Chinese Nightclubs in San Francisco, 1936-1970

choi

Robert Ito, East Meets West, Over Cocktails; A book and an exhibition recall vanished Chinese nightclubs. New York Times, Apr 13, 2014
www.nytimes.com/2014/04/13/arts/ ... over-cocktails.html
(“Mr [Arthur] Dong[, a documentarian,] wrote ‘Forbidden City, USA: Chinese American Nightclubs, 1936-1970,’ published this weekend by DeepFocus Productions. * * * Mr Dong discovered seven nightclubs in San Francisco, as well as a lone outpost in New York, the China Doll
* * * Mr Dong also discovered that a lot of the performers at these ‘All-Chinese’ cabarets [though ‘mostly Chinese-American’] were not really Chinese. Many were Japanese-American, including the MC Pat Morita (‘The Karate Kid’)”)

My comment:
(a) View photos and read the first three paragraphs.
(b) Because most characters in this book review were Chinese-American, they did not have Chinese name.
(c)
(i) Larry CHING (1921-2003)
(ii)Arthur DONG 曾 奕田
(iii) May LEE
(iv) In the montage (at the top of the Web page), left upper corner is “The Tai Sings.”

Mai TAI SING. FoundSF (San Francisco's Digital Archive), undated
foundsf.org/index.php?title=Mai_Tai_Sing
(“Mai Tai Sing was born May Tsang in Oakland, California, but spent most of her childhood in Hong Kong. When she was about fourteen, her family moved back to the Bay Area. * * * While training with [Walton] Biggerstaff [at Biggerstaff’s studio], Mai met the dance duo of Wilbur and Jessie Tai Sing [Jesse was a woman, probably Wilbur’s sister] * * * Mai and Wilbur Tai Sing were married and raised two daughters”)
(v) Ivy TAM
(vi) Barbara YUNG

(d)
(i) Forbidden City (nightclub)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbidden_City_(nightclub)

was formed by Charlie LOW.
(ii) Club Shanghai

Harley Spiller, Late Night in the Lion’s Den: Chinese Restaurant-Nightclubs in 1940s San Francisco. Gastronomica 4:4 (volume 4, number 4; Fall 2004)
www.gastronomica.org/late-night- ... 940s-san-francisco/
("Menu from Fong Wan’s Club Shanghai restaurant, San Francisco, 1940s. Collection of Harley Spiller")
(iii) Chinese Sky Room (founded by Andy WONG)

(e) China Darlings of 1950 was a revue.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revue
(Due to high ticket prices, ribald publicity campaigns and the occasional use of prurient material, the revue was typically patronized by audience members who earned even more and felt even less restricted by middle-class social mores than their contemporaries in vaudeville; section 1 Etymology)

choi

Apr 22, 2014.

The book review is translated:

Robert Ito, 中国杂耍与东方风情风行的年代. 纽约时报中文网, Apr 22, 2014.
cn.tmagazine.com/culture/20140422/t22forbidden/