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Paul’s Kitchen hangs on as City Market Chinatown fades into history

For 23 years, manager Charlie Ng has run the restaurant on downtown's San Pedro Street just as his uncle Paul directed, adhering to a business strategy that has over the years been elevated to maxim: Keep everything the same.

For 23 years, manager Charlie Ng has run the restaurant on downtown’s San Pedro Street just as his uncle Paul directed, adhering to a business strategy that has over the years been elevated to maxim: Keep everything the same.  (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

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The surrounding neighborhood has changed dramatically since Paul’s Kitchen opened in 1946, but the Chinese restaurant proudly clings to the past -- and that’s just what its customers want.

In the kitchen

Chef Xing Hoang works in Paul’s Kitchen, which turns out heaps of egg foo yong, chop suey and chasu barbecue pork, all swimming in a deep brown gravy. The food is a throwback to a different era in cuisine -- culturally Chinese but unapologetically American.   (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Bow On Family Assn.

Sing L. Lou, 86, shows a visitor around the Bow On Family Assn., upstairs from Paul’s Kitchen. He is the former president of the group, which owns the building that houses the restaurant.   (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

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