Special Feature :
Chinese Restaurants in Downtown Mtn . View
Two that we trace , created by one extended family , are among Mountain View ’ s most influential and venerated restaurants of any kind .
By Li Zhang and Max Hauser MVHA Members
Mountain View ’ s downtown business district , which formed after the railroad arrived in 1864 , has housed many popular Chinese restaurants . Just in recent decades , such now-vanished establishments as Café Yulong , Chef Liu , Chef Wang , Food Street , Full House , Golden Wok , Han Gen , Hunan Chili , Hunan Gourmet , New China Delight , Plum Garden , Shanghai House , South China , Szechuan Garden , Tien Fu , and Twinkling Spring attracted loyal customers . This article examines two of the most fondly remembered restaurants , of any genre , in Mountain View ’ s history — Qui Hing Low and Andy ’ s — and the immigrant family behind them .
Immigrant Entrepreneurs Chinese-immigrant-owned businesses had long been a part of downtown Mountain View . Yuen Lung opened a retail store in
An early Qui Hing Low menu cover .
1879 at a corner of Villa and View Streets . Other Asian-immigrantrun businesses concentrated nearby . ( When Lung died in 1932 a San José newspaper article memorialized him as a “ noted citizen .”) [ Source Note 1 ]
Not all Chinese immigrants were cordially received . After the transcontinental railroad was completed , leaving Chinese laborers unemployed , Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882 , barring immigrant Chinese labor . ( Congress repealed it in 1943 .)
A study of a NY Public Library menu collection , 150 Years of Chinese Cuisine in America ( https :// bit . ly / 3qWMinF ), concluded that Chinese restaurants in America began with serving poor miners in “ chow chow houses ” and evolved to the mainstream of US dining , initially by introducing westernized dishes such as chop suey , fried rice , and chow mein as food “ exotic ” to Americans .
A Visit From San Francisco In the middle 1930s , Mountain View was a happening place . The new naval air station , Moffett Field , was becoming important . Moffett Field had begun as a joint initiative of Mountain View and Sunnyvale ,
On top : 100 block of Castro Street in the 1970s .
Above : Circa 1950s photo of Qui Hing Low Cafe ’ s original location at 156 Castro Street with its “ Chop Suey ” neon sign .
Left : September 1949 advertisement . ( Mountain View ’ s telephone exchange , Yorkshire 7 , meant early local numbers had “ YO 7 ” prefixes , later 967 ).
with the hope of bringing federal jobs to the region during the hard economic times of the early 1930s . By 1935 , after a facility swap with the Navy , the Army Air Corps ( predecessor of the Air Force ) became the main tenant , adding Moffett to its flight training facilities . The airfield brought new customers to Mountain View ’ s nearby Castro Street business district .
Taking the train one morning in 1935 from San Francisco to investigate a restaurant property for rent on Castro , On and Rose Liu , both of whom had prior experience in the restaurant business , faced disappointment initially . The property was already rented .
Before returning to San Francisco , On and Rose stopped at a local ice-cream parlor . The proprietor , Curley Thrower , told the Lius of another suitable property available at 156 Castro , next to his own shop . Curley ’ s tip led eventually to Qui Hing Low ( QHL ) opening there in January 1936 , a successful restaurant for nearly 50 years . It also would lead indirectly to another very popular restaurant : Andy ’ s .
Continued on next page 6