Wednesday, October 1, 2025

Architecture: Poy Gum Lee, Peter Chinn and King Wah Restaurant

A photograph of the King Wah Restaurant, in Huntington, Long Island, New York, was in architect Poy Gum Lee’s scrapbook. Researcher Kerri Culhane looked for information about Lee’s involvement with the restaurant. That story is told at Huntington History’s Cuisine from Around the World, Updated. Culhane curated the exhibition about Lee at the Museum of Chinese in America in Fall 2015. The King Wah Restaurant was not part of the exhibition.

Lee was a resident of Mineola, Long Island, New York in the 1950s. The American Institute of Architects published directories of its members. A 1956 directory was found online and had a listing for Lee whose address was 299 Saville Road, Mineola.


The Long-Islander, August 1, 1957, profiled Peter Chinn and said
… In February, 1955, he and several other employees of a Jericho Tpke. restaurant, passed by the building once known as Chateau Maggi and decided then and there to have a go at the restaurant business themselves.

Pooling everything they owned, they formed the King Wah Corporation with Chinn as President and the pagoda-like towers on the former “Chateau” now symbolize the King Wah Restaurant at the western end of Huntington Township. …
Actually, the restaurant building was seen earlier and the corporation formed in 1954. The Long-Islander, November 4, 1954, published recently issued building permits including one for King Wah Restaurant.


The restaurant was scheduled to open on February 22, 1955.

Long-Islander, February 17, 1955

Below are the King Wah menu, postcards, match cover and sugar tablet.






Below are advertisements published in various publications.

 
Northport Observer, January 5, 1956

Long-Islander, December 20, 1956

 
Long-Islander, December 17, 1959
 
Westbury Music Fair
Flower Drum Song program, June 1961

New York Post, July 19, 1962
 
Smithtown Star, April 10, 1963
 
Huntington History said the restaurant changed hands in 1966. The restaurant’s new owner was Albert Chin who renamed it, Sun Ming. 
 
 
 
Chinn was born on October 15, 1915 according to the Social Security Death Index. The 1957 Long-Islander profile said Chinn was born in Canton, China and his father owned a restaurant in Buffalo, New York.

In the United States and New York state censuses there was a restaurant owner named Harry Chinn, who lived at 477 Michigan Street in Buffalo. He was married with children. He passed away June 15, 1929 according to the New York, New York Death Index at Ancestry.com. It’s not clear if he was Chinn’s father.

Chinn’s profile said he arrived in 1930 but he has not been found in the 1930 census which was enumerated in late April. The Buffalo Courier-Express, March 12, 1944, reported a different arrival date for Chinn. (Buffalo newspapers spelled Chinn’s surname as Chin.) In the column, Buffalo’s Good Listener, H. Katherine Smith wrote in the first paragraph:
Their new eligibility for American citizenship probably will change the attitude as well as the lives of most of the 130 members of Buffalo’s Chinese colony, according to Peter Chin who came here from China eight years ago.
According to Smith’s article Chinn arrived in 1936 at the age of 20. Attempts to find Chinn in passenger lists at Ancestry.com have not been successful. Most likely he entered the U.S. under his Chinese name which is not known at this time.

So far the earliest mention of Chinn was in the The Evening News (North Tonawanda, New York), November 3, 1937.
Irvings Entertained Last Eve. By Mr. and Mrs. Reuter
Meeting Subject Was Designated As An Evening in China with Interesting Talk Being Given About Conditions in That Country by Mr. Peter Chin

Last evening the Irvings were delightfully entertained for their regular meeting by Mr. and Mrs. Carlton Reuter go Court street.

The meeting subject was designated as “An Evening In China,” and Mr. and Mrs. Reuter took their guests to Chin’s Chinese Restaurant in Buffalo for a typical Chinese dinner. This was followed by a most interesting talk by Mr. Peter Chin about conditions in China.
As Japanese aggression against China expanded, Chinn’s name appeared more frequently in newspapers. The Daily Worker (New York, New York), March 28, 1938, covered the peace rally in Buffalo.
Buffalo, March 27.—More than 1,500 persons here braved rain yesterday in an anti-war demonstration called by the American League for Peace and Democracy at Niagara Square.

An effigy of Hitler, depicting the Nazi leader in all his ugliness, was carried In a picket line at the German consulate several blocks away. Police had Issue orders to disperse the picket line if the effigy was hanged or burned. The Hitler form had nevertheless attracted a large shopping crowd and an impressive impromptu parade down Main St.

Among the speakers who addressed the meeting were Reverend Herman Hahn, John Mullen of the National Maritime Union; Charles Doyle of the Workers Alliance and Norman Ross, youth leader. Peter Chin, representative of the Chinese Benevolent Association stirred the meeting with an appeal for the Chinese people.
The Buffalo Evening News, June 10, 1938, wrote about the Buffalonians who formed the citizens committee for China relief to raise funds. The organization held its meeting in Chin’s restaurant, 888 Main street. Advising the committee was “the Chinese Benevolent Association of Buffalo, comprising 150 Chinese citizens of the city. … Attending the meeting was Peter Chin, proprietor of the restaurant, who suggested that monies be sent to the Bank of China in New York city. …”



The Buffalo Evening News, June 21, 1938, said Chinn, of the Chinese Benevolent Association, was a member of the Buffalo Citizens’ Committee for Chinese Relief executive committee to raise funds and plan their distribution.

The Buffalo Evening News, July 23, 1938, reported the upcoming series of radio talks scheduled by the Buffalo Citizens’ Committee for Chinese Relief. Chinn was to speak on station WEBR, Thursday afternoon at 3 o'clock.

According to the Buffalo Courier-Express, September 24, 1938, Chinn spoke at the Methodist Episcopal Trinity Church.

The Erie County Independent (Hamburg, New York), September 29, 1938, said
Session for Instruction of Youth Begins Sunday at M. E. Church
The first session of the “University of Christian Life” will be held in the Hamburg Methodist church next Sunday, at 8:30 p. m., for the young people of the church and the community.

Mr. Peter Chin begins the series on “Contributions of National and Racial Groups to the Spiritual Life of America.” All three groups—the Junior high, the Senior high and the college—business and professional young people will hear his message. At 7:30, a chow mein luncheon will be served.
The Buffalo Evening News, September 30, 1938, reported the November program of the Cosmopolitan Association.
… On Sunday, Nov. 27, the program will deal with China, Mrs. Fred Fairbanks being to charge. She is the director of the Chinese department of the First Baptist Sunday school, to which 20 children are enrolled.

Talk On War Conditions.

Also Mrs. Fairbanks directs a group of Chinese children who were organized last January into the Junior Chinese Benevolent association to engage in war relief activities.

“War Conditions” will be the subject of a talk by Mr. Peter Chin, a student in the University of Buffalo, before the Cosmopolitan group. Miss Betty Wong, who attends Hutchinson-Central high school, will read several Chinese poems.

In colorful Oriental costume, a group of 20 Chinese children and young people will present a program of songs and recitations. Featured will be musical numbers by little Rose Marie Yee, vocal soloist, and Minnie Lee, accompanist.

Of unusual interest will be the selections by Mr. Peter Chin and Mr. Chin Suey, playing a Chinese harp and Chinese violin, instruments seldom heard in this country.

Mrs. Fairbanks will introduce the participants in the program and speak briefly concerning the Chinese residents of this city.
The Erie County Independent (Hamburg, New York), October 6, 1938, covered Chinn’s talk.
Approximately 105 young people were present at the first meeting of the University of Christian Life, in the parlor of the Hamburg Methodist church, Sunday night, October 2, at 7:30.

Mr. Peter Chin, of the famous Chin’s Chow-Mein restaurants in Buffalo, was the speaker.

Mr. Chin told about the small Chinese settlement in Buffalo. He also spoke on the Chinese-Japanese war, and told of the friendly attitude of China toward Japan.
The Buffalo Evening News listed appearances by Chinn: November 21, 1938, 7:45—Forum, “China, the Battleground of the East” Mr. Peter Chin, Kenmore YWCA; November 30, 1938, 9:00—Forum, “What Next in China?” Peter Chin, 881 Broadway; December 8, 1938, 9:00—Forum on China, Peter Chin, 479 William; December 10, 1938, 9:00—Forum on China, Peter Chin, 479 William.

The Buffalo Evening News, July 11, 1939, said Chinn was secretary of the Chinese Benevolent Association.
Buffalo Prepares Welcome for Miss Yen, Chinese Flier
Inter-Club Council Sponsors Dinner, Other Groups to Honor Aviatrix Coming for Garden Fete.
Buffalo is preparing a gala welcome for Miss Hilda Yen, Chinese aviatrix, diplomat and social welfare authority, who comes to the city tomorrow to be the guest of honor at the garden party to be given in the Delaware ave. home of Mr. and Mrs. Chauncey J. Hamlin to raise funds for the Women’s Chinese Relief Association of New York, to be forwarded to Mme. Chiang Kai-shek.

Traveling in a motor car which was presented to her by Mr. Henry Ford after she was injured in an airplane crash in Alabama in the Spring. Miss Yen, accompanied by her secretary, will arrive in the Hotel Statler at noon tomorrow. She will spend the afternoon at the benefit fete in the Hamlin gardens, which opens at 3 o’clock and closes at 7, with admittance by ticket.

Preview Today.

This afternoon from 3 to 6 o’clock a preview of the exhibition of Chinese art is taking place in the Hamlin home, at which either tickets or cash contributions are being accepted.

Tomorrow evening, after the garden fete, Miss Yen will be complimented at an 8:30 o’clock dinner in 509 Michigan ave., arranged by the Chinese Benevolent Association. The dinner also will honor members of the committee arranging the party in the Hamlin home. Upon this occasion Miss Yen will express her appreciation to the committee for its endeavors in behalf of her people.

Mr. Gan Lee is president of the Benevolent organization and Mr. Peter Chin is the secretary. Mr. Wong G. Sun, chairman of the local Chinese Relief Committee, is assisting in plans for the dinner.
The Buffalo Courier-Express, March 16, 1940, reported the following:
Olive L. Robinson, director of the Buffalo Forum Service, announced yesterday a meeting will be held Wednesday at 10 a. m. in the West Side Adult Education Center, 327 West Ferry Street, to consider the question: What Is the Missionary Up Against? Peter Chin, Columbia University student and member of the Bureau of Medical Aid for China, will present an hour-length film depicting everyday problems of the missionary.
The 1940 census (enumerated April 2) recorded Chinn in Manhattan, New York City at 531 West 143 Street. He and Eddie B. Chinn, a restaurant manager, were two of four lodgers in the Aresti household. According to the censu, Chinn’s highest level of education was the second year of college. No occupation was named for Chinn who attended the University of Buffalo in 1938. The 1957 profile said he graduated from New York University and did post-graduate study at Harvard.

On October 16, 1940 Chinn signed his World War II draft card. He was a student at New York University. His description was five feet seven inches, 148 pounds, with brown eyes and black hair.


According to the Buffalo Courier-Express, July 15, 1941, Chinn was one of ten people appointed to the executive committee to direct efforts in Buffalo for United China Relief.

The Buffalo Courier-Express, July 20, 1941, said the city would present its Book of Jade to Madame Chiang Kai-Shek. “Peter Chin, a member of the executive committee of the local board said that ‘I am sure Mme. Chiang Kai-Shek will treasure the Buffalo Book of Jade as a token of lasting friendship from the people of Buffalo.’”

The Buffalo Courier-Express, November 17, 1943, published Chinn’s comments about the Chinese exhibit in the Museum of Science.
“To the Chinese this is more than an annual exhibit,” said Peter Chin [sic] of the Chinese Benevolent Association. “It is concrete evidence of the interest of the people of Buffalo in Chinese problems as well as interest in Chinese arts. Through the medium of arts, Americans can better appreciate what China has been, what China is and what China will be.”
In the Buffalo Courier-Express, March 12, 1944, Chinn spoke to H. Katherine Smith about the small Chinese community.
Their new eligibility for American citizenship probably will change the attitude as well as the lives of most of the 130 members of Buffalo’s Chinese colony, according to Peter Chin who came here from China eight years ago.

“The new law will enable many men of our colony to live with their wives and families,” says Peter, “and will lend stability to their existence in America. Previously, every transaction a Chinaman made in this country was influenced by his intention of returning to his native land as soon as he made enough money to retire. He rented his home instead of buying it. so that, when the time came for his departure, he would not have to be detained by its sale. He chose a business that could be sold readily to a Chinese newcomer. Most of the Chinese here operate small laundries and the few who can afford them own restaurants because those are the businesses his countrymen are most likely to buy.”

The reason every Chinaman in America works and hopes for return to China is that, if he came here after 1924, he can’t bring his wife. Most of the men of the local colony are married. The wife, chosen by her husband’s family, lives in her father-in-law’s home in China. If her husband is exceptionally successful, he can visit her once in four years. In most cases, the visits are further apart. The husband lives here alone, his habits and viewpoints becoming more and more at variance with those of his wife and children in far-off China.

In Buffalo, we have 126 Chinese men and only four women, Peter Chin tells me. Lately, the colony has been increased by some 30 young engineers who came here, before Pearl Harbor, for an education, and, unable to return to China, are contributing to our war effort in this city’s plane plants.

The married men of the colony are hard put to it to support their families in China, these days. Until recently, a family could be maintained there at a great deal less cost than here; but today, with inflation rampant in China, the cost of living there has more than doubled.

Except for their New Year’s celebration, widely publicized annually, our Chinese colony lives nearly like Americans, Peter Chin tells me.

The colony centers at 509 Michigan near Broadway, headquarters of the Benevolent Association. For years, its president has been Shing Wah Yee, importer, whose wife and family are in China. The Benevolent Association maintains lodgings for some ten old Chinese men who failed to realize their ambition of returning to their homeland.

Family ties are as important to the Chinese in Buffalo as in Chungking, Peter Chin assures us. For instance, there are about 80 Wongs here, not all related by blood or marriage, but all from the same province in China. If a Wong comes to town, they take him into their homes and give him a job if he wants to stay here. If another city is his choice, they give him a letter to the Wongs there, certain that they will take care of him. Other Chinese families, well represented here, are the Chins, Lees, and Yees.

“Members of the colony always are ready to help each other,” Peter avers. “If one of us needs money for an emergency, the rest lend it at once, and if it is not paid back, they wouldn’t dream of going to court to collect.”

After the war, Peter Chin intends to return to China, which he terms “a great country on the verge of industrial development, and offering tremendous opportunities.”

Asked if his family will choose a wife for him, he replied promptly, “Not if I can help it.”
The Wingfoot Clan (Akron, Ohio), May 24, 1944, said Chinn was one of four Chinese students to visit the Goodyear Farms in Litchfield Park, Arizona. The same photo and similar article were published in the Shanghai Evening Post and Mercury, July 21, 1944, on page seven.

Navy muster rolls listed Chinn aboard the USS Porter DD-800. The June 24, 1944 muster roll said he was a Seaman First Class Radio Man with service number 378 4230. Chinn had enlisted on July 19, 1943 at San Francisco. The October 1, 1945 muster roll said China was a Radioman Second Class (temporary). Later that month, Chinn, a civilian, was listed on a Marine Corps muster roll. He was attached temporarily to the Chinese Nationalist Army. Chinn had been in San Diego for training as an interpreter and translator. He sailed from Guam to Tsingtao, China. The April 1, 1946 Navy muster roll said Chinn was a Radioman Second Class on the USS Porter.

The Long-Islander profile said
... Chinn married his wife, Nellie, in 1946. She is the daughter of one of the Intelligence Corps’ “contacts” at a Catholic Mission in Peiking [sic]. When the war ended, he remained in China and became a liaison officer between tho Chinese Nationalists on Formosa and the Americans. As the Communists gradually gained more and more power, he sent Nellie and his new daughter, Kathy, home and stayed to help the Nationalist underground. In 1948, he left China with the rest of the American forces.
Chinn flew on a Navy aircraft to Honolulu, Hawaii. On December 5, 1947 his plane departed for Moffett Field, California. Chinn’s wife and daughter were passengers on the ship Marine Adder which departed Shanghai, China on December 15, 1947. They arrived in San Francisco on January 8, 1948.

According to the 1950 census, Chinn, his wife, Nellie, two-year-old daughter, Kathy, and one-year-old son, Lowell, lived in San Francisco at 1276 Jackson Street. Chinn was an automobile tire dealer. Nellie’s obituary in Newsday said
After living in Akron, Ohio, for about three years, the family moved to San Francisco, where Peter Chinn opened a Goodyear Tire dealership in Chinatown. But soon after moving there, illness beset the family.

When Nellie Chinn suffered a recurrence of tuberculosis, which she had contracted as a child, it spread to their 2-year-old son, Lowell, who died. Then, while Nellie Chinn was recuperating, Kathy caught spinal meningitis, and had to be sent to live with relatives in New Jersey, Debbie Chinn said.

About a year later, the family moved back to the East Coast, this time settling on Long Island. The family first moved to Greenlawn, opening King Wah Restaurant in Huntington with a group of local Chinese businessmen....
In November 1954, work began on King Wah Restaurant which opened on February 22, 1955. Chinn was the unnamed partner in Gastropolis: Food and New York City (2010).
By then, [Bruce] Ho had “become a big boy with a few dollars,” so he struck out with a partner to open House of Mah Jong on Jericho Turnpike in Syosset, Long Island. “We did very well. There was a big garden and a couple of acres. We called it House of Mah Jong to make sure they knew it was a Chinese restaurant. We mostly attracted Jewish people [they had “few Chinese customers”], and Jewish people know mah jong has got to be Chinese.” …
Chinn’s daughter, Debbie, wrote about the family and House of Mah Jong in her book, Dancing in Their Light: A Daughter’s Unfinished Memoir.
 


Westbury Music Fair
Flower Drum Song program, June 1961
 
The New York Post, July 26, 1964, highlighted Chinn’s Mah Jong restaurant in Manhattan.
What’s a Chinese restaurant doing on Manhattan’s famous Steak Row, of all places? Well, for one thing, it’s doing pretty well,

The recently opened chopstick palace at 209 E. 45th St. (near Third Av.) is the Mah Jong. It’s owned and carefully supervised by Peter Chinn, whose background includes a wartime tour of duty as a U. S. Marine captain.

This midtown dining spot is Chinn’s second Man Jong. The other is in Syosset, L. I., and many of his Nassau County customers have stopped in at the Manhattan room en route to the theater.

The E. 45th St. branch is a neat place, low-ceilinged and clean-lined. A few oriental pictures on the walls comprise most of the decor; nothing distracts the patrons mind from the business at hand—dining.

Chinn claims he has added a French influence to his cookery.

“In basic Cantonese cooking procedures,” he says, “meat and vegetables are cooked together. With our method, each ingredient is cooked separately and then joined just before serving. Therefore each retains its own original flavor and taste. It’s double the work for the kitchen—our chef may not be happy with the idea, but our customers have praised it lavishly.”

A menu note points out that “there are 32 ways of cooking lobster and 35 ways of preparing chicken, according to the accepted manual of Chinese cuisine ... Our chef has invented a few more.”

Not all the cooking styles are covered by the menu, but there are enough choices to indicate that Chinn’s crew can provide anything you might wish to order.

Completer dinners start at $2.50, with many in the $2.75–$3.50 bracket. This includes appetizer (try the dim sum or shrimp toast), entrees, dessert and beverage.

The a la carte menu offers Oceanica (shrimps under a sauce of lobster, crabmeat and shrimp, $4.50); lobster in chicken roulette (lobster strips, ham and Chinese mushrooms rolled in white chicken meat, deep-fried in batter and serves with lichee sauce or curry sauce, $4.25); yang send sam see (shrimp, chicken and abalone with vegetables, $3.95); boneless chicken in oyster sauce ($4); pork tenderloin rolled in ham ($3.75); etc.

Luncheons start at $1.75.

The exotic drink list includes such items as the Geisha Martini; “Japanese sake and American gin. Frankly we don’t know how it’s going to turn out.”

The Mah Jong is open every day until midnight.
The Long-Islander, February 14, 1980, reported the upcoming Chinese New Year activities at various restaurants.
… A celebration will be held at Mah Jong Restaurant, 140 Jericho Turnpike, Syosset (call 921-0500) on Monday, February 18, at 7:30p.m. Hosts will be owners Mr. and Mrs. Peter Chinn and Mr. and Mrs. Alex Chang. Three days later, Alex and Lucy Chang take over operation of Mah Jong in conjunction with their operation of the popular Szechuan Royal on Jericho Turnpike in Commack. …
Chinn’s wife, Nellie, passed away on August 13, 1999 in Tenafly, New Jersey. Chinn passed away September 27, 2005 in Concord, California. On October 9 his obituary appeared in The Arizona Republic, Newsday, San Francisco Chronicle, and Star-Ledger.
Peter Chinn passed away peacefully on 9-27-05 in Concord, CA at the age of 90. Peter and his late wife Nellie Chinn were long time residents of Syosset, NY where they owned and operated the Mah Jong Restaurant. They later retired in Palm Bay, FL, and Sun City West, AZ. Peter was a graduate of NYU, received an MBA from Harvard Business School and served in the US Marines. He is survived by his children Katherine Slazak of Livingston, NJ, Debbie Chinn of El Cerrifo, CA, and Michael Chinn of Concord, CA. He also leaves behind grandson Christopher Slazak, sisters-in-law Daisy Kwoh, Edith Ang, Dora Kwoh, and Grace Tong, and brothers-in-law Teddy Kwoh, and Yang-hu Tong. A memorial service will be held at 1PM Saturday October 15, 2005 at Quimet Bros. Concord Funeral Chapel, 4125 Clayton Rd., Concord, CA. In lieu of (lowers, donations to the Little Sisters of the Poor, 110-30 221st St., Queens Village, NY 11429, or other charitable organizations would be appreciated. Ouimet Bros. Chapel (925) 682-4242
 
(Next post on Wednesday: 1955 Landbook Atlas, Manhattan Chinatown)
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