Chinatown: Fung Wah

from city of memory
from Joe Bruno

In the early 80's, I covered boxing at the Tropicana in Atlantic city every Tuesday night. Don Elbaum was the promoter. It was a pain driving back and forth to AC. So one of my Chinese friends told me about a bus that left from Chatham Square every day to the Tropicana and returned after midnight. Perfect for me. It was about $20 round trip. So one Tuesday morning, I tried to board the bus. The driver would not let me on. He told me, "For Chinese people only." I told him this was America and I lived in Chinatown all my life. It was against the law to do this. He sent me to a Chinatown office, where the bus owners told me the same thing. Chinese only. I went beserk. Cursing. Screaming. Threatening. The whole nine yards. Still they would not let me on the bus. So I drove to Atlantic City and told Don Elbaum. He called me back a few days later and told me he solved the problem. That they would take me on the bus the following Tuesday. I went the following Tuesday and was indeed let on the bus. But they told me, "Don't tell your American friends. This is only for you. Not them." I told them to go f..k themselves. I left the bus and continued driving to Atlantic City. Sometimes with Cha Cha who had fighters fighting there. Talk about reverse discrimination.