New York Chinatown Photos: Chinatown_Glick_17_A

Big Tall Chin, Sam Wah Laundry, 1980 Creston Ave., Bronx, New York, 1982.Mrs. Chin’s husband, Quock Chin, had been murdered in a robbery at the laundry at 1980 Creston Ave. on Dec. 29, 1981 a couple of weeks before I took these photos in January 1982. We interviewed Mrs. Chin’s daughter, Lemin Chin, in August 2018. From the interview: {quote}My mother came with my father to the United States. She was very depressed about it. She came from a relatively wealthy family in China, but after WWII Mao Zedong took it all away. When she came to America she was in shock. There was no apartment, no house. The bed was under the ironing board in the laundry, which you can see in the photograph. There was a piece of fabric and mats. That’s where she slept and we napped there as kids. When I was born my parents got an apartment for the first time. She did not want to be seen just as the wife of the laundry owner. It was her laundry too. She is really a tough lady.{quote} -Lemin Chin

Big Tall Chin, Sam Wah Laundry, 1980 Creston Ave., Bronx, New York, 1982. 

Mrs. Chin’s husband, Quock Chin, had been murdered in a robbery at the laundry at 1980 Creston Ave. on Dec. 29, 1981 a couple of weeks before I took these photos in January 1982.  

We interviewed Mrs. Chin’s daughter, Lemin Chin, in August 2018. From the interview: "My mother came with my father to the United States. She was very depressed about it. She came from a relatively wealthy family in China, but after WWII Mao Zedong took it all away. When she came to America she was in shock. There was no apartment, no house. The bed was under the ironing board in the laundry, which you can see in the photograph. There was a piece of fabric and mats. That’s where she slept and we napped there as kids. When I was born my parents got an apartment for the first time. She did not want to be seen just as the wife of the laundry owner. It was her laundry too. She is really a tough lady." -Lemin Chin