Joy Young Restaurant: Difference between revisions
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Along with "chop suey" and a smattering of Cantonese fare, Joy Young was famed for its [[meat and three]] lunches, yeast rolls, and other less-ethnically-challenging options. The ''[[Birmingham News]]'' even listed Joy Young's fried chicken as the best in Birmingham. Some of the booths had curtains that could be drawn for privacy. The reviewing stand for the annual [[Veteren's Day Parade]] was usually located directly across the street from Joy Young. | Along with "chop suey" and a smattering of Cantonese fare, Joy Young was famed for its [[meat and three]] lunches, yeast rolls, and other less-ethnically-challenging options. The ''[[Birmingham News]]'' even listed Joy Young's fried chicken as the best in Birmingham. Some of the booths had curtains that could be drawn for privacy. The reviewing stand for the annual [[Veteren's Day Parade]] was usually located directly across the street from Joy Young. | ||
In advertisements of the 1930s the restaurant's manager is listed as [[Joe Mansion]]. | |||
The restaurant's sign is visible in scenes from the 1976 film ''[[Stay Hungry]]''. Another "Joy Young" restaurant operated in Memphis. | The restaurant's sign is visible in scenes from the 1976 film ''[[Stay Hungry]]''. Another "Joy Young" restaurant operated in Memphis. | ||
Revision as of 17:05, 22 February 2007
Joy Young Restaurant was a landmark Chinese restaurant at 412-14 20th Street North.
According to Kristen Lee, her great grandparents, a man and wife named "Joe" (zho-ee) were the first Chinese family to settle in Alabama, having arrived in the Port of Mobile in the late 1880s. With no knowledge of English, they struggled in their new home. In 1919 they were able to open a restaurant in the boom town of Birmingham and, thanks to their generosity with meals during the depression, earned many valuable friendships that served them when the Ku Klux Klan tried later to drive them out.
Along with "chop suey" and a smattering of Cantonese fare, Joy Young was famed for its meat and three lunches, yeast rolls, and other less-ethnically-challenging options. The Birmingham News even listed Joy Young's fried chicken as the best in Birmingham. Some of the booths had curtains that could be drawn for privacy. The reviewing stand for the annual Veteren's Day Parade was usually located directly across the street from Joy Young.
In advertisements of the 1930s the restaurant's manager is listed as Joe Mansion.
The restaurant's sign is visible in scenes from the 1976 film Stay Hungry. Another "Joy Young" restaurant operated in Memphis.
In the 1960s it moved to Highland Avenue as New Joy Young Restaurant. Later, owner Henry Joe moved the restaurant to the Brookwood Gallery, a retail strip on the ground floor of the Brookwood Medical Center parking deck where it operated until the late 1980s. Joy Young ended its life as a take-out egg roll store in Pelham.
External link
References
- Lee, Kristen. "I Come from a Family that is Considered 'White'" Newsletter of the Asian Student Union at San Francisco State University. [1] - accessed March 27, 2006
- Angell, Glory Clark (1983) Birmingham Inside Out Birmingham: self published.
- State of Alabama Department of Revenue vs. New Joy Young Restaurant, Inc. State of Alabama Dept. of Revenue Administrative Law Division. Docket No. S. 91-246. "Final Order" - [2] - accessed March 27, 2006