I've been keeping an eye on the space at the corner of Broadway and Columbus under the "Jazz Mural" and facing the "Language of the Birds" installation.
Language of the Birds
A flock of 23 books takes flight over head, their words and phrases cascade from the skies and land on the walkway. The text in English, Italian and Chinese, is a nod to the area's diverse literary history. Referred to as, "Language of the Birds, " the installation takes on an ethereal quality when its illuminated at night.
Bill Webber’s Jazz Mural
Artist Bill Weber painted many murals for public and private clients throughout Northern California. The Jazz Mural, located at 606 Broadway St. in San Francisco, is his largest which expands at more than 100 feet long. The mural marks the point where Chinatown, North Beach, and the old Barbary Coast sections of the City meet. The mural highlights the likes of Benny Goodman, Teddy Wilson, and with the legendary Bill Weber shown to be explaining the Jazz Mural to Herb Caen, Emperor Norton, and San Francisco mayors.
By Elena Kadvany Feb 8, 2024 - SF Chronicle
In 2020, with the coronavirus raging, the owners of New Sun Hong Kong restaurant in San Francisco were at a crossroads familiar to many Chinatown business owners of their generation.
Raymond and Mimi Owyang were nearing retirement age. They’d spent most of their waking hours since 1989 at their Hong Kong-style restaurant at the prominent intersection of Broadway and Columbus Avenue. Their adult children gently urged them to close for good. But then their son-in-law Eugene Lau, who also comes from a longtime Chinatown restaurant family, said he wanted to save the business.
After nearly four years sitting dark, a remodeled New Sun Hong Kong reopened last week, led by the Owyangs’ daughter Theresa Lau, husband Eugene and his brother, Alvin. It’s now called 606, after its address 606 Broadway, still emblazoned on a yellow awning underneath Bill Weber’s famous “Jazz Mural,” at one of the main gateways to Chinatown.
Can a new generation save S.F.‘s Chinatown restaurant scene?
Greg