Herbert Hsu
Hai-Ping "Herbert" Hsu (born c. 1955 in Beijing, China) is a restaurateur and former owner of the Pacific Islander Restaurant at 342 Valley Avenue in Homewood. He also owned the Unibond Investment Company, which imported textiles and leather goods.
Hsu moved to Birmingham in 1978. In December 1982 he opened The Pacific Islander in the former Lou Fettucini's at 193 Vulcan Road. The restaurants chefs, none of whom spoke English, hailed from mainland China, Hong Kong, and Indonesia. In 1985 Hsu was charged with unpaid state sales taxes. The case was settled with a guilty pleas in district court, and the back taxes were paid. Hsu claimed to have also payed a $500 fine to the courts, but that was not recorded and he did not respond to summonses sent to a former address.
Hus was co-chair of the 1987 Birmingham Festival of Arts Salute to China. He coordinated the preparation of much of the food sold at the fair, ranging from authentic Chinese dumplings and buns to Americanized versions of fried won-tons and oversized egg rolls. He authored a children's cookbook distributed to local students.
That same year the City of Birmingham approved a plan to support his opening a new Orient Express restaurant in Southside, but that plan was set aside because the proposed site was acquired by the University of Alabama Health Services Foundation for development of the Kirklin Clinic. During that year Hsu was also hit with a claim by the Internal Revenue Service of just over $20,000 in unpaid federal taxes.
In 1988 he re-applied to the Birmingham City Council to guarantee his $120,000 loan from Citizens Federal Savings Bank to open a new "Orient Express" restaurant in the former Waite's building on 7th Avenue South. The funding would come from federal Urban Development Action Grant funds. During the time the Council was considering the matter, B & L Sewer & Drain filed a criminal complaint against Hsu and manager Tjoan Tan alleging non-payment for repairs to a commercial garbage disposal at Pacific Islander and Hsu's company was ordered to pay $54,713 to SouthTrust Bank and $4,704 to AmSouth Bank. Birmingham City Council Industry and Jobs Committee chair Eddie Blankenship continued to support the proposal, but removed the matter from the Council's agenda.
Shortly after the loan guarantee was approved in August, Hsu was arrested by Jefferson County Sheriff's Office deputies on an outstanding warrant for his failure to pay the 1985 court fine. Deputy W. W. Whitsett credited a The Birmingham News reporter for making him aware of the outstanding warrant.
During the 1989 student-led pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing, Hsu helped to evacuate a group of Samford University students and faculty to Hong Kong. That same year Hsu's landlord, Al Pilkington, negotiated with Sammy Russo, owner of Sammy's Go-Go, to relocate from 449 Valley Avenue to the Pacific Islander building, over Hsu's objections.
References
- Amann, Sandy & Jennifer Greer (January 21, 1983) "No opening jitters show at Paradise Islander" [sic] Birmingham Post-Herald/Kudzu, p. 4
- Slawson, Tabitha (April 22, 1987) "Chinese cuisine was hot long before festival unveiled it." Birmingham Post-Herald, p. D1
- "Liquor license transfer for go-go delayed." (April 26, 1989) Birmingham Post-Herald, p. B7
- Hargrove, Thomas (June 9, 1989) "Samford group in Hong Kong after bus-plane trip to safety." Birmingham Post-Herald, p. A2
- Kipp, Stephen (July 18, 1989) "Hsu still backed by chairman" Birmingham Post-Herald, p. C1
- Kipp, Stephen (August 2, 1989) "City loan to lend Southside more Oriental flavor." Birmingham Post-Herald, p. A1
- Demmons, Doug (August 5, 1989) "Tan: Told Hsu not to pay for sewer." Birmingham Post-Herald, p. 8A
- Sanford, Peggy & Doug Demmons (August 12, 1989) "Hsu arrested in failure to pay $500 court fine." Birmingham Post-Herald p. A1