By opening markets in Barrio Viejo, Barrio Anita, west of the Santa Cruz River, in South Tucson, as well as other Mexican, African American and Native American communities, the Chinese filled an important niche in Tucson’s minority communities where their goods and services were needed. Because these Chinese businesses were not in direct competition with Tucson’s Anglo community, their integration within the minority communities buffered some of the anti-Chinese feeling in Tucson.
The Chinese adapted and learned to speak Spanish and, where necessary, Yaqui, and other Native American languages to conduct business. Children born into this culturally rich environment grew up speaking Spanish (or a Native American language) with the store’s customers, Chinese at home and English at school. In addition to speaking three languages, my mother-in-law, Bessie Don Chan, born in Barrio Viejo, cooked in three cuisines: Mexican, Chinese, and American. Her family celebrated Chinese New Year and Christmas too. One grocer, Don Kim, advertised his store in Tucson’s Spanish language newspaper, El Fronterizo, in the 1890s. By the 1970s, Phil Don, owner of the El Cortez Market on 1st Avenue, incorporated the Tucson Chinese/Mexican connection as part of his business model. He established Tucson’s first and only Chinese/Mexican deli and he was renowned for the quality of his Chinese chorizo. Some Tucson Chinese, influenced by their Mexican neighbors, became Catholics. The children of Chinese Mexican intermarriages were always raised in the Catholic church.
Stores were carefully placed in locations with high foot traffic where business would be good. Major streets, like Meyer Street, were popular, as were locations on corners and near schools such as the Dunbar School. To keep people coming in, like their Anglo counterparts, Chinese grocers offered other services such as holding money for their customers who did not want to use a traditional bank and allowing them to pick up mail at their stores. Chinese grocers were also known to give a “pelon” such as a piece of candy or fruit for children at point of sale. Finally, when needed, they gave customers credit during tough times, something greatly appreciated and remembered by their customers over the years.
Chinese grocers both competed with and cooperated with one another. They loaned each other money and bought property singly and together. They rented to other Chinese or used the property for their own businesses. Once the Chinese Chamber of Commerce was established in 1921, grocers benefited from regular group advertising in newspapers, a practice that would continue for over 40 years. Many grocers offered unique items to get customers to come to their stores. For example, Paul Don offered “pampered poultry” (capons), Don Wah had a bakery, and Chan Tin Wo stocked Werner’s Lake with fresh fish to sell.
According to The Chinese in North America (Ling Lew, 1949) there were over 106 Chinese markets in Tucson. By the early 1960s their numbers were in serious decline. Why?
- After World War II, the growth of suburbs took people out of the city center’s mixed residential and business neighborhoods which had grown organically over generations to meet the needs of residents. The suburbs were planned neighborhoods with only private residences. In a subdivision, you could not walk to the corner grocery, you had to drive to your nearest supermarket.
- There was more competition in the form of large chain supermarkets, like Safeway, and from smaller stores, like Circle K and Quick Mart.
- Upward social mobility also played a role. These were hard working families who wanted their children to be successful. Even during the Great Depression, Chinese Tucson women were graduating from the University of Arizona.
- Grocer Don Shek Toy’s son, Anthony, became Tucson’s first Chinese dentist instead of taking over the family grocery business.
- In the Don Wah family, his son Phillip Don inherited the family business, but when he and his wife retired, no one in the family continued the business. His children moved into other professions.
- The longest run family grocery I have found was on the northwest corner of Meyer and 17th. It started in 1899 with Lung Sing. His son, Lee Ho, inherited the grocery. After Lee Ho retired, the grocery was taken over by his son, Jerry Lee, then his son took over the grocery. The market, best known as Jerry Lee Ho’s, survived for 100 years, and was run by four generations of the Lee family.
In October 2022 Tucson celebrated its unique Chinese/Mexican heritage with the first Tucson Chinese Chorizo Festival. Chinese chorizo (sausage) is a fusion food created by the blending of recipes and foods from different cultures. It uses leftover but still edible meat scraps of beef, chicken, pork, organ meats, unusable ends of bologna and even hot dogs ground together and mixed using traditional Mexican seasonings. Chinese chorizo maximized the use of available resources in a way that would appeal to the grocers’ Mexican customers while preventing the waste of edible meat thus making a profit for the grocer. Today it’s a one of the reasons Tucson was named as a UNESCO as a “City of Gastronomy.”
Resources
“Chinese Chorizo ‘TCCC History Program,’” 2014, viewed on 3/23/2023 https://youtu.be/da8wnDk1PPg
“Tucson Chinese Chorizo Project,” Arizona Public Media, c.a. 2022, viewed on 3/23/2023: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiiQsMozZog
Written in 2020, updated March 2023.