in Chinatown, I think.

[01:11:01]
{SPEAKER name="Esther Chow (Interviewee)"}
And Harry was very uh active with the youth group and the volleyball group.

[01:11:09]
{SPEAKER name="Esther Chow (Interviewee)"}
He was one of those people who [[?]]. And so he's going to give a talk in June,

{SPEAKER name="Samir Meghelli, Ph.D. (Interviewer)"}
Yes, yes

{SPEAKER name="Esther Chow (Interviewee)"}
I forward that thing to you.

[01:11:20]
{SPEAKER name="Esther Chow (Interviewee)"}
And June 24 in the Chinese Community Church. Okay. I'm still a member of the Chinese Community Church and all these years since 1970s right up till now.

[01:11:33]
{SPEAKER name="Esther Chow (Interviewee)"}
So yeah I still attend church like last weekend

{SPEAKER name="Samir Meghelli, Ph.D. (Interviewer)"}
Oh yeah [[laughter]]

{SPEAKER name="Esther Chow (Interviewee)"}
[[laughter]]. But now it's difficult to come down. To drive down here. But I'm still a member of the church.

[01:11:48]
{SPEAKER name="Esther Chow (Interviewee)"}
And I still maintain the contact with many church members, old and new. Some of them left. Some of them died.

[01:11:58]
{SPEAKER name="Esther Chow (Interviewee)"}
But I still maintain the contact. And some of them—--a few of them were very much conscious about the development and existence of Chinatown.

[01:12:12]
{SPEAKER name="Esther Chow (Interviewee)"}
And one of them is Dr. S.Y. Luong. His picture's here. He got Phd. in international studies at Georgetown University.

[01:12:28]
{SPEAKER name="Esther Chow (Interviewee)"}
Way back. And during his study time, time of his graduate studies, he volunteered working with Reverend Hung

{SPEAKER name="Samir Meghelli, Ph.D. (Interviewer)"}
Oh wow

{SPEAKER name="Esther Chow (Interviewee)"}
in Chinatown.

[01:12:42]
{SPEAKER name="Esther Chow (Interviewee)"}
It was 1935, when the church was found. And everyday I think the church offer a tutorial for Chinatown children. And

[01:13:01]
{SPEAKER name="Esther Chow (Interviewee)"}
they took care of their homework, and taught them English, and organized activities for them.

[01:13:08]
{SPEAKER name="Esther Chow (Interviewee)"}
So Dr. S.Y. Luong, I think his photos is there. Yeah I make sure his photos there and I also develop the photo for him.

[01:13:23]
{SPEAKER name="Esther Chow (Interviewee)"}
The picture and I gave it to him and his son. It's gone forever, I never got it back.

{SPEAKER name="Samir Meghelli, Ph.D. (Interviewer)"}
Oh wow

[01:13:31]
{SPEAKER name="Esther Chow (Interviewee)"}
So I lost my own archives but he was really very generous and, Christian-like and, very encouraging

[01:13:53]
{SPEAKER name="Esther Chow (Interviewee)"}
person. He talked to me constantly about the importance of documenting Chinatown history.

[01:14:06]
{SPEAKER name="Esther Chow (Interviewee)"}
So the mission, doing all this community work, I did not get any academic credit for my career.

[01:14:17]
{SPEAKER name="Esther Chow (Interviewee)"}
Because my ten-year promotion, that's not part

{SPEAKER name="Samir Meghelli, Ph.D. (Interviewer)"}
Yeah [[unintelligible]]

{SPEAKER name="Esther Chow (Interviewee)"}
of my in my reader. Okay. Even professional work is marginal surface in my professional field.

[01:14:32]
{SPEAKER name="Esther Chow (Interviewee)"}
American Sociological Association, for instance. And so, I have to really allocate time to do all this kind for the communities in addition to my full-time work.

[01:14:50]
{SPEAKER name="Esther Chow (Interviewee)"}
And then my family [[laughter]]. Take care of kids and family. And so it was tough but I, but we survived.

[01:15:01]
{SPEAKER name="Samir Meghelli, Ph.D. (Interviewer)"}
Yeah. [[laughter]] Well you mentioned that you've been gone every Sunday to church. And were there certain grocery stores or restaurants that you remember the name of?

[01:15:12]
{SPEAKER name="Esther Chow (Interviewee)"}
Yeah Wongki.

{SPEAKER name="Samir Meghelli, Ph.D. (Interviewer)"}
Wongki.

{SPEAKER name="Esther Chow (Interviewee)"}
In the basement, you walk down few step. There was very popular. And people lined up—-

[01:15:22]
{SPEAKER name="Samir Meghelli, Ph.D. (Interviewer)"}
That was a grocery store [[crosstalk]] or a restaurant?

[01:15:24]
{SPEAKER name="Esther Chow (Interviewee)"}
No, no. Wongki is the restaurant.

[01:15:28]
{SPEAKER name="Esther Chow (Interviewee)"}
Very tiny. Very good food. And then there was another one, The Surratt House.

[01:15:35]
{SPEAKER name="Esther Chow (Interviewee)"}
Do you know The Surratt House? Now, it changed names. The restaurant keep changing. I have hard time to remember.

[01:15:46]
{SPEAKER name="Esther Chow (Interviewee)"}
The picture here---Surratt House. It is at the corner of,

{SPEAKER name="Samir Meghelli, Ph.D. (Interviewer)"}
Yeah 6th and---

{SPEAKER name="Esther Chow (Interviewee)"}
the house of when they plot the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

{SPEAKER name="Samir Meghelli, Ph.D. (Interviewer)"}
Yeah, it was Abraham Lincoln

[01:16:05]
{SPEAKER name="Esther Chow (Interviewee)"}
And the [[?]] Surratt House. And that, that's the restaurant there. And then at the corner of what, 7 and H, and the Wong's restaurant---no, no, grocery store.

[01:16:24]
{SPEAKER name="Esther Chow (Interviewee)"}
And I still remember the face of the wife, the owner. She was so business-like. But I got to know her and, befriend with her

[01:16:37]
{SPEAKER name="Esther Chow (Interviewee)"}
and so I became a regular customer to her store.

[01:16:42]
{SPEAKER name="Samir Meghelli, Ph.D. (Interviewer)"}
That's where the Starbucks is now right? That corner of

[01:16:46]
{SPEAKER name="Esther Chow (Interviewee)"}
I don't know they change it all the time. [[laughter]]

[01:16:51]
{SPEAKER name="Samir Meghelli, Ph.D. (Interviewer)"}
[[laughter]] And did you ever meet her husband Duon. Was it Duon Wong?

[01:16:56]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
And her daughter maybe? Linda Wong.

[01:17:02]
{SPEAKER name="Esther Chow (Interviewee)"}
Oh. I cannot remember the exact people but I know that Wong's—-I think Wendy would remember because she lived there. And I went there and start work with