A landmark of Korean-style Chinese cuisine in LA’s Koreatown, The Dragon Restaurant (Yong Gung), is set to close its doors this month. Having stood at the corner of Olympic Boulevard and Vermont Avenue (966 S. Vermont Ave.) since 1980, the restaurant’s 43-year tenure will soon become a part of Koreatown’s history.
On December 5, the Chinese restaurant announced that it would be open until January 28 and then close permanently. Owned by Teh Jing Wang (Deokjeong Wang), former chairman of the Southern California Korean American Food and Restaurant Association (KAFRA), the site is slated for redevelopment into a 90-unit mixed-use apartment building in March.
“We plan to maintain normal operations until our closing day, after which construction is scheduled to begin in March. We are very grateful to the many people who have loved The Dragon Restaurant over the years,” said the restaurant manager Wei Zhu.
The Dragon Restaurant says it hasn’t found a new location that will maintain the size of its current standalone restaurant, which includes a banquet hall on the second floor and a large hall on the first. Another challenge is the difficulty in recruiting kitchen staff, with many of its overseas Chinese chefs now in their 60s or older. With the announcement of the restaurant’s closure, about 21 employees are looking for new jobs.
For the past 43 years, The Dragon Restaurant has been a favorite Chinese restaurant among the Korean-American community. The Dragon Restaurant’s predecessor was Kirinwon, a restaurant specializing in Korean-style Chinese cuisine that Wang opened in the early 1970s. He went on to open Wanggung, Sowanggung, and Geumjeong Sikdang before opening The Dragon Restaurant in its current location in 1980.
Wang, who was born in Seoul and immigrated to Los Angeles at 22, has been a staple in Koreatown’s culinary scene, serving Korean-style Chinese food to the Korean-American community for over four decades. In 2015, Wang handed over the ownership of The Dragon Restaurant to a Chinese restaurant owner in La Crescenta named Choi. Since then, Wang has been working on a project to build residential apartments on the restaurant’s site and buildings.
“The people who came to our restaurant over the years were more than just customers, like friends,” Wang said in a call with the Korea Daily, “It’s very unfortunate that the restaurant has to close, but we eventually have decided to develop it into an apartment building. We have finalized the plan with an investment company and we expect the construction to take two years to complete.”
Those who heard the news of The Dragon Restaurant’s closure expressed regret.
Long-time patron Ki Young Park, 84, shared his sentiments, “Having frequented The Dragon Restaurant for over 30 years, its closing feels like saying farewell to an old friend. But seeing old restaurants being replaced by new constructions, it also feels like watching Koreatown develop.”
BY HYOUNGJAE KIM, HOONSIK WOO [kim.ian@koreadaily.com]
