Horn Hong Low & Company operated a restaurant on the second floor of 11 Mott Street in New York City’s Chinatown.
Detail, Plate 25, Maps of the City of New York, Volume 3 (1853).
Detail, Plate 4, Atlas of the Entire City of New York (1879)
Detail, Plate 13, Insurance Maps of the City of New York (1894)
Leslie’s Weekly, January 9, 1896, said
... The oldest restaurant in Chinatown is that of Horn Hong Low & Co., at number 11 Mott Street. It was established sixteen years ago [1880]. The manager states that in one busy day, a Sunday, they once served over four thousand meals.
The World (New York), July 9, 1894
Harry Lee King was the proprietor of Horn Hong Low Restaurant. The Sun (New York, New York), November 3, 1891, said
It’s not known when he adopted the name Harry. He might be the same person who owned a laundry. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, December 7, 1889, said “Two sneak thieves entered Harry Lee King’s laundry, at 25 Fifth avenue, yesterday and stole $20 from the money drawer.”
So far, the earliest publication to mention Harry Lee King and his restaurant was in the New York Herald, December 20, 1891.
page 613
The New York Tribune, February 5, 1894, covered the Chinese New Year celebration.
A Chinaman Wants to Become a CitizenThe Cincinnati Enquirer (Ohio), February 14, 1895, said “Harry Lee King, manager of the place, has been in New York for 15 years [1880], and has acquired a fair knowledge of English.” Harry Lee King has not been found in the 1880 United States Census which was enumerated in June. (The 1880 census counted the number of Chinese in New York City as follows: Kings (Brooklyn), 121; New York (Manhattan), 747 including 16 Japanese; Richmond (Staten Island), 1.)
A Chinaman declared his intention of becoming an American citizen in the Hudson County Clerk’s office yesterday afternoon. He is Harry Lee King, a Sunday school Chinaman who has been in this country since 1872. He is 35 years old [1856], and has discarded the queue and Celestial mode of dressing.
It’s not known when he adopted the name Harry. He might be the same person who owned a laundry. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, December 7, 1889, said “Two sneak thieves entered Harry Lee King’s laundry, at 25 Fifth avenue, yesterday and stole $20 from the money drawer.”
So far, the earliest publication to mention Harry Lee King and his restaurant was in the New York Herald, December 20, 1891.
“A Polyglot Christmas”Don Seitz’s observations of Chinatown were published in Frank Leslie’s Popular Monthly, May 1893. He dined at 11 Mott Street, the location of Horn Hong Low Restaurant.
... If instead of turning east and north from Mott and Bayard streets you go a few squares south you will find a heathen American to offset your religious Poles.
John Chinaman Sticks to His Own Day.
This heathen American is Harry Lee King, of No. 11 Mott street, who, if he may not vote in the land of his adoption, declares his Americanism by having the flag of the land which is free to all but Harry Lee King’s nationality, printed in bright red, white and blue on his neat visiting card. Harry Lee King talks excellent English, and on the authority of Detective Schirmer, of the Elizabeth street station, is the most intelligent Chinaman in the Sixth precinct. He keeps a restaurant, and he stoutly avers that his countrymen do not, despite the manifold efforts to evangelize them, observe the great day of the Christain [sic] year, even on the material side of much eating and drinking. “On Chinee New Year,” says Harry Lee King, his face brightening at the prospect of increased sales of the flesh of that ominous looking varnished pig hanging from a restaurant rafter, “Chinee stop work, eat much fluit, have big dinner—$16 for eight people—dlink rice wine, pear wine; eat birds’ nest, but not on Melican Chlistmas.” Harry Lee King admits at last that there may be three or four hundred “boys” in the whole city who observe the day, but evidently puts very little faith in their sincerity. ...
page 613
.. Obliquely across at No. 11 Mott Street, on the second floor, is the swell restaurant of Chinatown. Here is to be found the longest and most expensive menu and the best cooking. The floor is reached through a dim and bare hallway, up a tortuous winding stair that ends in a nook between the kitchen and the dining room. The latter is filled with round tables slightly higher than those in ordinary use, made of black walnut, and surrounded by tall stools upon which the diners sit. In one corner of the room is a rude imitation of a hotel counter, where the manager presides and from which he issues his commands. A box of Chinese cigarettes, folded at the ends like a tiny package, and a supply of wooden Yankee toothpicks, the one foreign device in vogue, furnish the desk. Both are free to all. A crockery closet—open to the restaurant—and a medley of preserved provisions fill another corner. The waiters shuffle about, in bare feet if warm and in sandals if cold weather prevails. There is little ceremony. Irruptions of “hands” from the kitchen are common. …page 617
… The restaurant at 11 Mott Street is a very profitable institution, and like the bulk of successful Chinese enterprises, is owned by a stock company. It pays big dividends. On Sundays the seats at the tables command a premium, and lucky is the man who gets there before they are all filled. The work of disposing of a meal is long. The Chinese are most social at mealtimes, and the chatter arising from the tables is deafening. Taste for Chinese dishes is easily acquired. They are not so barbarous after all. The samples given show that duck, pork and chicken, with fish, for the chief items of food. There are mysterious soups and gelatinous compounds of sea slugs and bêche de mer [sea cucumber], that come big and are not often ordered. Rice, of course, accompanies every dish. It is the bread of China, and is served perfectly plain, beautifully cooked, each grain being entirely separated, in convenient bowls. It is not easy to pick up rice grains with chopsticks, but the Chinaman gets around that. He places the bowl firmly against his underlip, and with a rotary motion of the chopsticks causes a stream of rice to flow into his system until the craving ceases.“Memorial Day in Chinatown” was a headline in The New York Times, August 22, 1893. The newspaper said “The largest Chinese restaurant in the colony, at 11 Mott Street, had been busy preparing throughout the night.”
The New York Tribune, February 5, 1894, covered the Chinese New Year celebration.
It Is the Chinese New Year.Cromwell Childe’s article about Chinatown appeared in many newspapers including the Tacoma Ledger (Washington), July 1, 1894.
All Kinds of Oriental Noises and Jollifications in Mott-St.—The Big Dragon Everywhere.
Chinatown was a blaze of glory and a regular bedlam yesterday afternoon and last night, and John Chinaman was enjoying himself hugely in his own peculiar way. The cause of all this jollification was the Chinese New Year, which began last night at sunset, and Mott, Pell, Doyer and adjoining streets did full honor to the event. “Gung he fat toi,” the Chinese salutation for good wishes for the New Year, became so common that even the street urchins took up the cry. The joss houses were a feast to the eye without and a pandemonium of sweet Oriental music within. From windows and roofs flapped the dragon-bedecked flag of China, and gay colors and gaudy flowers reflected the resplendent rays of the enormous lanterns that filled every available spot.
It was a holiday in the Chinese quarter, and the shops were closed. Even Harry Lee King, the Delmonico of Mott-st, placed out his sign telling that not even “bin di” could be had that day.
“May I join the festivities?” Asked a reporter of a portly disciple of Confucius, who guarded the entrance to a joss house in Mott-st. “What le malley, you clazy?” grunted John, indignantly switching his pigtail, which, in honor of the occasion, hung down his back instead of being neatly coiled on the back of his head. The he slammed the door, amid approving grins of his countrymen. Inside, the almond-eyed devotees were juggling with the “kow tin,” the “sing boi” and the “mon boi,” and numerous other “tins” and “bois,” to discover how much of success or failure would be theirs in the coming year.
The feasting, the fireworks, the juggling and the music of the tom-toms filled Chinatown with joy until a later hour. The small boy of the neighborhood, as usual, was the only blot on John’s complete happiness. The celebration of New Year will continue throughout the week.
Harry Lee King and Joseph M. Singleton were arrested for smuggling Chinese immigrants. The New York Herald, July 10, 1894, saidThe Cleanest Race We Have
There Is Nothing Dirty About a Chinaman.
Some Mistakes About Him Corrected
There Is No More Dainty or Tidy Place Than a Chinese Kitchen—A Chinese Restaurant—The Richest Man in Chinatown—The Mongol’s Two Daily Baths.
A small strip of streets, much less than the total area of a couple of city squares, makes up the famous Chinese quarter of New York. In genuine Mongolian interest this quarter is second only to the noted Chinatown of San Francisco. Half a hundred diverse civilizations have a focal centre for themselves at the beginning of the Bowery, five minutes’ ride in a cable car from the City Hall and the Post Office. In his fastness of crooked streets just off Chatham square—Pell, Doyer, and Mott—John Chinaman steadfastly refused to be Americanized.
Small as the quarter is, it shelters nearly twenty-five hundred Mongolians. Those who know these Orientals as brothers say there are between six and seven thousand Chinese, “Chinoisers” and “Chinks” in the metropolitan district—that is Brooklyn, New York, and Jersey City. Chinatown is the Mecca for each and every one of these thousands.
Chinatown is generally spoken of as squalid and crowded, its inhabitants are denominated “dirty haythen,” and when one suggests a Chinese bill of fare the American joke-maker talks about rats and shudders at some imaginary uncleanliness.
Crowded Chinatown certainly is, but squalid is the last word to apply to it. At the risk of being set down us a falsifier and an unparalleled misstater, I will affirm that the Chinese are the cleanest people on earth. You could literally eat off the floor of a Chinese kitchen. No American or continental kitchen is in the running with it, it is so scrupulously clean. The Chinaman seldom bakes. He boils and fries. For these purposes he uses great hemispheres of pots, with huge covers. They are made of single pieces of metal, without the joints our American utensils possess. Ask a Chinaman why this is, and with a lifting of his shoulders he will tell you that they clean much more easily and that with a perfectly smooth interior there is much less danger of particles of dirt lodging inside.
Tables in kitchens and eating rooms are scrubbed to a point of infinite daintiness. I have watched a Chinese cook making Chinese spaghetti out of flour paste, winding the product deftly around two poles until it looked like a great sheet of purest, finest linen. The kneading board might readily have been used for a plate, and one would not have minded licking up any crumbs that had fallen there.
Not far away from the kneading table in any Chinese kitchen you please stands a great bowl of that Mongolian delicacy, chop-slow, famously roasted pork, a meat that in the hands of Chinese cooks sends forth a most appetizing odor, and which has been cured in China in the smoke of fragrant woods and herbs.
Except perishable viands, practically everything on a Mongolian bill of fare comes from China itself. Quaint and curious baskets, the like of which cannot be imported in New York, stand in each kitchen, filled with lentils, barley, sprouts, dried fish and many other articles of food peculiar to the Orient. The fires burn steadily in odd ovens, rather resembling those of the old Dutch type, and are fed with hemlock wood, whenever that is to be had, which is nearly always. A Chinese cook never uses coal if he can possibly help it.
Start out as a gourmet a la Choinese, and this is one dish you should try. The delights of a “bird and a small cold bottle” at the historic “Delmonico’s on the avenue” are tame when compared with the roast wood pigeons, spitted on a stick and served with a curious sauce in the “Chinese Delmonico’s” at 11 Mott street. The pigeons are literally “cooked to order.” They are kept, alive and happy, in a wicker cage on the window sill of the kitchen, and upon the request of the “diner-out” as many as are needed are withdrawn.
Harry Lee King is the Chinese Delmonico. He is an Americanized Chinaman, good-natured, keen and clever. Though he caters in some measure to Americans, his place has lost none of its characteristics, and conventional Orientals swarm there by the dozens. The prices, and therefore the margin of profit, are much smaller here than in the more widely known restaurants up town, yet, nevertheless, Harry Lee King manages to clear $7,000 to $8,000 a year.
A moment’s digression for Wong Ching Foo, the lawyer in chief of the colony, a very small Oriental, possessed of a college education, and with nothing but his face to show his race. Wong Ching is thoroughly Americanized. Even his ideas are those of Americans. He talks glibly on politics, races and the fashions. Once he edited a breezy paper called the Chinese American, but the Oriental support was not sufficient. He is the connecting link between the people of the colony and the world without.
Another idea regarding the Chinese needs correction. This is with reference to their traditional near-handedness. It has been said that a Chinaman can live on a few cents a day. Without doubt he can; but it is a fact that he very seldom does. He wants good and nourishing food of the finest quality—and he gets it. A recent typical lunch a friend and myself had at Harry Lee King’s cost sixty-five cents.
Every Chinese dinner includes pot after pot of tung-chau (hot tea). “Tung-chau” is the most frequent cry in a Chinese restaurant. Tea is free ad libitum to every patron. Even more, it would be given to every tramp and beggar who asked for it. A huge vessel is constantly kept upon the stove.
A curious tradition explains this custom. Centuries before Christ uttered his memorable words about that “cup of cold water,” the prophet Confucius said that whoever should give a cup of hot tea to the wayfarer should receive his reward.
I have spoken of the real cleanliness of the Chinese. The chiefest charm of a Chinese kitchen is the immaculateness of the cooks. The Chinaman who should fail to wash himself morning and night, from top to toe, would be no Chinaman at all. A recent superintendent of the Southern Pacific Railway told this of his experience while managing the construction of one of its sections: “Chinese laborers would be the best we could get if it wasn’t for the trouble we have in supplying each of them with five gallons of water a day.”
“Surely one Chinaman doesn’t drink all that!” began his interlocutor.
The superintendent laughed.
“Not a bit of it. A Chinaman rarely drinks water. But he requires every drop of that amount to wash himself with.”
Yeut Sing, of Mott street, the largest grocer of Chinatown, is also, in all probability, its richest man. His fortune is certainly $350,000. Quong I Gong is another social power in the district. He is a big rice importer in Doyer street.
I have not touched on the moral question in “Chinatown.” Let it be said that it is not as bad as has been stated. There are many civil marriages between the Chinamen and the white girls. The Chinaman makes the best husband in the world. All his money is brought right home; he is never cruel, or almost never, and his wife can have her own sweet will, especially if she be an American woman.
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Investigating the Smuggling of Chinese.The New York Sun, July 10, 1894, said
Washington, July 9.—Secretary Carlisle said this morning that he had ordered several weeks ago an investigation into alleged smuggling of Chinamen into the United States from Canada, on our northern frontier. The subject was still under investigation, and all parties found guilty would be prosecuted. If any Government officials were found to be implicated, they would be summarily removed first and prosecuted afterward. Especial attention is being paid to violations of law at Burlington, Vt.
Joseph M. Singleton, a Chinese, who is accused of acting as a go-between in the smuggling of Chinese into this country by way of Burlington, Vt., surrendered himself yesterday to United States Commissioner Shields, and was released on $1,00 bail. Singleton is an interpreter. He married a white woman, who died recently. Harry Lee King of 11 Mott street was arrested by United States Marshals on a similar charge, and was admitted to ball in $1,000.
Investigating the Smuggling of Chinese.The New York World, July 10, 1894, said
Washington, July 9.—Secretary Carlisle said this morning that he had ordered several weeks ago an investigation into alleged smuggling of Chinamen into the United States from Canada, on our northern frontier. The subject was still under investigation, and all parties found guilty would be prosecuted. If any Government officials were found to be implicated, they would be summarily removed first and prosecuted afterward. Especial attention is being paid to violations of the law at Burlington. Vt.
Joseph M. Singleton, a Chinese, who is accused of acting as a go-between in the smuggling of Chinese into this country by way of Burlington, Vt., surrendered himself yesterday to United States Commissioner Shields, and was released on $1,000 bail. Singleton is an interpreter. He married a white woman, who died recently. Harry Lee King of 11 Mott street was arrested by United States Marshals on a similar charge, and was admitted to bail in $1,000.
Seventeen on the List.The New York Herald, July 26, 1894, said
Two More of the Smuggling Chinese Conspirators Under Arrest.
The Business “Partner” Game.
More Than 1,100 “Merchants” Have Managed to Steal Across the Line in Nine Months
Secretary Carlisle Speaks Hotly.
After the Investigation That Has Ordered Smirched Officials Will Be Discharged and Prosecuted.
... There were three more warrants issued yesterday, which means a total of seventeen. Of these five were served on Saturday and two yesterday. The two accused Chinamen captured yesterday were Joseph M. Singleton, the Chinese interpreter, who makes his headquarters in the Custom-House, and Harry Lee King. ...
... Harry Lee King, the other suspect arrested yesterday, is a short, slight fellow. He retains his pigtail, which he wears curled up on the top of his head. He was dressed like an American. He claims to be a member of the firm of Horn Hong Low Company, at No. 11 Mott street. He was bailed out by Francisco Aiello, of No. 285 1/1 Fourteenth street, Brooklyn. ..
Scharf’s Witnesses Absent.The head waiter of Horn Hong Low Restaurant was a subject in the New York World, November 3, 1894.
Probable Collapse of the Alleged Smuggling Case.
United States Commissioner Shields discharged from custody yesterday Choy Yon Chung, Chin Dew, and Harry Lee King, the last of those arrested with Lee Fee and Joseph M. Singleton on the charge of aiding in the unlawful entry into this country of Quong Wah and four other Chinamen. Before the case was called the new United States District Attorney, Wallace McFarlane, who, it was said, had expressed his determination to bring the cases to trial, had a conference with Chinese Inspector Scharf and Assistant District Attorney Ball. This conference was followed by another, in which Inspector Scharf, Sing Bo, the present Government interpreter in New York, and Worry N. Charles, his predecessor in office, joined. At its close Mr. Ball announced that as sufficient time had not been given to the United States marshals to serve the subpoenas on witnesses, he would like the the marshals put on file to show that the failure to have the case was not the fault of the District Attorney’s office.
“The Government,” he continued, “does not choose to develop the testimony it already has until it can produce the whole of it, and this step is taken with the full approbation of Chinese Inspector, Scharf. We have endeavored to get all our evidence, but, owing to the shortness of time we have had in which to serve our witnesses with subpoenas, we have been unable to do so, and we now understand that at least one of our witnesses is beyond the jurisdiction of the court. We do not therefore wish it understood as any lapse on the part of the District Attorney’s offer that we have been unable to reach our witnesses and go on with our case, and in taking this course we desire to state plainly that we have the full approval of Col. Scharf.
Commissioner Shields then discharged the prisoners on the same grounds upon which Price, Brassel, and Ng Wah Hock were discharged the day before, namely, that they had already been held for a reasonable time and it would be unfair to detain them any longer. This ends the case unless Inspector Scharf can induce the District Attorney to bring the matter up before the United States Grand Jury and procure indictments.
It was rumored yesterday that the authorities at Washington were not altogether satisfied with Scharf’s management of the cases, and that he would be summoned to the capital to explain why the evidence was not ready when the cases were called.
Was It Done by Japs?A dinner at Horn Hong Low Restaurant was reviewed in the Cincinnati Enquirer (Ohio), February 14, 1895.
Lee Gong Says Two Mikado Subjects Tried to Assassinate Him.
Chinatown All Stirred Up Over a Row in a Restaurant.
Certain Witnesses Say a Chinaman Assaulted the Fat Head Waiter.
Chinatown was thrown into a wild state of alarm early this morning. Screaming Chinamen ran through Mott street, arousing those who slept and spreading terror on all sides. It was the uncertainty of the thing that caused alarm. Nobody seemed to know what it was all about Finally, when things had quieted down a little Lee Gong, an oracle in Chinese matters, said that he with four others had narrowly escaped death at the hands of a would-be assassin.
Lee Gong is the head waiter at the restaurant of Horn, Hong, Low & Co., at 11 Mott street. The eating-room is on the second floor of the house, almost opposite the Joss House. Under Lee Gong there are twelve waiters. Lee Gong is so stout that he has difficulty in walking, and cannot run at all. All the other waiters are slim.
Last night’s trouble originated in the restaurant. The first that Chinatown, outside of the place, knew or any trouble was when the sounds of a great commotion came from the eating-house, a crash of glass, a rattle or falling dishes and loud and excited voices. Then the twelve slim waiters rushed out into the street, with the fat head waiter following slowly but even more excited than the under waiters.
In a moment there was a great crowd around Lee Gong. He stuttered as he spoke, so that a Chinese interpreter, who was there to help out Policeman Egger, couldn’t understand him.
“What does he say?” asked the policeman.
“I can’t understand him,” answered the interpreter.
“But he’s talking all right,” the policeman insisted.
“But,” explained the interpreter, “it’s all chopped up, all in pieces, I don’t know what he means.”
When the interpreter finally made out what the fat waiter was trying to say, he announced that Lee Gong would not tell a word of the trouble to anybody but Harry Lee King, the manager of the restaurant. He lives further along on the outskirts of Chinatown in Elizabeth street. So the policeman sent for Harry Lee King, and waited patiently until he appeared.
Lee Gong had quieted down considerably when the manager appeared, but the fifty or more Chinamen that stood about were getting more excited every minute. The policeman tried to quiet them, but didn’t make much headway.
Lee Gong’s story to the manager was startling. He said that at 1:30 o’clock he was standing in the back of the restaurant, and it just so happened that four of the waiters under him were standing in a line between him and the window. There were a dozen people eating Poi at the tables.
Suddenly there came a crash, and one of the front windows was shattered with a bullet. Lee Gong was very sure it was a bullet, for he watched it. It passed by the four thin waiters within a foot of each, but it came within an inch of Lee Gong, because he is so stout. Then behind him it shattered a handsome $200 mirror in a large gilt frame. After that Lee Gong said that he rushed to the window, and looking down into Mott street, he saw two men running rapidly away.
When he got this far with his story the big waiter said something that made the surrounding Chinamen more excited than they had been before.
“What is that he said?” asked the policeman.
And the interpreter answered:
“He is quite suer [sic] the men were not Chinese. He believes they are Japanese. He could tell by the way they ran.”
The policeman expressed his doubt of the truth of the story, but Lee Gong said that he had absolute proof. So he, with the policeman, Henry Lee King and all the others, went upstairs into the restaurant.
There Lee Gong proved to all the Chinamen that he had spoken the truth, for he pointed with an air of triumph to the mirror with the big hole in it, from which the cracks radiated like the web of a spider.
Still the policeman was not satisfied, and Manager Harry Lee King seemed doubtful. So Lee Gong played his trump card, which he had held until the last. He led his manager to the front window, showed him the shattered glass and pointed down into the street to the very point where he had seen the men running. Harry Lee King was satisfied with this overwhelming proof.
Then policeman Eggers began his investigation. He had to make a report to the Elizabeth street station, and he was not at all satisfied. He found that the hole in the front window was much lower than the hole in the mirror, and that it would have been a total impossibility for any one to have fired a shot from the street and one bullet have made the two holes.
Besides that, he went around with the interpreter and found some of the people who had been in the restaurant, and he found one of them who told him that there had been a row in the restaurant, and that a mad Chinaman had thrown a dish at the fat waiter, and that it was in the general fight that followed that the front window and all the dishes had been smashed. This Chinaman said that Lee Gong had told his story so as not to be blamed for the fight.
Eggers decided that Lee Gong had lied, but Manager Harry Lee King would not have it that way at all. Some one had told him that the shot had been fired by a member of the Japanese Legation, and he insisted that he be protected, and that the police make a thorough investigation.
The policeman believed that he had investigated enough, so Manager Harry Lee King said that he had a mind to see Supt. Byrnes and have the place guarded by a special squad of policemen, for his own life might be in danger.
In a Chinese Hostelry.Harry Lee King attended the opening of the new joss house on Pell Street. The New-York Tribune, May 14, 1895, said
An Experience That Is Cheap and Enjoyable.
Steve Brodie Desires to Shine in Society—New York Gossip
... The place was No. 11 Mott street, where, in the second story, Horn Hung [sic] Low & Co. keep the oldest restautaurant [sic] in Chinatown. The hallway, stairs and restaurant floor were grimy, latter bearing agricultural evidence of the age of the establishment.
Harry Lee King, manager of the place, has been in New York for 15 years, and has acquired a fair knowledge of English. He makes it his business to help white strangers over the rough spots in their gastronomic journey. Our trio drew up stools—they have no chairs—to one of the little round tables, and a Chinese waiter immediately, brought a quaint teapot and three small shallow cups without handles. Tea costs the visitor nothing, and it is supplied without an order, precisely as glasses of water are supplied to customers in English restaurants. The following order was then given the waiting Celestial: “Chow chop suey, gai (pronounced guy), ob, rice, spoons, forks.”
Clarence, or whatever else the waiter’s name may have been, disappeared in the direction of the kitchen, shouting out a series of words in sounds that suggested the possibility of a bone being stuck in his throat. On the other hand, too, a free translation, perhaps, was: “Say, cook, there’s three guys out here that want some chicken, duck and rice. Step to the window and pipe them off.” Copying after the example set by Chinamen at adjacent tables, the party filled their cups, and, after swashing the liquid around in the vessels, threw the contents on the floor. This is presumably a washing process. The waiter now returned and placed four bowls on the table. Each contained one of the ordered edibles. Then to each customer he gave an individual dish in which was
A Brown Liquid
Or sauce, into which it was noticed that the regulars dipped their chop stick morsel of food before conveying it to the mouth. It was sweetish and very pleasant to the taste. Chow chop suey, as nearly as could be ascertained, was a hash of pork, chicken and beans. Gal was baked chicken cut up very small, as are all the Chinese foods for chop stick use. Ob was roast duck, palatably, cooked and tender. The rice, which takes the place of bread with the Celestials, was boiled to a perfection that even Savarin could not have objected to. For a finish, another dish, the name of which was not mentioned, was brought out on the advice of Manager King, who said first as a kindly warning: “It cost you 70 cent, but it good.”
As the waiter yelled out the order for it every Chinaman in the room turned to stare at the people who were making such an epicurean plunge. The dish comprised pork, duck, salted fish, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, preserves and something else akin to truffles.
During the repast the teapot was emptied and replenished. This particular brand of tea, although free, was far better than the kind purchased in average restaurants. For better qualities 5, 10 or 15 cents a quart is charged, according to the grade.
The total cost of the meal for the trio was as follows:
Chow chop suey (hash) $ 15
Gal (chicken) 15
Ob (duck). 25
That last dish 70
Rice 05
Total $1.30
A cost to each person of 43 cents. But for the wild extravagance of that final order, and all appetites had been satisfied before it came on, the outlay would have been 20 cents apiece.
A New Temple for Chinatown.Harry Lee King was on a committee to help a deceased Chinatown resident. The story appeared in the Davenport Daily Tribune (Iowa), September 18, 1895
Wealthy Members of the Colony Now Have a Joss House of Their Own.
Chinatown has a new Joss house. It was opened yesterday. The new pagan temple is on the top floor of No. 34 Pell-st., in the rooms formerly occupied by the Lin Yuen restaurant. The opening was celebrated by a service to the heathen gods in the Chinese Concert Company’s hall, at No. 9 Doyers-st. The old Joss house at No. 16 Mott-st. was used by all classes of Chinamen. The new temple is intended for those “Celestials” only who come from Hock Sun County, Kwang Tong province. The Hock Sun Society is composed chiefly of the higher class of Cantonese, merchants, writers, medical men and others. Yung Nam Hee, a venerable Chinaman, is the high priest. Harry Lee King, an Americanized Chinaman, is the English interpreter. Lee Quai, one of the owners of the Doyers-st. theatre; Mock Tuck, who made the address of welcome to Mayor Strong at the banquet to him and Police Commissioner Andrews a few weeks ago; Sing Nam, whose little daughter the Mayor patted and said mirthfully that he would like to take to his home, are among those interested in the establishment of the new temple.
The recent visit of Mayor Strong to Chinatown has been a great benefit to the merchants of Mott and adjacent streets, as hundreds of Americans have followed Colonel Strong’s example. The women visitors to Chinatown are the best customers, as they are sure to take a fancy to some of the numerous articles of chinaware that are displayed in the stores.
In the Chinese theatre there were given two semi-religious plays yesterday, the “Sin Hock Shing” and the “Date Mong Shang Hong.” The plays represent scenes from the life of Confucius and Mensius, the greatest of all gods of China. The Hock Sun Society hired the theatre, and the proceeds of the performances will be devoted to the Joss house treasury.
Good-by Mr. Dong.Another head waiter at Horn Hong Low Restaurant was mentioned in the New York Press, November 10, 1895.
New York’s Oldest Chinaman Is to Be Sent Home.
Chinatown will see the last of its most notable character, says the New York News, Dong Dot Chu is not only the oldest resident of Chinatown, but he has been in New York longer than any other Mongolian, and, more remarkable still, he is absolutely without a cousin, and that is the reason that he is going to be sent back to China by public subscription. The first time this thing has ever been known to happen before, because every Chinaman in the United States has invariably from one dozen to a gross of cousins, and it would be an everlasting disgrace on the family name to have any outsider help any member of the family. In Mr. Dong’s case (In China the first name is always the family name), however, there is good reason for his being dependent on the generosity of his countrymen for the price of a return ticket to the celestial land. Dong Dot Chu has been in New York city at least forty-five years—so long, in fact, that he has never been known by any other name among his own countrymen than that of Yankee. The story of Yankee’s life is more romantic than that of the hero of a dime novel. He was born in the village of San Wie, Kwang Tong (Canton) province. One day his parents took him to Canton City, and while there he strayed away from them. He tells the story himself in this way: That while wandering about the city a stranger approached and by promises of nice clothes and sweetmeats induced him to go along. Dong Dot Chu says he thinks he was about 9 years old then. Whether he us 59 or 69 now or not he cannot tell. When he next remembered anything, Mr. Dong says, after he met the stranger, he was on board of a steamship. He learned afterward that he was a slave on a plantation in Cuba. Some time during the civil war in the United States the owner of the tobacco plantation came to New York with his family, and while here, Mr. Dong says, he stole away from them. He had learned to roll cigars while in Cuba, and he went to work to learn cigar-making. He followed this business in this city afterward until he got too old to work. For a long time past Dong Dot Chu has been supported by friends and sympathizers. He has been sleeping under the stairs in the hallway of 11 Mott street. Lee Yum Ping, mayor of Chinatown, Lee Fun Sing, Lee Chow and Harry Lee King, Chinese merchants, have been appointed a committee to collect the $200 necessary to send Dong Dot Chu back to China.
Glory in Her FeetThe costly prank by two men was noted in the New York Press, February 3, 1896.
Those of This Chinatown Bride Two Inches Long.
Great Function in Mott Street
Much Interest Among the Oriental Smart Set in the Wedding of Tom Yen Hoy.
Little Ah Ching was as busy last night as a Park row bartender after 1 a. m. He is the head waiter at Harry Lee King’s restaurant, No. 11 Mott street, and there was the biggest kind of a swell wedding feast on behind the curtains which separated the banqueters from the common folk, whose till of fare was only yakki-men and one bowl of rice. ...
... Like many of his countrymen who have grown rich in America, Tom Yen Hoy spends his money lavishly when he has good reason to, and the programme of the wedding festivities, which began last night, runs through the ensuing thirty days. Last night after the ceremony there was a supper at 6 o’clock at No. 16 Mott street and another at 11 o’clock at No. 11 Mott street. To-night there will be another at No. 16 Pell street. On Tuesday there will be a ladies’ function, probably at the cafe of Mon Lay Won, No. 24 Pell street. ...
They Had Fun with Lee Gee
Then the Detectives Whirled in and Had Fun with Them.
Most of the women who live in Mott and Pell streets and thereabouts are partial to yakki-men, and like to have it brought to them from the Horn Hong Low, the restaurant at No. 11 Mott street.
Lee Gee, an inoffensive fellow, except when it comes to talking about the Japanese war, was out with a tray full on Saturday night, when it occurred to John Sullivan and Joseph Farrell that it would be the height of humor to kick the tray out of his hand and see the soup fly.
It was simply grand fun, but when two detectives collared them the next minute, it wasn’t so funny. Each was fined $5 in Centre Street Court yesterday. If it keeps on this way there won’t be any more sport left in town.
Detail, Plate 5, Atlas of the City of New York Manhattan Island (1897)
Horn Hong Low & Co. was listed in Trow’s Business Directory of the Boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx, City of New York, April 1897.
The banquet at Horn Hong Low Restaurant was covered in The New York Times, September 2, 1897.
Lee Toy Indorses Low.The New York Journal, September 2, 1897, highlighted Lee Toy’s speech.
Political Speech at a Chinese Banquet in Mott Street by a Visitor from Philadelphia.
An elaborate Chinese dinner was given last night at 11 Mott Street, which is the swell restaurant of Chinatown, by Harry Lee King, the proprietor, in honor of his friend Lee Toy of Philadelphia. About forty persons were present, including most of the leading Chinese merchants, Chief Interpreter Singleton, of the Custom House force, and Soc Wing, the Chinese Vice Consul here.
A slight sensation was caused by the after dinner speech of Lee Toy, who is a court interpreter in Philadelphia and assistant Mayor of the Chinatown there. He discussed the politics of Greater New York and warmly indorsed Mr. Low, whom he had met, he said, in Philadelphia, and knew to be a man who would make an ideal Mayor. He said he intended to devote his own time and means to securing the franchise for his countrymen. Many other speeches were made.
The dinner began at 4 P. M. and continued until 6. Then an intermission was taken until 11 o’clock last night, according to strict Chinese custom. When it, had been resumed it was protracted until some time morning. The bill of fare was as interminable as it was unintelligible to all but a Chinese understudy.
Chinese Rally for Low.Details of the banquet were described in the New York Herald, September 2, 1897.
Philadelphia’s Big Celestial Politician Fires a Gun in the Local Colony for the Cits Man.
Mr. Seth Low, Citizens’ Union candidate for Many of Greater New York, has received the unqualified indorsement of—Whom do you think—no other than Mr. Lee Toy, the assistant mayor of Philadelphia’s Chinatown, a court interpreter and a merchant of wealth.
The indorsement was given at a dinner in Harry Lee King’s big restaurant at No. 11 Mott street at 4 p.m. yesterday. The dinner was in honor of the marriage of Lee Toy and a beautiful almond-eyed Chinese maid in Philadelphia there weeks ago. She lived in Montreal and travelled from that city to Philadelphia, accompanied by her aunt and two maids, and the Quaker City Mayor tied the knot.
Lee Toy came to New York on his first business trip since the wedding yesterday, and hence the dinner. All of Chinatown’s big merchants attended and L. Wing, the Chinese Vice Consul; Mr. Singleton, the Custom House Inspector, and Guy Maine, the Chinese missionary, were also present. Forty sat down at the six tables, and after the various courses of bird’s nest pudding, sharks’ kins [sic], pigeons’ wings and other Celestial dainties, had been disposed of, the wine was brought, and Assistant Mayor Lee Toy besought to speak.
Lee Toy, who is six feet tall and broad shouldered, would pass for an American, except for his olive complexion. He dresses like one and speaks English well. Moreover, he is a politician and he saw his opportunity. He spoke in Chinese for twenty minutes on Low’s nomination. Practically he said:
“Mr. Low is a gentleman of education and of integrity. He would make a good Mayor of the greater city. We should expect a good administration, good streets, good government in every department. The Chinese are as much interested in good city officials as the Americans. I urge you to work for Mr. Low. A few of you are citizens, but I shall work to make to make you all citizens. Good men, whether Chinese or Americans, should have the right to vote. But even as aliens, you can do your part in helping to elect Mr. Low.”
The Chinese merchants listened attentively and applauded. After an intermission a second dinner, which lasted until midnight, was given.
Mr. Toy’s Wedding Feast.The Buffalo Evening News, September 13, 1897, reprinted the Herald article and attributed it to the New York Sun. Apparently these articles were the last time Harry Lee King’s name appeared in print. What became of him is not known.
He Didn’t Let His Bride Attend Because So Many Good-Looking Men Were There.
Mr. Lee Toy, who is known as the Mayor of Philadelphia’s Chinese settlement, gave a wedding dinner to his friends in this city yesterday, having just arrived here on his wedding tour. The bride is a Chinese belle with small feet. She had made arrangements to give a dinner to the Chinese women of New York, but her husband objected to it, saying it was unAmerican.
Mr. Toy’s wedding dinner was served in Harry Lee King’s restaurant, and 110 guests were present. They sat down at 4 o’clock in the afternoon and ate until 8 o’clock in the evening. Then the speechmaking commenced, and at half-past 10 o’clock the guests began to tackle the last half of the dinner.
The bill of fare started off with yue tow, which means fish roe. Yue che, or fish wings, were served next, followed by quay pae op, which is steamed duck. The other things served were steamed mushrooms, fried pigeon, you yee soup, fi far che (pickled fish), birds’ nests, stewed pigeon, tea, fried snails, rice wine, apricot wine, spring chicken, bananas, apricots, and several special Chinese dishes with peculiar names. Among the luxuries served was suet yee, which looked like balls of snow and tasted like lemon-iced limburger cheese. Suet yee, an interpreter explained, grew on stone in China and cost $20 a pound.
Among the guests present were the Hon. Fong Mow, Jung Ah Hung, and Li Woh.
Mr. Toy made a speech, in which he said that he had left his bride in the care of her friends, because he did not dare to bring her where there were so many good-looking young men. This little joke of the host was loudly applauded.
During the dinner a band of Chinese musicians played American tunes on stringed instruments. Mr. Toy and his friends were eating at 1 o’clock this morning.
Louis Joseph Beck’s 1898 book, New York’s Chinatown: An Historical Presentation of Its People and Places, examined the restaurants.
... There are seven restaurants in Chinatown which rank as first-class places, and four others of the second or lower class, some of which would more properly be called mere eating houses. Those of the first-class are the following: Hon Heong Lau [Horn Hong Low], 11 Mott Street; King Heong Lau, 16 Mott Street; Me Heong Lau, 14 Mott Street; Way Heong Lau, 20 Mott Street; Gui Ye Quan, 34 Pell Street; Mon Li Won, 24 Pell Street, and Kum Sun, 16 Pell Street. The menu and prices charged in these several places are substantially the same. They each serve a variety of dishes classified according to the price charged as per the following ...The 1898 edition of Trow’s Business Directory listed Horn Kong [sic] Low & Co.
According to The Trow Copartnership and Corporation Directory of the Boroughs of Manhattan and Bronx, March 1901, Horn Hong Low & Co. was dissolved. At 11 Mott Street, Chinese Restaurant was the registered trade name of these partners: Lee Kue Tin, Lee Hong Chor, Lee You Fang, Lee Shou, Lee Ming Yue, Chai Fong, Won Foo, Yong Woe & Young Chai. (I believe Lee Shou was Shoe Lee in the 1900 census. He was counted at 11 Mott Street. Coincidently, Shoe Lee, who immigrated in 1881, was the same age as Harry Lee King and had the same occupation of restaurant.)
Four months later, Trow’s General Directory of the Boroughs of Manhattan and Bronx, July 1, 1901, listed Horn Hong Low as an eating house at 11 Mott Street.
The New York Times, November 23, 1901, noted the business trouble at Horn Hong Low & Co.
Horn Hong Low & Co.—Fat Sing, as Treasurer of Horn Hong Low & Co., an unincorporated association, composed of more than seven persons, who kept a Chinese grocery store at 11 Mott Street, confessed judgment yesterday for $472 in favor of Robert W. Hawthorne on an assigned claim for goods sold to the concern by Quong Yuen Sing & Co. Execution on the Judgment was issued to Deputy Sheriff Prendergast.Trow’s General Directory of the Boroughs of Manhattan and Bronx, City of New York, July 1, 1903, listed two eating houses at 11 Mott Street, Foo Nom Low and Horn Hong Low. The 1904 edition did not have Horn Hong Low.
First postcard identifies the building at 11 Mott Street. Second postcard was postmarked July 27, 1904.
Detail, Plate 32, Insurance Maps of the City of New York,
The postcard below, circa 1906, shows the Mott Street restaurants Imperial (number 5), Port Arthur (numbers 7–9) and Nom Foo Low (number 11), whose sign is partially visible in the detail.
The following two postcards (one postmarked January 11, 1907) show the Mott Street restaurants at numbers 5, 7–9 and 11.
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(Next post on Wednesday: Yuen Tung Low Restaurant)
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