00:00:00.150 - 00:00:15.340

I was born in 1925…and I guess he passed away around 1926. Well, looking back, see all

00:00:16.710 - 00:00:39.140

—they also mentioned that in the old day, that um…I guess they mostly talk about they …Cantonese in America. The Southwest

00:00:41.290 - 00:00:58.770

part of U.S.A., New Orleans would be the place for all the Cantonese stay. New Orleans. And at that time, my father…he was one of the

00:00:59.990 - 00:01:16.840

representative—I guess once a year, he went to San Francisco for this big massive meeting of Chinese or something, so he was… Uh, to the Chu Family, Gee Family Association meeting? Oh, no no.

00:01:17.360 - 00:01:35.260

For all the overseas Chinese there, Cantonese mostly. In San Francisco? No, uh, they—they meet in San Francisco. But he represented Southwest. See, New Orleans. And then,

00:01:36.970 - 00:01:54.830

uh, for that, talk about the Gee family, in New Orleans…there was Harry Gee Sr., and I guess he’s just a little bit younger than my father.

00:01:57.440 - 00:02:10.990

And then Henry Gee’s father and grandfather, they all were in New Orleans. Oh yes, Robert, okay, okay. So Harry’s father was also in New Orleans.

00:02:11.200 - 00:02:26.310

Oh, okay. Oh yes, you see. And he, later, you know, he traveled, you know, he came to…with us. You know, I mean, we left here in 1928, my mother took

00:02:27.900 - 00:02:45.290

me and my other—took Wallace, and they all put, you know…uh, it was…must be 3, Wallace 5, and Elvis 7, you know, was…it was, really was sad, you know, for my mother, you know, being widowed, in the

00:02:45.760 - 00:03:01.300

old days, and seeing a foreign country, don’t speak the language, couldn’t make a living. So they decide, went to the village, be, you know, farm some land, you know, be easier.

00:03:01.900 - 00:03:19.650

And that’s what we did. Well, uh…then, after my father passed, so…it became

00:03:20.940 - 00:03:36.690

Harry’s father to…see. And later I… he traveled, he wound up in Pampa, Texas. His father, very good on open business.

00:03:37.930 - 00:03:49.840

Opening restaurants. At one town. If I’m gonna name the time, I’m just guessing, I’d say from the 30s to mid-40s.

00:03:51.300 - 00:04:02.960

Every restaurant opened up in Houston, uh by Harry Gee Sr. Partner with this one, partner with that one. This in 1930s to 1940s? I would, I would guess.

00:04:03.520 - 00:04:12.600

See, uh, those years, see. And he also opened restaurants in…in Pampa, Texas. Well, he traveled.

00:04:14.220 - 00:04:27.650

Yeah, Harry Sr., he traveled. And then he also, uh, opened restaurants, Lake Charles, that right Harry? See? He’s good about that. Pampa was because they found gas up there, and so it was,

00:04:28.680 - 00:04:38.760

uh…you know, typically when they have the gas find then all of a sudden, r-right now th-they’re going to S— everybody’s going to South Dakota. Because they’ve got all of this exploration that’s ongoing and it’s created a lot of jobs.

00:04:39.420 - 00:04:52.200

And somebody’s created a, a business…what his business is, that he carries a portable shower so that people who are working in the fields out there… There’s nothing out there. So he charges them ten dollars to take a shower.

00:04:54.130 - 00:05:08.280

He makes money. So, so, you know… Yeah, so… So when you’re, when you’re saying that Grandpa ended up going to Pampa, it was primarily for the gas find. And the, and the point I like to make is, so… Over

00:05:10.050 - 00:05:22.340

a period of time, Harry Gee Sr. say…he used to need the city. Not New Orleans. And that’s where everybody

00:05:22.750 - 00:05:43.410

come here, and then beside a Gee, everybody come here too. Yes. All the other Chinese, not—after that, the Wong, the Zhou, they come from Mississippi, Arkansas, all of these, because…

00:05:47.340 - 00:06:07.160

I feel like… Albert may have a lot to do with…and… Albert would tell the restaurant owner, say a policeman

00:06:09.240 - 00:06:22.360

come to your place, drink coffee, no charge. Coffee made out of water, no charge. If they eat, charge them half prices. Don’t make no money policeman.

00:06:23.200 - 00:06:39.700

That way, you have police car parked on your places, nobody gonna rob you. Sure enough, nobody ever, see, that’s to start it off. And then by doing that, Albert

00:06:39.700 - 00:06:56.280

say, say, in the old days, if you could vote, you had to buy a poll tax, cost about two dollars. You pay, you sign up, and then you got paper and then when you—the

00:06:56.800 - 00:07:12.760

time to vote, you can vote, see. So…right here in Texas, you sell poll tax, and Albert say well— You volunteer, you go sell poll tax, or you could work

00:07:13.310 - 00:07:26.450

for the Red Cross, hear about do this, do this, do this. He…help out the community. Well… on the end result…and

00:07:28.890 - 00:07:44.490

then later, you know, we send our children to the public school…so…nobody look at you as a Chinese, treat you different. And our children went to school, everything cool.

00:07:46.070 - 00:08:00.410

But it’s not so in Mississippi and Arkansas, those areas, see, they had to go to Memphis to get a haircut. You see. Because nobody wants to cut their hair.

00:08:00.800 - 00:08:21.080

Yeah, they don’t want to go to the black place or whatever, see. So… Among that is many other things, inconvenient if you’re Chinese. But you come here, you’re different. So we experienced, that is no

00:08:21.590 - 00:08:40.480

part of it whatsoever. I thought Albert would have been the one that… to get credit for that. And see, right now… They…Asian communities, you know, I never dream of a

00:08:40.480 - 00:08:58.450

million-plus Asians to come to here, see. And plus the fact…New York, Chicago, San Francisco…uh…Boston, you know, all those big cities…they’re

00:09:01.930 - 00:09:23.160

uh, our own Chinese group, they group together. And maybe…would…demand some kind of fee, you know, to…so you stay in business, something like that, you know. So, that all kinda little stuff that, you know,

00:09:23.870 - 00:09:41.510

in, in, in, in, everything, the merchant, you know what I’m saying. There’s only one city that have good relationship with the police, that right? The city of Houston.

00:09:42.860 - 00:09:59.490

So we all want to come to have business, you go right ahead, you don’t need to pay… No, no group, say hey um, so-and-so, uh they might get uh…a little rocky, when,

00:09:59.490 - 00:10:09.930

you know, fool stuff , you know. So this is the one thing about Houston. And…the weather is hot… But the, but the—it’s real

00:10:09.980 - 00:10:24.090

peaceful. Ah, I see. So Wallace had a cafeteria, he operated police headquarter cafeteria? How did that happen, how did they…? Good question. And that too…

00:10:25.970 - 00:10:42.870

Both Wallace and Albert, we were real friends with the policemen, very friendly. And they know people from all the way to the top, and he wound up with the police

00:10:42.930 - 00:10:55.170

cafeteria over there. But did he make money from the cafeteria or whatever? He did, okay. That’s good. He made money. So may I ask a little bit about the economic, because, my paper

00:10:55.170 - 00:11:08.740

would like to also find out how—how big were these restaurants, because one of my study has—there’s a restaurant called the China Clipper. And the estimated sale… Oh okay,

00:11:09.110 - 00:11:23.120

well, the estimated sale was five hundred thousand dollars a year in 1952? Is that possible? Because it— Let me, let me find out the, the uh, I made a PowerPoint, so— Can you tell me a little

00:11:23.120 - 00:12:06.830

bit, how much did it take to start a Chinese restaurant in the old days? Oh… Hmm…I… To get a first one probably is…we’d probably start with, say, fifty thousand.

00:12:08.960 - 00:12:26.160

1955. Oh, fifty thousand down paid, down for the beginning of everything. The, the land, the restaurant? Uh, see it’s um…usually, very, in the old days, very few people…

00:12:28.300 - 00:12:43.140

would own the property. You’d usually lease it. And then you’d just get in there and you buy the equipment. And then you have an operating capital.

00:12:43.570 - 00:13:07.150

Ah, I see. So the operating cpital is fifty thousand? Uh…yeah, I mean, for us, you know, just about that, because… We pretty much paid for the equipment, we have no payment, you know, things like that, see.

00:13:07.710 - 00:13:23.740

And, and many others, I thought it would be much less. See. I see, so if—so fifty thousand’s a big restaurant, right? Your restaurant’s fairly good size, how many seats— Well, I mean, I’m gonna try to steady you quick

00:13:26.150 - 00:13:47.880

. See, the only thing I can answer that…correctly, is, is to say…usually, the landlord or the Americans look at the Chinese, the first word, honest.

00:13:50.520 - 00:14:04.200

They don’t do like the other people. “I owe you so much, I’m gonna run off.” But the Chinese could pay. Pay back. So it’s got a good name.

00:14:04.920 - 00:14:23.520

Chinese honest. I have seen Wallace talk to people on thing. He said you know, the difference about us, you look at a…you people say Chinese honest.

00:14:26.690 - 00:14:37.990

It’s…important to us to live up to that. And he would make it feel like that going through. They would trust us, which is, eh, got a

00:14:37.990 - 00:14:48.320

lot of base to it. You see. So now, now, get back to that. So they would…buy a business

00:14:49.900 - 00:15:01.760

from somebody. And that’s when they cost may—it, maybe at a business run down they buy it cheap. They might buy it for ten or less.

00:15:02.380 - 00:15:20.810

And the rest of it, they just paid a monthly rent. And then whatever money they got they used to operate. Uh huh. I see, this is, there, there’s a credit agency called Dun & Bradstreet, and they… And they, yeah, and they left the 1952 report in

00:15:20.810 - 00:15:32.130

downtown library, they did not take it back to their company. Usually they had to take all the credit report back but they dropped this one and so the Houston librarian downtown gave it, showed it to me, and I found some of the Chinese restaurants.

00:15:32.480 - 00:15:44.190

So these are estimated sales, because they didn’t have the real sales figures. And so they said in ’52, Dun & Bradstreet estimated that China Clipper had a five hundred thousand plus sales.

00:15:44.850 - 00:16:07.970

A year. That’s uh, forty thousand a month. Well… And the sales, so sales, does that, it’s not net profit, it’s just sales. The sales. See…eh, China Clipper…

00:16:16.180 - 00:16:28.980

Eight, see, I remember the address even. Eight-twelve Milam. Wow, eight-twelve Milam, okay, and that’s China Clipper, okay. Uh huh. And I also remember, we used to write a letter

00:16:30.240 - 00:16:51.850

to his father, carry China Clipper, eight-twelve Milam. They…when it… In— huh? That’s right! And, and…uh, let’s see, we went home in 1928, maybe the ‘30s,

00:16:53.590 - 00:17:07.580

see…I’m gonna say ’35, something like that, see. ’35, uh, they…everything, you know, are so cheap. You know.

00:17:07.580 - 00:17:20.590

Now of course, I’m not…you know, they, guessing at around— I would guess, you know, uh, in old day, if they do ten-thousand dollars worth of business a month, would be big business.

00:17:20.590 - 00:17:30.290

Okay. But this is ’52 though. You still—this is 1952, you think it’s still too much, overall? Oh, no no no. ’52 might be okay. Oh, okay. So in 1935, ten thousand is big.

00:17:30.460 - 00:17:44.020

Okay. Wow, that’s—wow. So it is big, because— because um, the, the newspaper in Houston—there’s an old newspaper in Houston called the Houston Telegraph, in eighteen-seventy-something they said about

00:17:44.020 - 00:17:56.510

the Chinese, they say, “They have no intention of being common laborers all their lives.” So they know the Chinese came, saved money, and then their children will just go on and on and on. They don’t, they’re not, they’re not gonna be laborers all their lives, they pool

00:17:56.510 - 00:18:07.370

together money, they open restaurants, they become businessmen. So that’s why they started studying. So the China Star, they estimated between seventy-five thousand to five-hundred thousand sales a year.

00:18:07.760 - 00:18:22.700

The Chop Suey Café they don’t have a number, Jimmy Gee Restaurant is much smaller; five-thousand, ten-thousand sales a year. Well that, if they’re talking about like ’50… That—that’s cool. . Yeah. Okay, and then the next one is this, um, this is the rating the grocery

00:18:22.700 - 00:18:35.900

store in ’52. Um, they’re smaller, but the credits are pretty good because the rating goes from AA to LL, I think, LL’s the worst. So the Chinese restaurant, F, you know, usually an F—F is

00:18:35.960 - 00:18:47.580

pretty high rating meaning how solid it is. Yeah, and then the—and this is I think their asset, their assumption is how much they’re worth. So like the Asian Food Market is worth about

00:18:47.580 - 00:19:01.700

ten-thousand, twenty-thousand dollars. In 1952. So that’s the kind of figures that I’ve found, um… The Food Market. Oh…uh…in the fifties,

00:19:01.970 - 00:19:17.770

huh? Well…talk about food—you’re talking about grocery store? In the— See, now, eh, they, that’s a mini, mini, small store. Eh— Yeah, yeah, mom and pop shops.

00:19:19.270 - 00:19:31.710

Yeah, I would think that uh, uh, uh, the groceries and everything, it probably, see… So how much money can they make a month? If they, if the whole store’s worth ten-

00:19:31.710 - 00:19:43.420

thousand to twenty-thousand dollars… Well, in the old days, not a whole lot of money… But they, they eat there, uh huh, okay. Yeah, yeah, and, and they get by routine .

00:19:43.420 - 00:19:57.700

And they don’t pay their help because children help. See, I got a…little note here say, you remember See Wai Chu? Yeah, see. See

00:19:57.700 - 00:20:11.200

Wai Chu, he got at least half-dozen stores. The Yik store. Sun Yi—Yung Yik, see. See. . Now this is the fact that I know, they told me.

00:20:13.310 - 00:20:24.250

Every store he opened up cost three-thousand dollars. Three thousand? Oh wow! That’s good enough , so this would be nineteen…thirties? He came in 1926, right, to Houston?

00:20:24.330 - 00:20:43.140

Yeah, well he See Wai Chu, he came from San Antonio. And he taught Chinese school over there, and then he come to Houston. . And he opened at least a half-dozen them stores. In 1926 he enlarged a grocery store called Kwong Yik?

00:20:43.350 - 00:20:55.000

Yeah, that’s the first one, so I had Kwong Yik here… And then eventually, and then he’d help other people. Also very generous, like Albert, like your brother. Oh yeah. So he’d help others come and open more restaurants —er, grocery

00:20:55.030 - 00:21:14.210

stores. See, he’d usually have a, have two Gees, you know, see. The managers in the front, one of the Gees, the other one is a butcher, and they cut meat. In the back, see. So he would always have two like that, and

00:21:14.530 - 00:21:25.420

two open— see, I used to work for Sun Yik myself. Oh, Sun Yik…where is Sun Yik…is he in here? Sun Yik! Right here. Sun Yik. Sun Yik—okay.

00:21:25.550 - 00:21:38.620

Who owned—who owned Sun—who is the—who is the owner of Sun Yik? That, that’s, um… You got me. Is it another—a Gee? No—a Gee?

00:21:38.720 - 00:21:51.700

A Gee? Yeah, a Gee! Yeah, definite, definite. Yeah, you see. Maybe I’ll have … Yeah, Sun Yik is Wing Hong Gee, Wing Choi Gee.

00:21:52.660 - 00:22:04.170

Yeah. Yeah yeah. Okay, so Wing Choi is the butcher. Okay, and Wing Hong is in front. In the front, okay, okay. And so you were in the back?

00:22:04.790 - 00:22:16.640

Yeah, I’m—I’m uh, I’m Wing Hong—uh, Wing Choi’s helper. Oh, you were young. How old were you when you were helping him? Maybe fifteen.

00:22:16.640 - 00:22:26.790

Oh, okay, okay. So you were carving meat? You were learning to cut meat? So later you, um…you went to a meat company to work,

00:22:28.050 - 00:22:40.300

right? So how did—did you just go and find a job there? Oh wait, oh, you opened your own meat company. Oriental Wholesale Meat Company. Okay. Oh wow, so but is this your— Yeah.

00:22:41.160 - 00:23:00.700

Before I come here, because I’m thinking about all the stuff Harry did, his father, and my two brothers, you know, I tried to mention to you that we have an old saying in China. That the, the cow form the land, the horse eat the

00:23:00.700 - 00:23:14.860

rice, you know. And I was going to tell you, I’m the horse, you know. I don’t believe anything, you know. But uh…yeah. What was your question? Oh, my question.

00:23:15.010 - 00:23:23.970

Well first of all, now I know, about three-thousand dollars to start a supermarket. Right? And this is 1930s or something, right?

00:23:24.240 - 00:23:38.750

So then, it takes maybe, for you, your restaurant was fifty- thousand dollars to start, operating costs, is that 1940s, or 1950s…? No no. My restaurant start in 1955. ’55, okay, and that is the Gee’s Restaurant.

00:23:39.590 - 00:23:53.890

Gee’s Restaurant. Okay, then, um, may I ask how much money you made every month on the restaurant? How much money did you make? Well, we…my…my

00:23:53.960 - 00:24:14.490

quick answer…would be…we make good. You know. And…the other answer is…I, I don’t know if that’s good to put down or not, but

00:24:21.120 - 00:24:49.050

uh…we…I think I remember one year in 1967, that…we must make…I build a house, cost me a hundred thousand dollars, like about twenty-some dollars,

00:24:50.540 - 00:25:05.650

to be a hundred thou—1967. Yeah, I built my house, kinda— Kinda, if I, if I— U-understand that back in those days, I think I ended up buying my brand-new, uh, uh,

00:25:07.110 - 00:25:24.310

Mustang vehicle for about two- or three-thousand dollars. So, you know, that’s a lot of money that uh, but…you know, I think that after World War II, uh, there was a tough time because um, uh, you know, after the boom in the 40s and the 50s, the

00:25:24.840 - 00:25:38.020

United States went into an economic decline in the 50s, and so, I think it was the Korean War that ended up taking ‘em back out of that situation, but it was some tough times in the 50s. And I don’t know that people really made that much moneys

00:25:38.020 - 00:25:53.070

in, in, in, in, in terms of it. We, we do…real good at the restaurant. We run the restaurant from ’55 to ’90. Yes.

00:25:53.220 - 00:26:07.790

Thirty-five years of the restaurant. And very colorful in the old days. I don’t like to sound brag but, from this…from

00:26:12.930 - 00:26:33.370

the…from the 60s to the mid-70s, the twenty-five years… …the good place to go eat, south of Buffalo Bayou, is Bill Williams. Bill Williams’ restaurant.

00:26:34.140 - 00:26:46.010

North of Gee’s Restaurant. So how, um, how, how much did it—is it Chinese or American food that you served?

00:26:46.740 - 00:26:59.520

And American, okay. So how much would an entrée be? Like a piece of steak, how much did you charge for—in those days? Oh, I think we got some…I would say…uh…try,

00:27:01.210 - 00:27:15.060

I try to remember, maybe seven dollars, something like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Just in the 50s, when my dad operated the restaurant at Sun Deluxe,

00:27:15.780 - 00:27:28.100

lunch was seventy-five cents. Soup, salad, meat, two vegetables, bread, drink, and dessert. All of it for seventy-five cents.

00:27:28.200 - 00:27:45.880

And, and we used to have, I didn’t realize it, we had executives from Borden Milk Company that would come, you know, and the Houston Press, the n—the newspaper, they would come, and they loved it because, you know, for seventy-five cents, th-they really got a, a, you know… Now that was

00:27:46.190 - 00:28:01.830

in the 50s, that was— That was in the 50s. That was Sun Deluxe. Sun Deluxe. But, you know, Gordon became the restaurant in the north side. You know, it turns out that all the politicians met there, at, you know, at, at

00:28:01.830 - 00:28:12.790

his restaurant, at Crosstimbers and Airline. And I think that, you know, the constab—uh, the councilmen and, and the mayor, and all the other people used to always, you know, meet there at Gordon’s restaurant.

00:28:13.360 - 00:28:28.500

But see, I, you know, reading Albert’s history, it’s amazing, he became the President of the Houston Restaurant Association, and then he brought about integration, you know, so that it takes a Chinese to bring the black people and the white people to eat together in a

00:28:28.500 - 00:28:51.310

restaurant. Oh, that, to me that’s amazing. Well, not only that, he became the first national President for the CACA. The first one that ever made it outside of California,

00:28:52.560 - 00:29:07.120

you know, all the years, you know, you know, to all the grand presidents, come from California. But when Albert ran, he from Texas. See, yeah, yeah. Well I also read that he got invited to uh, Governor Connally’s ranch when Richard Nixon

00:29:07.190 - 00:29:17.130

came to visit, it was like “whoa, that’s very impressive.” Oh, you saw a picture, right. So then um, so, so, so, I, oh, got some indication of prices here.

00:29:17.730 - 00:29:31.540

Um, I asked, oops, like— Well, you, don’t forget to brag about my cousin over there now , he achieved a lot. Oh, Harry, oh of course, Harry’s, uh, I mean, UT Law School, and the, so

00:29:31.540 - 00:29:44.690

many awards, and then, the line of, of his achievements is like a whole list. Yeah, yeah, but I think—Harry, did you give our student interns your entire list of board membership and all that? No. It’s on your website, right?

00:29:45.860 - 00:29:53.840

We need to put it in HAAA, we need to put it in the archive. Yeah, all of the list of achievements. Yeah, we’ll check, okay. So really, today’s your day, Gordon.

00:29:53.840 - 00:30:04.640

They want, they need to know about your background and history. They really—they need to focus upon Gordon’s family. But it’s an amazing kind of sort of person, I was told um, of—

00:30:05.140 - 00:30:13.650

See, see, it don’t matter. I’m an old, old man, see. What happened is—it’s important, the young— The young people, they have their day.

00:30:13.950 - 00:30:24.100

W-we need to have your story, ‘cause you’re the pioneer. But apparently a cashier in a restaurant is paid about a dollar an hour, in 1950? ’50?

00:30:24.100 - 00:30:36.870

Could be, could be, yeah. Okay, and a waitress is like two dollars per day? Uh, it was probably less than that. Because, when I, in the 50s, I remember I used to do some of the payrolls, and some of the employees

00:30:41.300 - 00:30:58.850

was…uh…dishwasher, would make less than twenty dollars a week. Twenty dollars, it’s less than twenty dollars a week. So that would be possibly eighty dollars a month, which is what, you know. But if, if a cashier gets paid a dollar an hour and he only works two to three hours a

00:30:58.920 - 00:31:14.670

day, so a cashier gets ten dollars a d—a week? That, that I don’t recall, eh, you know, it turns out that because in our restaurant it was myself and, you know, whoever, it was family, yeah, it was family members who were working as the cashier, and now, you know, Gordon might be

00:31:14.760 - 00:31:26.240

able to sh-share some information with you on that. You know, what they paid the cashiers, but the waitresses, my recollection is that they were paid right about twenty, twenty dollars a week, plus tips.

00:31:26.650 - 00:31:41.500

Yeah. Ohh, okay, so the dishwasher, yeah, the waitress get better pay then, plus tips, yeah, that’s, that’s good. Well here’s, here’s what I remember. I…I worked for—in 1941 I worked for

00:31:41.590 - 00:31:50.470

Chinese Village. Mhm. Is that the drive-in? Oh yeah, thank you for the picture. Harry Sr.’s, Harry Sr.’s

00:31:50.470 - 00:32:11.990

car, uh, restaurant. I worked there, the place must cover more than two blocks. Huge. Huge. The…they have carhop

00:32:12.410 - 00:32:27.900

curb service. We got, Harry might not even know that, or he’s too young. We got twenty- seven carhops and one captain, outside. Wow, wow.

00:32:27.900 - 00:32:41.070

The carhops are women? Are the carhops lady— Okay. So one captain and twenty-seven… They, they wear, it, in the old days they’d wear very little. We used to talk about…the carhop, you’d throw

00:32:41.450 - 00:32:53.140

‘em two handkerchiefs. One for the top, one for the bottom, that’s all they wear. business. See? And then— But they’re not Chinese women?

00:32:53.630 - 00:33:05.850

They’re not Chinese. Okay, ‘kay. There weren’t very many Chinese women here though. Because the immigration law such, you’re right, and, so, you know, the number of Chinese women here are very

00:33:05.910 - 00:33:19.280

small. And then, the pay…I think they make five dollars a week. And then they take out

00:33:19.370 - 00:33:34.350

a dollar for uniform, dollar for broken dishes, a dollar for this, so they wound up with nothing. The carhops. But they— Well, whatever. But they make big

00:33:34.450 - 00:33:40.560

money, they make with all the tips. You see. So how much did people tip? Like fifty cents, or twenty cents, or a dollar?

00:33:41.380 - 00:33:53.060

Okay, so any, every day you have Yeah, in, in the old days, the trend… A lot of men, young men, they would come there and get carhop service

00:33:54.230 - 00:34:07.610

and talk to the girl and this and that, the girl make real good. You see. And is it Chinese food? No, is it like hamburger, french fries, western food? Yeah, more than likely, yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, see, so, it was, you

00:34:07.610 - 00:34:26.860

know, why… Were there many drive-in, it was, was that one of the new, the few drive-in restaurants in Houston? Uh… Got Bill Williams, got the… Yeah, well a restaurant and drive-in.

00:34:26.860 - 00:34:38.640

And so was Chinese Village. Oh, oh, both. You can go inside and eat or you can sit in the car. Oh, okay. Wow. And…and then the Famous Chicken House, you know,

00:34:40.000 - 00:34:53.030

and …what I would say, maybe less than half dozen in town. But they all big, you gotta have big lot and everything, you know.

00:34:53.030 - 00:35:09.320

Oh. I, yeah, I, I need to tell Harry this. He’s one got a little— see. You know, right now, I own a few houses, couple of stores, collect rent, see. But I need him to know,

00:35:10.340 - 00:35:30.060

you see, in the old days, you know…it must be, I got here, uh…March the 12th, 1941. Houston. Yeah, see.

00:35:32.220 - 00:35:55.210

And then, uh…uh, you know, eh…they got Chinese Village, and this and that…and then, um…so I worked in Chinese Village for few months, you know, you know, uh, you know, first few months, I don’t talk

00:35:55.210 - 00:36:10.410

English, nothing, you know. But I see what’s going on. You know, in the old days, you know, his father, I guess, lived in tired, hard time , did not make the rent on time, you know.

00:36:11.030 - 00:36:26.060

See. So I saw the landlord took some wooden horse, blocked all the entrance, so no car can get in. see. Harry maybe didn’t know that.

00:36:26.510 - 00:36:42.520

Uh, see, so the landlord parked that, and I saw that, you know. And then I learned why, what happened, you know. Of course he hustled, you know, and went and got money and paid, you know.

00:36:43.890 - 00:36:58.750

And I say to myself, in the United States, being a landlord, if you couldn’t pay rent, you can block the business. That’s a powerful… And I tell

00:36:58.750 - 00:37:14.010

myself, one of these days, when I grow up, I got money, I’m gonna own some property instead of rent from somebody. You know. Yeah, powerful, you know, I always remember

00:37:14.450 - 00:37:27.300

that. So I wind up, first chance I get, Harry. So what did you buy the first time you were able to buy a property? You know, when I have a Gee’s Restaurant, instead of…you know, and

00:37:27.460 - 00:37:46.370

we move in, but that’s a house being at the back of the restaurant, we move in there. And I got a house that I own, instead of selling that, I rent it. So how I start— I became the landlord. Because I— you know, I, eh, you know, I mean uh,

00:37:46.980 - 00:38:01.860

so, so that’s, that’s what give me the thought, you know. You know. So in the, so many um, many um, uh, I understand there are many partnerships, right? Maybe two or three people together pool together money to become owner of a

00:38:01.860 - 00:38:16.370

restaurant. And is that just by handshake, or was it like…? More than likely by handshake, yes. But as I look back, the…in the past, I

00:38:16.370 - 00:38:32.640

thought Harry’s father did a lot of people a lot of good, see. Those guys, you know, just partner, own these restaurants, and partner owned that one. You know, he’d kinda lead them into do things, you know.

00:38:32.690 - 00:38:48.230

Yeah, well, you mention here that people gonna have their own business, something like that. ‘Cept me and, who was that? Is it—said that I got some money they took , who was that?

00:38:50.110 - 00:39:03.860

Who—one of these, in the recording, he said somebody got some money together and go in business themselves. Could be me, could be somebody else. But either way, okay, you see, I remember years

00:39:04.210 - 00:39:24.190

ago, Albert took me and Wallace, he mentioned something, he also say…”I don’t believe…we have ever had to

00:39:24.190 - 00:39:36.790

work for anybody.” Now, he said that to his two younger brothers, which, neither of us have education. You know, and, you

00:39:36.790 - 00:39:50.080

know, we wound up that way. I— I worked for three people, total of five years. But the rest time I’m my own boss.

00:39:50.850 - 00:40:00.470

See. So— So you only worked in the grocery store? Like that’s one, that’s one of the five jobs you worked for other people? Okay, and who else did you

00:40:00.470 - 00:40:17.970

work for? Well, I worked for Reyna Meat Company as a salesman. Yeah. And Wallace took me over there, he got my job. See. So, you know, of course, all that’s the past.

00:40:19.140 - 00:40:29.650

Uh— So you got the job in the meat company because you knew how to cut meat. That’s right, that’s right. I sold meat. And then later on I, I had my own meat company. Yeah.

00:40:29.910 - 00:40:43.810

So, so when you got your job at this Reyn…? Reyna Company, um, did they hire you because they noticed your family’s supermarket? Or because they just needed somebody who… Well see, my brother Wallace, he’s… a

00:40:43.890 - 00:40:53.780

good salesman himself. Wallace, sharp. And, he’ll tell you, Wallace went and talked to Mr. Reyna.

00:40:54.700 - 00:41:13.930

Took me over there, say, this and that, that…and…say my brother, speak English and Chinese, talk with Cantonese, and read and write a language, so for,

00:41:14.680 - 00:41:28.090

if you hire him…see, see, right now you compete with this, that, that, that, but the chances are, he will represent you in a Chinese way.

00:41:30.390 - 00:41:42.990

So, so Mr. Reyna say “Well…eh, Wally, you think your brother can do all of that? I will give him

00:41:45.390 - 00:41:58.340

fifty-dollar car allowance.” They were giving me fifty dollars a week. I s—I used my own gas, everything, more or less, my business, you know. So I got fifty dollars.

00:41:58.380 - 00:42:09.990

Of course, the rest of commission, you know. Oh, so you sold meat? You went, you went around and sell the meat of the meat company. Yeah, I went to all the Chinese stores. Even at one time over three-

00:42:09.990 - 00:42:18.990

hundred-and-forty Chinese stores right here in town. A lot of stores. And did they buy from you? Because you’re Chinese, and they buy from you because the price is good, or…

00:42:18.990 - 00:42:34.540

Yeah, I guess all still leads back to that. Salesmanship, you see, see, Mr. Reyna himself…he was top salesman for Swift Meat Company for over twenty-seven years,

00:42:34.940 - 00:42:46.100

right here in town. See. For me…I like to learn something from the master salesman myself, you know. So, you know, I, I guess I…

00:42:46.600 - 00:42:55.710

So how many years did you work for Reyna before you had your own meat company? Three years and eight months. Oh, that’s a very fast learner. Very fast. Three years and eight months?

00:42:55.710 - 00:43:08.990

And then you opened your own company. The, the, the third month on, I was top salesman until the day I quit. And let me finish this, see.

00:43:08.990 - 00:43:20.110

And then…some of the time, Mrs. Reyna, you know, I’d become friends with Mrs. Reyna, she would, she’s there.

00:43:22.840 - 00:43:40.460

They, they got a company there, they open every day. Lot of people just walk in and buy meat. That’s not the salesman sale, that’s the house sale, see. Mrs. Reyna had told me…many times,

00:43:40.680 - 00:43:58.140

many months, that my sale were equalling to more than half the business. There were nine salesman, I’m one of the nine. So how, they were not working…they don’t know how

00:43:58.310 - 00:44:11.380

to sell the way you know how to sell. Well, I mean, they, my comment is… That’s no big deal. It’s not. You see.

00:44:11.940 - 00:44:27.580

So, you know, and uh, well, you know, you, you work at it, you work, you know what I mean, I don’t know how to explain it, but…see, that’s why uh… Mr. Reyna had a bad habit.

00:44:28.220 - 00:44:43.860

You know, he’d drink, some time, I know a couple of times, he’d fire everybody. Everybody. But a lot of city, the, the, the, the, the white folks, you know, they get scared, you know.

00:44:44.380 - 00:44:54.640

And he, one by one, hired ‘em all back, and then, it’s, few of ‘em, just don’t hire back. If they don’t work, you get fired, you know. But Reyna know me.

00:44:54.640 - 00:45:05.840

And you fire me… You know. He never fired me. You see. He would fire his

00:45:05.910 - 00:45:17.440

newphew Smitty. You know. Smitty told me, he said, “I don’t know how come,” you know, “you got the job, you see, he fired me.” He, he say, Miss, Mrs.

00:45:17.490 - 00:45:39.140

Reyna kept me on, you know, but anyway, I mean, that was a… So uh, can I ask how much uh, did you, what was your salary at this company? Um…yeah, I um…in, in dollars and cents I probably don’t remember back, eh, compare

00:45:41.110 - 00:46:03.040

it, inflation today, you know, and… I might’ve made…five- to seven- or eight- hundred a month. Yeah, that, that considered to be…

00:46:03.960 - 00:46:16.990

Yeah. Yeah. Five hundred and made that. So is that commission-based, or is that just a strict salary? Uh, well, it’s got a base, low base. And then uh, uh, see, Reyna cheat, you

00:46:16.990 - 00:46:36.910

know. You see. He, he would say, “If you do,” um, “three-thousand dollars, your base will be this much,” see. And later on, he’d…I , he’d say four

00:46:36.910 - 00:46:47.920

thousand. But, you know the work, I have to, I already climbed up here. Yeah. And the stepladder kinda… Keeps moving.

00:46:48.180 - 00:47:00.070

‘Cause he doesn’t want to pay you more. Yeah. That were okay, you know, see. But uh… So how, how did you decide to open your own meat company? Oh, well…I’m not

00:47:05.950 - 00:47:20.820

there… I mean, they…see, they sell cut meat, but what we sold over there is whole pieces. The others cut it up to sell to cafés and restaurants, you see, but Reyna don’t do that.

00:47:21.940 - 00:47:37.850

So I met some of the people, so I learned, and I learned to meet some of the Jewish people that do that business, I communicate with ‘em, see. See, he sent, I’m out there selling, so I, I have to meet

00:47:37.850 - 00:47:48.750

everybody, see, you know. It’s no law against for me to meet these… meat people, and meet their supplier and like, I got it all lined up, you know.

00:47:49.080 - 00:47:59.910

So, so you sold whole chunks of meat? Or did you cut them up and sell them? Well, well they cut ‘em up, you know. See, so when I went and did my own

00:47:59.910 - 00:48:14.150

meat business, and I already lined up some restaurants and everything, you know, things like that. And then besides that, I’m a butcher. I, I, I know something, you

00:48:14.150 - 00:48:28.170

know. So every little bit helped. Wow. So when you left, you started selling to the same people you used to sell for Reyna? Or you went in a different direction? Not exactly the same… The same…but the…uh, you know,

00:48:30.060 - 00:48:51.160

eh… And how many years did you have this business, the meat company? Let’s see…I…well, I…I finally…I think that,

00:48:52.490 - 00:49:10.520

eh… Well, the, the Oriental Meat Company was quite…colorful, you know, and, um…have to think about that. Uh huh, okay, okay.

00:49:11.550 - 00:49:31.150

Was it in 1950s? In the ‘50s? Yeah, I built my house around 1950s. Uh…’55. And uh…no no, I built my

00:49:31.320 - 00:49:45.540

house in nineteen-sixty-something. You know. So the meat compnay came before you built your house. Or— Okay. Okay. And then did the Gee Restaurant come after the meat

00:49:45.540 - 00:49:59.340

company? Uh…yeah, that’s right. That’s right. They… When I opened up Gee’s Restaurant…um…I opened up the store in 1955.

00:50:03.130 - 00:50:13.620

May the 12th. Yes. Wow, opened—so b-by then you already, you were still with, you still had your meat

00:50:13.670 - 00:50:30.940

company. Yes, I still got the meat company. Instead of, uh, selling my meat company, I went to their supplier, I gave them all my accounts

00:50:31.500 - 00:50:40.790

and let them handle it. So I just give it to ‘em. And I guess I could’ve sold ‘em for so much, you know.

00:50:41.430 - 00:50:50.360

See, but I just, and they feel real grateful that… Yeah. Yeah, well, give the company up.

00:50:50.360 - 00:51:00.260

Yeah, yeah. Well, I, I, I feel like, I like to do that, you know. Got good relationship, because I’m good friend, they’re good people.

00:51:01.540 - 00:51:17.360

And then also, see, to me, those people I build some customer data for them, I give it to them. I, I feel like they can take good

00:51:17.840 - 00:51:31.660

care of them customers. The customer doesn’t make me, so I have my… Restaurant, the customers for your restaurant. Ohh, wow. Yeah, very smart, very good, very good strategy.

00:51:31.900 - 00:51:47.230

Yeah, you know. See, the customer make my restaurant, you know. You see, so all of these in one, it, it, it, it, it worked. You ever think what, you know, see. And then, you know, it kinda, you know…family

00:51:47.230 - 00:51:58.860

of course, I…I got a good boss, you know, we call her Mrs. Gee, she’s… Yeah, yeah, she— Good boss, right? And great children.

00:51:59.250 - 00:52:05.880

So then— Yeah, yeah, the family. Harry can tell you. Yeah, wonderful family. Yeah. So the tiding—

00:52:05.880 - 00:52:16.660

Hey Harry, you know, Molly’s in China right now. Yeah. She— Is she back to roots? Has she gone back to the village? Oh yeah. You know, I forgot to bring you the book, you know.

00:52:17.180 - 00:52:29.200

They, they, they took some picture of the, of the village. Uh huh. And the school? And the school, and all of that, and I need to, one day,

00:52:29.410 - 00:52:42.010

show you the picture, show you the book. And also, the fish farm I used to run, either when I was 13 or 14 years old.

00:52:43.780 - 00:52:55.440

I have a store in the village, and I run a fish farm. Yeah. Oh my gosh, in the ‘30s, when you were 13, 14. Wow. It’s still there? Still there, see.

00:52:55.540 - 00:53:09.870

Oh, it hasn’t changed much. And then I, so, what happened—you know, I drew a picture. When Molly and Jeff, my son, went to the village, I said, “Yeah,” tell ‘em, okay,

00:53:10.430 - 00:53:25.690

they took the picture. See. This is second trip Molly went in first two months. This first trip. For me, when I was 14 years old, 13, 13 and a half,

00:53:25.980 - 00:53:42.940

I did all of that. Naturally, my children don’t believe me, but still, you know…and I’m 87. You see? So, can you ima—you know, somebody say, look… that… you know, that

00:53:43.580 - 00:54:00.160

kinda… So, see I have to take movie, you know. And then uh… they show some of that that we can see, you know.

00:54:01.850 - 00:54:21.830

So… All of a sudden… Uh, the camera showed this guy, and he’s in Chinese, and , you know, because, I know who is, you know. And Molly, Molly talk

00:54:21.970 - 00:54:37.730

pretty good Chinese. Molly tell him that my father have a store over by the gate in front of the village.

00:54:39.530 - 00:54:53.660

When Molly say that to him in Chinese, he said “I know where, I sh—let me show you.” That makes my faith… You’re—it turned out you were telling the truth, right?

00:54:55.210 - 00:55:01.150

You see what I’m talking about? Wow, wow, what a, that’s a, that’s amazing. That’s amazing story. So how old, that man

00:55:01.150 - 00:55:09.220

must’ve been old too, right? No, well, he heard of it. Oh he heard of it, oh wow. Yeah, I mean… Yeah, see, see.

00:55:09.370 - 00:55:20.420

And a matter of fact, after that I got to thinking about it, I have two stores. I built two stores. Well, in the village.

00:55:20.450 - 00:55:35.180

You take bamboo and some thread, you know, it’s easy. Two, three, four hours, you’re built. Yeah. What did you sell, in the ? What? Eh… It’s crazy, you know.

00:55:35.210 - 00:55:48.150

I was 13 and a half, I guess. I got a cousin, he’s 47, first cousin. And… He’s good at walking.

00:55:50.280 - 00:56:06.760

You never heard of that. See. In China, transportation’s bad. You know. I mean, don’t even have bicycle hardly. So if you want get to one

00:56:07.130 - 00:56:24.290

place to another, mostly walk. See. See, from here to…Conroe, from here to Galveston, it just…you might at first say, walk from here to Chicago somewhere.

00:56:24.680 - 00:56:35.610

Right. Yeah. I mean you’re Eastern. You know, . We got a seaport, Kong Hoi , you know. Produce good fishing.

00:56:36.550 - 00:56:54.860

Soft fish… And, and a deep seaport, see. The tide come in, an hour, thirty feet. When the tide come in, lose thirty feet.

00:56:55.850 - 00:57:15.440

When tide went down, it dropped thirty feet. Deep seaport. That’s how come the Japanese couldn’t take the port. Because the…the aircraft carrier or some warship,

00:57:17.610 - 00:57:28.210

they did not get to it fr—for deep end. When the tide falls, they’re stuck, see. So that’s the only port they don’t keep, you

00:57:28.870 - 00:57:45.890

know. But that’s, that’s the… I do know that port got a lot of good stuff there. Cheap. So I’d get together with my…first cousin,

00:57:47.650 - 00:57:59.640

so…I send him to the port, three-and-a-half days. And three-and-a-half days back. He bring back maybe a hundred and fifty pounds of stuff.

00:57:59.940 - 00:58:13.840

Carrying. Yeah, yeah, yeah. See. Whoa, three-and-a-half days coming back. Wow. But before that, we have a professor in school.

00:58:16.740 - 00:58:33.480

He’s eight—he was 83 years old. And he’s principal of the village’s school. One day, he taught like, say our country an agriculture country.

00:58:35.620 - 00:58:50.120

The law’s designed to help the farmer. So, if you, if the farmer take the land to the people, say, “I’ve got some land,”

00:58:52.420 - 00:59:08.800

“I bring you the land here,” “I sign up to you lend me five-hundred dollars.” And it was written in such a way…that I never lose my land, see.

00:59:09.600 - 00:59:27.750

In that it says that…eh…”I owe you five hundred, and I promise to pay…twenty dollars a month…principle. And three

00:59:28.230 - 00:59:54.770

dollars a month interest.” And it continued to say…”As time went on…I must continue to pay principle and interest. If I can’t pay principle, I still have to pay interest.

00:59:55.670 - 01:00:10.120

But if I can’t p—pay both, the land will go to you in a receivership.” Okay? And then you farm the land for interest. That’s all it say, okay.

01:00:11.690 - 01:00:29.990

And fifty years from now, maybe my great grandson come in with say four-hundred dollars, say, and, “my great grandfather owes you the note, still four-hundred

01:00:30.460 - 01:00:44.230

and seventy dollars, here’s my four- seventy,” and then the land will go to my great grandson. Because you farm the land for interest. But in the village, lot of these

01:00:44.870 - 01:01:00.460

guys wrote on it, “if you don’t pay both…” It go—the land will forever go to you, no more talk, see. So I asked the principal, I hear

01:01:00.460 - 01:01:17.210

what he say, I say, “will you teach me the the legal?” And he took time, taught me, in Chinese. And then he make me take a test, you know, the test, he’s saying in,

01:01:18.090 - 01:01:31.850

say it, you know…the book, . Oh, you re—you re—memorized, you memorized the whole book. Yeah, , see. And then he say, he got a little stick, you

01:01:32.490 - 01:01:46.400

know…you know, he hit my, he hit me in the head. “You got it.” You see. So I know the legal.

01:01:46.590 - 01:02:02.160

The word get out, I change seven of greenwood in the village for somebody else. So I wrote one for myself,

01:02:02.860 - 01:02:18.380

my mother to sign, went up there to this rich lady, borrowed five- hundred dollars. That’s why I go in business at the store. Ah, I see. Wow, that’s amazing. You’re a very good…business sense and legal

01:02:18.440 - 01:02:38.460

sense, a lawyer. You’re a lawyer like Harry. Well, you know, I— Before I come to this, I have a note here— I wrote something there for the…somebody, younger than I am…eh…I wrote that…you know,

01:02:38.460 - 01:02:57.310

I wrote some…account of…what I did. And to show that…you and I…I have…I’m in

01:02:57.310 - 01:03:16.390

American school nine months, and, I got sixth-grade education in Chinese, you know. So well, let’s just say no education, you know. See. And when I worked for

01:03:16.480 - 01:03:29.100

Reyna, something…he did not take care of my customer. Not me. You know, I mean, I’m willing to work for whatever, that’s okay.

01:03:31.680 - 01:03:44.120

But…you know, I quit Reyna three times now, and they hired back. And at that time…I got small children like this, you know. I’m not scared, you see.

01:03:45.090 - 01:03:56.020

So what I did in the village, I do, and you know, I did…see I’m not smart, but I do…I’m not scared. You see.

01:03:56.880 - 01:04:14.140

You see, I made it so just… Be a man, just, just do it. You know. See. And I got… I got some friend in the, in the, in Gee’s Restaurant, tell me, and he

01:04:14.260 - 01:04:26.040

say, “You know the Kennedys,” you know, he said, “They’re a bunch of doers,” you know. John Kennedy, and all them, Ted. They all do things. See.

01:04:26.430 - 01:04:39.290

He said, “Gordon, you need to be a doer too.” I told him, “I’ve been a doer long time.” Exactly, all your life you’ve been a doer. Yeah. You know, I mean, I mean…the thing about it is,

01:04:41.000 - 01:04:57.200

if some youngster learn about it say, “Hey, you know what,” you know, ‘cause…lot of time, they just want to make sure everything. Don’t do any wrong things, but if you want to do something,

01:04:58.310 - 01:05:07.800

think it out, try it. Try it. And don’t be afraid to take a risk. Yeah. So, so when did you have the Tidy Roof International?

01:05:07.930 - 01:05:20.290

When did—what is that? Oh. Yeah, you know, come to think of it I did quite a few things, haven’t I? Yeah, yes you did, it’s very interest—it’s very amazing variety of…jobs.

01:05:20.490 - 01:05:35.800

I, as a matter of fact, if, if I’m um, money hungry, I mean, you know, I mean…I don’t…basically I’m quite a lazy… I probably can take the company even

01:05:35.890 - 01:05:55.740

today. Probably…make…well, say multi-billion dollar might be, say, too much, you know. Easy you can multi-million million dollar thing…see. I have a formula.

01:05:57.230 - 01:06:20.180

I still got it. But I knew it, you know, that…you see, take city of Houston. You build a house, you say, “Oh, I’d like a…the reddest roof,” “the shingles.” He might want kinda

01:06:21.640 - 01:06:37.890

green or, you know, every roof a different color. But believe me, the first year, year and a half, it turned black. You notice, you can see ‘em.

01:06:38.640 - 01:06:53.130

You know. It all grows a bit sun on it. You know. The break in the wall, you know. Everything the, the s— the sun hit, the moisture hit, and those things grow on it,

01:06:53.960 - 01:07:09.000

you see…then, then you don’t have the original color that you want before. You got there and say, see, “I got the thing with spray on it.” Clean it off.

01:07:10.160 - 01:07:25.250

See. And then during the night, the dew, you know, come on the roof, the moisture hit, cleans ‘em off, see. Other words, I clean your roof today, you say “Wow.” Take a picture, you take it, you know.

01:07:26.560 - 01:07:41.380

See. Pay me silver, okay. Thirty days later, I come take another picture. It’s cleaner than the first one. You see. We can do that, it lasts over a year.

01:07:43.290 - 01:08:02.520

You see. And then uh, you know, course the weather, it’s no guarantee . I got those, I used to do their roof. Wow. Well how did you go from restaurant to that company? Did you have a, did you have a, I don’t know, a friend who, a partner who

01:08:03.010 - 01:08:14.700

introduced you to this business? It’s very different from the restaurant and a meat-packing business. You might say crazy Gordon done a lot of things. You know, I always

01:08:14.780 - 01:08:32.370

do different things, you see. And even in the old, old days, see…and, well, might just surprise you, I was in the oil business. Oil business? Oh, wow.

01:08:33.320 - 01:08:53.130

See. I…I got a friend named Lawson, see. And I…financed him, and he went to the Mexico and Texas border, and he was an oil

01:08:53.160 - 01:09:12.350

scout. See, in the old days, when they drilled oil everywhere, tried to find oil…one night, see, his name’s French. French was

01:09:12.550 - 01:09:33.470

at this beer joint, you know. This people worked at an oil field, drilled oil. At night, they all drank beer, see, my friend…at night, he’d dress like those oil

01:09:33.470 - 01:09:51.850

field workers. He went over there, he went from one beer joint to another, drank beer with them and talked, tried to learn something. One night…he, in this bar,

01:09:53.120 - 01:10:08.150

they were talking about, “Boy, you oughta see what we hit today.” “Look at my shoe,” they go, “you hit something down there?” You know. Yeah, it comes up. And got oil in his hair, everywhere like that, and

01:10:08.710 - 01:10:29.300

he’s “whoa, whoa, whoa,” so he learned whereabout. So he learned enough, so he slowly got out of there, went to the motel, washed up, put on his suit,

01:10:29.660 - 01:10:48.760

everything, see, and went, traveled, one, two, three days, and found those people that lived around, owned those land around there, and he signed them all up.

01:10:51.110 - 01:11:02.130

By the time he come back to Houston, in the Eskimson—Esperson Building, right here, that’s where all the oil people hang around. Esperson Building.

01:11:03.370 - 01:11:20.920

What he f—what he wrote…that’s the old days now. All write-ups over a-hundred-thousand dollars. Wow. Well and so, so uh, he signed up those people to give…so he, he

01:11:21.200 - 01:11:35.540

bought—no, he didn’t buy the land, he just signed up for the oil to be sold by him? Oh, he signed up the rights, oh my goodness. Not—normally they would buy peace agreements to the mineral rights. In other words, so, the leave, Right.

01:11:35.620 - 01:11:45.140

they don’t get any of the property, they get the mineral rights. Which is more valuable, right? I guess I surprised Harry too. Yeah. Yeah. So this was your employee, you sent him.

01:11:45.400 - 01:11:54.640

I financed it, he’s the one who do all of that. Yeah, he’s a Caucasian, right? Anglo. He’s not Chinese. So he, and then he signs them up, and then he comes back to Esperson Building,

01:11:55.050 - 01:12:04.700

and then he sells them to the people there? Yeah. Hey Harry, you know what zapa de conda is? That was us! We found those!

01:12:05.080 - 01:12:16.810

Wow. So did you hold on to them? You just sold them. Oh wow. I know something, see, have a lot of fun doing it, you know, so I,

01:12:17.010 - 01:12:34.620

you know, I don’t really, but he, he, in and out, see, I know a couple of times, that he sold something, it amount to some big bucks, you know, and…and then so, you know, but

01:12:34.620 - 01:12:46.500

I have fun, in and out all that. If people try to prove that I, I didn’t tell the truth, I can find French Lawson.

01:12:48.790 - 01:13:05.880

You see. You know who, um…I think that George Bush, that group, they, they, they, they… Well, well it…I don’t know how many transactions, how they do it with French Lawson,

01:13:06.280 - 01:13:14.370

you know, see. You know, see. And then uh… Why did you not continue? Well, that’s my sideline.

01:13:14.440 - 01:13:25.700

I don’t…you know, I don’t… no no no no no, I don’t, you know. Yeah, see. Even this thing here, you know. The Tidy Roof, see.

01:13:26.000 - 01:13:42.320

You know. I couldn’t…I think— I, yeah, I, I got a guy, a kid, uh he made the ride to go to China, you know, all that kind of stuff, you know. But I don’t sit with him, you know, see, so, it’s uh…I have a lot

01:13:42.380 - 01:13:55.180

of fun. That’s it, you know. Then the Gee Investment Company is all of these businesses put together? Is that the…? Oh yeah, that’s right, that’s… No no, that, that… That, that, that’s me.

01:13:55.500 - 01:14:08.670

That’s just me. Okay. So by then you were still—but you still had your restaurant and your meat company, you held them together all— Oh, I see. See, what I do…that’s my main thing, see.

01:14:09.180 - 01:14:23.120

But the other stuff, you know, see. And some of the stuff, if… Mrs. Gee learned, or heard what we’re talking about, she might… She don’t

01:14:23.480 - 01:14:34.860

know a hundred percent what all I do. But she do know that I’m involved in different things, you know. And you still are, right? You’re not really—because you’re a landlord still, so you’re still— you’re still involved.

01:14:34.860 - 01:14:46.230

Oh yeah, I, I own a few pieces of property. But right now, I’m, I’m up in age, I begin to sell, you know, I mean, I’m gonna sell all everything, you know, see. So, you know.

01:14:46.620 - 01:15:02.400

And only thing I can say is, it’s been…lot of fun, and um…I’m totally, just about totally comfortable. That’s what counts. Yeah, that’s what counts. Well it’s an amazing story.

01:15:02.730 - 01:15:18.130

Well, I think, um…to recent—uh, the, to me the Gee family is much more organized than the other big Chinese families here. But I think also more successful. And I think a lot of the success has to do with some of the elder family

01:15:18.130 - 01:15:31.220

members who are so generous and int—smart. I mean, See Wai Chu, Won Tu Chu, and then Albert, Wallace, you, and then Harry Sr. I think you are not only generous in helping other people come in, but you’re

01:15:31.220 - 01:15:46.720

smart, I mean, to know, like to allow the police to eat at half price so you have not only protection, and then you build up very good relationships with them and with the city politicians. That’s, that’s priceless, I mean, that’s already, not only buy yourself protection but

01:15:46.720 - 01:15:59.070

making yourself good citizens of Houston. Right. Talk about the politicians, you see. When Louie Welch became mayor, see, we got a friend named Tom White.

01:15:59.750 - 01:16:11.230

Oh, he knows things. He’d tell me things, everything, and he’s just so sharp. And he’s totally a great Christian. Everywhere he went, he got a Bible with him, all that.

01:16:11.900 - 01:16:26.520

So it’s…Tom is um… so when Louie, uh, make mayor, Tom…would come in, “Gordon, what do you want?” I say, “I don’t want

01:16:26.630 - 01:16:39.610

nothing!” He’d come back in, “What do you need?” “I need nothing.” He said, “Look, the whole bunch eat on you, you feed them steak,” this and that, you know, I mean, the politics, you know.

01:16:39.730 - 01:16:47.400

Yeah. The ones that come to your restaurant. Yeah, yeah. You got to have something. That’s uh, I don’t know. So Tom come in

01:16:47.560 - 01:17:03.650

three days in a row, morning, lunchtime, and evening. Just keep on hittin’ me, you know. So he hittin’ me in such a way that I have to think, you know.

01:17:04.760 - 01:17:22.320

So…I guess one day after lunch, he come just bug me. “What do you want,” see. So I look at the telephone, I dial Albert’s number. I say like this, like this Albert. Tom say what I want, and Albert right

01:17:23.040 - 01:17:39.490

away, he say, “Yes, you do want something.” And he say, “Sam, he’s a lawyer, he read good, da da da da da, and he graduate,” this and that, you know.

01:17:40.280 - 01:17:53.000

And he’s, you know, I think he’s just graduate, become a lawyer, you know. Sam Eng you know? Eh? And he explained to me, how good Sammy is, this and that, he said, “You know, at the city, there’s some

01:17:53.460 - 01:18:08.080

substitute judge.” See.” “You tell Tom…the city needs one of the good substitute judge, Sam is the one.” That’s what I told Tom.

01:18:09.030 - 01:18:22.260

The following Sunday, Tom brought Louie Welch in, we went to my private dining room, we sit down and eat. Tom say “da da da da da da da, let’s eat.” So Sam become substitute

01:18:23.810 - 01:18:36.190

judge. Yay! Now who is Sam? He’s a…nephew? Elder’s…nephew? Well, he’s…Sam is, uh, I think he was the second Chinese attorney here in town. The first one was Jimmy Lee.

01:18:36.280 - 01:18:47.260

And then Sam was number two. Jimmy, Jimmy practiced criminal and real estate. He had a real estate, and…his secretary was, um, Hannah Chow.

01:18:48.190 - 01:19:02.250

That’s right. That’s him. You know, Jimmy used to come into our restaurant to eat all the time, and so we had a chance to get to visit him. Sam is…uh…Jane’s brother.

01:19:02.670 - 01:19:15.370

Jane Gee. Okay, so he’s Jane Gee’s brother. And so he was in the insurance business. And then he became an attorney. And when he became an attorney, uh, to supplement his income, Gordon and them

01:19:15.410 - 01:19:33.450

were able to get him appointed…to the… That’s right, corporation court judge, and so, you know, that enabled him to be a successful attorney, because, you know, he was…he, he had the income from serving as the judge, and then of course he had his insurance business, and… in, in, in terms of it.

01:19:33.450 - 01:19:52.510

But Sam never got very engaged with, uh, the community. He just did not, you know, his personality apparently was such that he just didn’t uh, you know, associate or get involved with the community as such, he was very happy with those arrangements and and and and circumstances, but… I became the

01:19:54.110 - 01:20:09.470

first…practicing attorney. In other words, all I did was practice law, I didn’t have a, a side business. And Jimmy…sold real estate and earned real estate commissions, and, you know, because, at that time, our community really didn’t have that much

01:20:10.720 - 01:20:23.680

legal work that was, that was out there. And, you know, I, I think that, and I was surprised, because when I started my practice, I’d go, “Well, I’ll get all my relatives come in,” and they all stayed away, so, I realized after one

01:20:23.710 - 01:20:36.230

year that it, it ain’t coming from that source and that, you know, we need—‘cause I think that later on, I, you know, I, I, I basically found out that…people didn’t want you to know about their personal

01:20:36.320 - 01:20:50.940

circumstance or, situation. Yeah, and, and, and, you know, we have one case where…little old Chinese lady came and hired me in her divorce case. She didn’t want anybody in the f—in the community to know about it.

01:20:51.730 - 01:21:05.320

Six months after the divorce, my mother came to me and she said, “Oh, I understand Mrs. So-and-so got a divorce.” Only then could I let her know that I was the attorney that represented Mrs. So-and-so in the divorce.

01:21:05.320 - 01:21:19.400

Because until she heard it from another source, I was, you know— Yeah. It was confidentiality, and so I didn’t, you know, so, it was one of these situations there that uh, uh, but, you know, I think that our community did not realize the

01:21:19.420 - 01:21:34.180

concept of confidentiality and you know, each of those circumstances. So, that’s when I realized I need to build my practice elsewhere other than from our community because, you know— But, but the j—in Jimmy Lee’s time, was he not able to practice in the

01:21:34.180 - 01:21:45.360

non-Chinese community? Did he… Well, he was, but I mean, you know, he, he, he has to differentiate himself, he has to— The other thing is this. At that time, it was un—unethical to solicit business.

01:21:46.640 - 01:22:00.010

So the Supreme Court changed that in the late 1960s and the early ‘70s when they made the ruling that attorneys could advertise, but before that, attorneys could not go out and seek business. So you had to wait for business to come and find you.

01:22:00.010 - 01:22:15.660

That’s it, yeah. And, and so, you know, we’re of the older school. Now the younger generation didn’t, doesn’t know this, and so they’re out there knocking on doors and trying—well, you know, it’s great…to have that ruling when you’re an established attorney. Because you’re an established attorney, you don’t want the

01:22:15.660 - 01:22:33.550

younger people come in and, you know, and get access but…with the change in the late 1960s, then attorneys began going out and soliciting and calling the ball and doing things to—to get, but, previously it was unprofessional to go out there and ask somebody,

01:22:33.880 - 01:22:51.480

“Hey, you know, send me your legal work,” and so, we’d sit back and wait for the people to come to us. And they didn’t, but, you know, the…so…and when you stop to think about it, why…take it to somebody who was brand new, when you’ve got experienced lawyers that have already been established and the people

01:22:51.480 - 01:23:00.230

have had a relationship with over a period of time. You know, and as you think through it, you, you, we understood. But at the beginning of my law practice, it

01:23:00.270 - 01:23:12.850

was, you know, it was a lean, it was a lean period of time there, in terms of getting it started. And so it was, it was, real—and, obviously we were very grateful to Wesley to give us that opportunity to represent them.

01:23:13.460 - 01:23:27.430

You know, over a number of years that uh, that we, we did the work, I think uh…Ed Chen was the one who brought Wesley to us. Really? Yes. Oh wow. Ed, Ed Chen, uh, worked at Westlake and, uh…

01:23:27.810 - 01:23:40.240

Ed Chen? Our doctor Ed Chen? No, this is another Ed Chen, you—I don’t know. He may have been, I don’t know if you were here at that partic—what year did y’all get married? Oh, we were married ’73, but I, I, I came in to Houston

01:23:40.260 - 01:23:51.960

eighty—’76 and ’86, but I’m never involved with Albert’s business, I don’t know who’s in there. Yeah. So, well, anyway, he’s the one who…uh…it so happened that we had a dear friend called, his name is Ping Chao.

01:23:52.570 - 01:24:00.240

Yeah, Ping Chao I remember, we met him from TCB. Ping was a Texas congressman. And Ping was the one who introduced Westlake to us.

01:24:00.260 - 01:24:10.660

You know, and then Ed Chen came, we had a chance to visit, and then, you know, when we got the chance to visit, and we delivered all of the Westlake personnel to Lake Charles. Right, the immigration, right, all of the immigration

01:24:11.470 - 01:24:24.870

issues. An entire, you know, group that the Chao family brought that was such a, in your day, and then my father-in-law. You, Gordon, you remind me a lot of my father-in-law.

01:24:25.460 - 01:24:34.390

He’s like you, very quick and able to find profit in all these businesses. Who is your father-in-law? T. T. Chao, he passed away. T. T. Chao, he’s with Westlake Chemical.

01:24:34.970 - 01:24:44.210

From Taiwan. He’s from Taiwan. Oh. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, they’re from Taiwan. Yeah, he, as a young man, he’s just like you, very, very entrepreneurial. He can see things other people don’t see.

01:24:44.210 - 01:25:00.490

And then there’s profits that you can make. So, you know, it—it was through that situation that we got a chance to get to know him. And we’d always been encouraging James and Albert to get more involved with our broader community, and we’re pleased to see basically…sh—you know,

01:25:00.570 - 01:25:16.990

she’s the one who sort of got Albert out of his shell, ‘cause she got more, she got involved with a number of the activities and whatnot, and so Albert began… But Albert got onto the Houston Grand Opera board because of Theresa Chang. Theresa put him on that board, and then he started going—

01:25:16.990 - 01:25:33.370

Well, no, no, and this is as it should be, I mean, you know, because I think that we, we want some of our best and brightest to be involved and engaged with the broader community because, you know, they honor us, I mean, you know, hey, uh, we want good representatives out

01:25:33.370 - 01:25:49.730

there, because we want our children to have good opportunities, I mean… Gordon’s… daughter, Molly, was a nutritionist. Yes, my mother-in-law saw her as a nutrionist, the expert, yeah. My, my old c—roommate from law school gained so much weight he ended up

01:25:49.730 - 01:26:04.340

hiring Molly to help him, you know, and, and…he preceded Joe Dilg. He, he was the managing partner of Vincent and Elkins before Joe. Harry Reasoner. See, Harry, Harry and I went to Rice together, and then

01:26:04.680 - 01:26:19.730

law school together, and so, you know, it turn, it turns out that uh…and then Harry was helpful to me when I was getting started because…Vincent and Elkins had some cases that they didn’t—conflict of interest or whatever, and they had to pass it off to somebody else, and

01:26:19.730 - 01:26:33.830

so they passed it to me. And so that enabled me to get, you know, some work at the beginning, of my law career, and it, it enabled me to go ahead and, and get started, I mean, and that’s why, you know, getting out to the broader community is such an

01:26:33.830 - 01:26:41.550

important aspect of it. Wow. Well Harry, you lead the way. You’re showing us. Well, you know, I, but, you know, see…Gordon and Albert, all them set up the Gee family

01:26:41.550 - 01:26:59.530

that enabled us to have a degree of, you know, recognition within the city here and so that made it—the job easier and, you know, and it works to everybody’s benefit. ‘Cause when they think, well, of any of our Chinese, they think, well, all Chinese. And if they start thinking badly, that’s it.

01:26:59.650 - 01:27:13.480

Yeah. I mean, so, you know, it’s important. This is so nice that… the Gees have you to do all of this. Well, I’m, I’m very, uh, honored to be able to do this, I hope I do a good job.

01:27:14.490 - 01:27:28.230

But uh— Hey, I wanna ask you. You, were in Austin serving the state of Texas. You got some kind of title, what was that? Well, as an assistant attorney general, one of hundreds, I have a, you know— What

01:27:28.230 - 01:27:44.100

happens is that…we, we did a good enough job that they did give me some opportunities, uh, you know, I worked the uh, attorney general’s conference and a couple of other things, because, uh…what we didn’t realize is that when they put me into the franchise taxes, I was

01:27:44.180 - 01:27:56.860

collecting taxes, I tripled the amount of collections in one year. And so, and so w—and, and, and, the attorney general’s office got a percentage of it. So if they got a percentage of it, they were watching what I was

01:27:56.930 - 01:28:13.700

doing all the time because it increased the amount of moneys they got in their budget, and so, you know, we had a chance to, to, to work with them and, you know, in that area, but uh, yeah, it was, it was, it was, it was rather interesting. It was nothing more than hard work, I mean, you know, it’s just that the previous people

01:28:13.700 - 01:28:27.670

they had there were political hacks and so they really didn’t…yeah, they…they just, they were there, holding a position, they really weren’t working. And so, you know, when I came in and they started working, it tripled their collections. You know, and so they were just absolutely ecstatic

01:28:27.730 - 01:28:35.950

with that particular situation. That is great. Wow. That’s very impressive. That’s so much— so many impressive people.

01:28:35.950 - 01:28:44.240

But I think uh, it’s just so intelligent, Albert and Gordon, you and Wallace, you know, you just think very hard. But I’m ta—I think I’d better stop