Ch1, mai fong = rice room (in rear of restaurant). Born 1945, caf� at 710 webster st. in Chinatown, Oakland.
Ch2, Gum Sahn = Golden Mountains. Father born in Fong Kwok Shang 1903 at Gow Bay Hong. Fong name came during Ming dynasty 1368-1644. Early 1900s US took control of Philippines. Exclusion Act, 1882 bar all Chinese from entering country. Father worked as dishwasher, cook, restaurant owner (New China on 8th st Oak.). 1937, Japanese encroachment into China. Angel island = immigration center for Chinese.
Ch3, Chinese built vital pipelines, farmed for Bay Area, and provided restaurants and homes.. 1924 Immigration Act barred any Chinese woman from entering US as permanent resident. 1936 Bay Bridge built. Father opens New Eastern Caf� at 710 Webster st. Siblings = Sarah & Barry. 1948 communists move toward Canton.
Ch4, yum-choy = banquet. Foods like salted fish, bitter melon, thousand year old eggs took getting used to. Rice served with every meal. Bowls of oranges and tangerines meant good luck and wealth (p. 48). Chicken, fish, roast pig had to be whole to represent completeness. Firecrackers set off to ward away evil spirits.
Ch5, 1955 Benjaman (not Benjamin) = 10yrs old. 1948, okay for Chinese to buy property outside of Chinatown. 1954 anti-gambling law shut down lotteries. Went to Reno.
Ch6, Music turned to real passion over baseball for Ben. 1956, Ben won Lincoln School's spelling bee.
Ch7, 1957 took train to Texas, Ben = 12. Ding How = Chinese restaurant in Texas that sold Chop Suey (bits and pieces) and Chow Mein. At age 12, didn't know what sex was. Ding How by route 66. Father, part owner was cheated with profits. They went back to Oakland.
Ch8, Ann, Ben's first date = 16 while he was 14. She danced with him at her house. Caught shoplifting at Pay Less in spring. Sarah, Ben's sister, born in 1949, entered UCB.
Ch9, Dai Fow = Chinatown, Parents bought house for $12,500 summer of 1959 in East Oakland, "Great Leap Forward" of 1958 = Mao tried to modernize China
Ch10, "pink prison" = Oakland High School, 78 blacks, 21 Hisp. 45 Asians in class of 663. Parents opened restaurant Bamboo Hut in Hayward. Prime rib dinner = $1.35, Ben had few dates in high school, Dated April, soft spoken girl once. Went to senior ball w/ Laura, a Junior.
Ch11, Ben cheated the swim test at SFSU. President Kennedy gets shot and class was cancelled. "yeem goong" = shame and pity. Ben wrote essay on Kennedy for Oakland Times. During summer, the family worked at the restaurant, noon till 11pm.
Ch12, first love = 17 yr old Janie Lee. He met her July of 1964 at a dance where Ben, 19 = DJ, Chinese club hired. It lasted till December of that year. Ended relationship because Janie went to college in central CA while Ben went to SFSU.
Ch13, fall 1964 Ben quit columns on Oakland Times, joined Golden Gater, SFSU campus daily paper and KRTG radio station. From there, got a job at KFOG, local FM station. Fall 1964 in Berkeley, forty state students joined in a Free Speech Movement. Ben hardly talks to parents about friends. 1965-1966 school year, Ben becomes city editor, gets $80 a month. Ben moved into a house in Sunset district still working weekends at Bamboo Hut (parents restaurant in Hayward), with Dan Mazmanian and Tom Skinner, old high school classmates. Cadance Barnes, high school friend, came from NY and moved in with them. She got Ben and roommates high off weed. Spring of 1965, President Johnson sent troops to Vietnam. 27k soldiers by July, 500 dead. By end of year, 170k troops. In late November at 7am, Ben showed up at Joint Examining and Induction Station in Oakland. Ben had to report to the Army on Jan 13, 1966. Jerry Werthimer, Gater's faculty adviser informed Army draft board that Ben: made more than normal progress, maintained B average, worked campus radio station, city editor of newspaper, "recognized by administrators, faculty, and one of top 10 seniors".
Ch14, Ben became good friends with Mary Keith, a white broadcasting student. Ben helped her with writing and hung out with her a lot. On 21st b-day, Jan 1966, draft board gave postponement of induction "until further notice. Ben met Michelle, a Chinese girl soon after. They dated and he felt sparks like with Janie. Michelle and Ben called their song "A Groovy kind of Love" by a British group, the Mindbenders. Spring 1966, Sarah, Ben's sister, and Dave Watkins had been seeing each other more than 5 years. They married in spring of 1966 at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Tiburon without parents. Barry, Ben's older brother, brought girl from Hong Kong to wedding, and Ben invited Mary. Shirley, Ben's younger sister, brought young Chinese man. Michelle found another guy, dates him and breaks Ben's heart. Ben doesn't go to graduation but gets diploma in mail.
Ch15, Ben ended up going back to Oakland Times and got a bonus to see the Beatles concert in Candlestick Park on Aug 29, 1966, which was their last paid concert. Barry got a job as a deputy probation officer in Fairfield. Shirley gets accepted to UCB in Social Science from Cal State Hayward. Ben gets intercourse with Rosalind, a Chinese girl from Idaho, who wrote a letter to "Gater". In Oct, 1966, draft board declares Ben 1-A. Induction notice for Jan 25, 1967. On Jan 24, postponed and Feb 1, classified as 1-A again.
Ch 16, in Jan 14th of 1967 Hippie scene started. Ben dates Mary more. He failed at "Gator", the school newspaper. Other newspapers opened. He found a job at KFOG. Barry, a probation officer, was playing tennis one day and met Kate Michaels a flight attendant and asked her out. In 1967 Ben got transferred to a new television station from KFOG. In Nov 1967, Rolling Stone magazine started.
Ch17, Ben met Lucy from a local beauty contest. They both tried LSD. A month later Ben suggested to stop seeing her.
Ch18, Barry and Kate became lovers, while Shirley got married. Feb 1969, Barry got married. Hoong bow = red envelopes. In sec XIV, 2-28, rhinitis and sinusitis = causes for rejection for induction. Spring 1969, doctor asked Ben if he wanted in or out and he said "out", and he was finally free from army. P168 - 174 = rolling stone. Ben gets a job at Rolling Stone. He met Amie Hill, a Pennsylvania native, w/ blond hair, in North Beach.
Ch19, because 1965 relaxatoin of immigration laws, Chinatown had 50k residents. Jook sing = empty bamboo. 1968 Barry was engaged with Kate. Ben becomes close with Lenni. May 1970, newspaper office had been bombed. In June, he got mugged. YSC= Youth Service Center, opened fall 1970 which provided services to youth to divert kids from crime. Barry got one year leave of absence and was due back in June of 1972 in Richmond.
