Chew Kee Store

Chew Kee Store Chew Kee Store was a Chinese herbalist's shop established in the1850s in Fiddletown, California. It was occupied by Chinese residents until 1965.

The store was opened as a museum in 1984.

This wooden panel is propped up between two small beds in the bedroom, although it may not have originally been situated...
05/31/2022

This wooden panel is propped up between two small beds in the bedroom, although it may not have originally been situated there when the building was occupied. The characters translate to something akin to "Everything is Peaceful".

These two stamps are in an antiquated script from the Qin dynasty. They likely do not spell out words, but instead were ...
05/27/2022

These two stamps are in an antiquated script from the Qin dynasty. They likely do not spell out words, but instead were used as something akin to a logo for a particular business, which in this case is unknown.

According to local author and historian Elaine Zorbas this stamp was created from an improper transliteration of Chew Ke...
05/27/2022

According to local author and historian Elaine Zorbas this stamp was created from an improper transliteration of Chew Kee.

As noted with the previous photo, most of the stamps on the table are individual Chinese characters. However, there are ...
04/26/2022

As noted with the previous photo, most of the stamps on the table are individual Chinese characters. However, there are a handful of stamps that would be familiar to many westerners. The rubber and wood stamp below was for Chew Kee Store during the time that Fiddletown was renamed Oleta (circa 1878-1932). The stamp could have been used for receipts, bills, packages, etc. (Please note I have manipulated this photo so the script is legible. In its original form the script is reversed.)

This small desk is located in a backroom of the Chew Kee Store. The room appears to have been used as an office, but als...
04/26/2022

This small desk is located in a backroom of the Chew Kee Store. The room appears to have been used as an office, but also includes a small bed. Situated atop the desk are an abacus and an assortment of materials for stamping Chinese characters. This includes a tray of stamps, ink, ink pads, and a blotter. The stamps are colloquially called "chops", but this is a bit of a misnomer. Chops are traditionally seals used by businesses to mark official documents. Most of the "chops" in the tray are of individual characters.

And this one too.
02/27/2022

And this one too.

OK, I think I got these edited down so they will load properly. No need trying to read them backwards. A coworker was ki...
02/27/2022

OK, I think I got these edited down so they will load properly. No need trying to read them backwards. A coworker was kind enough to have her father translate some of the Chinese characters. "So my dad said larger horizontal characters on the very top is the company name. The vertical large characters, the first two characters mean lizard or saurian and the last two vertical characters mean alcohol. The horizontal characters in between the vertical characters means nutrient supplement. My dad says the medicine says it's especially good for the kidney."

Facebook would not let me post both photos at once, and kept reversing this image. My apologies. Please see text below.
02/24/2022

Facebook would not let me post both photos at once, and kept reversing this image. My apologies. Please see text below.

These two bottles contained what were essentially the Chinese version of the “patent medicines” common during the late 1...
02/24/2022

These two bottles contained what were essentially the Chinese version of the “patent medicines” common during the late 19th and early 20th century. Patent medicines often had high alcohol content and/or contained narcotics. Their consumption permitted public to feed their habits in a more socially acceptable manner (ostensibly treating an ailment). Both bottles were filled and packaged in the early 1930s in San Francisco, one by the Louie Chong Dai Herb Company and the other by the Hi Wo Hong Company. Both companies came under scrutiny by the Federal Government. In particular, on December 14, 1933 Louie Chong Dai was charged by the U.S. Western District Attorney with misbranding their product under of Food and Drugs Act. The government claimed to have tested the contents of some bottles and found a small quantity of plant or animal material, 29.5% alcohol, water and sugar. They charged the company with what amounted to false advertising, claiming there was nothing in the bottles to treat rheumatism and that the alcohol content exceeded what was claimed on the label (25%). The investigation started in November 1933 when Prohibition was still being enforced, although whether this was a factor in initiating the investigation is unknown. It should be pointed out that, at least according to the label, this bottle may have contained the herb "d**g quai", although this is usually used for menstrual cramps not rheumatism. Both companies were situated in San Francisco’s Chinatown and both seem to have been short lived, with very little historical documentation for either having been found to date.

This simple wooden object is a Chinese ruler, its units demarcated by lines of small metal tacks or brads embedded in th...
02/02/2022

This simple wooden object is a Chinese ruler, its units demarcated by lines of small metal tacks or brads embedded in the wood. I believe the correct term for this object is “Liang chi” in Mandarin or “gaan cek (chek)” in Cantonese. However, instead of equating to an English/American foot, this ruler equals one “chi”. Often called the “Chinese foot”, traditionally a chi was the distance between the tip of the thumb and the tip of the forefinger. This unit of measurement dates back at least 3000 years to the Shang Dynasty. The exact length of a chi has varied over time, and even by profession. In the 1980s the Peoples Republic of China set a national standard for the chi at precisely 1/3 of a meter or just short of 13.1 inches. As you can see, in comparison to the adjacent yard stick, this ruler is longer than 13.1 inches. This particular ruler was constructed on the “Hong Kong foot” which in modern times is defined as 14.6250 inches. Cantonese speakers from this part of the country refer to this unit of measurement as a “chek”. This length for the chi or chek was commonly used throughout Guangzhou where the occupants of Chew Kee originated from. You can see the ruler is divided into 10 equal parts, much like the metric system. These units are known as “cun”. Scaling upwards, 10 chi equal one “Zhang”.
My apologies for the mixed use of Mandarin and Cantonese terminology, I was having trouble finding all the information I wanted to include in one language or the other. For further reading see The History of Ancient Chinese Measures and Weights at https://books.google.com/books?id=D7ytDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT214&lpg=PT214&dq=what+are+chinese+measuring+rulers+called&source=bl&ots=QJxPDXV64O&sig=ACfU3U3Agm5lEz3Bww1ebQzbILsP_dPFrw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiNrbDGleD1AhVZJ0QIHZ1pDpA4ChDoAXoECCIQAw =onepage&q=what%20are%20chinese%20measuring%20rulers%20called&f=false.

Chew Kee Store has several “bilingual” bottles and jars with both Chinese and English labels on them. This example is a ...
01/16/2022

Chew Kee Store has several “bilingual” bottles and jars with both Chinese and English labels on them. This example is a small 12-ounce jar with a “Lightening”-style wire bail closure, akin to a canning jar. It was marketed by Quong Hop & Co and likely contained tofu. The exact age of this jar is unknown at this time.

Quong Hop & Co were a food company in San Francisco. The company was reportedly established in 1906 by Sing Hau Lee. Lee had previously been in another partnership manufacturing tofu in San Francisco. His new establishment was located on Wentworth Place between Jackson and Washington Streets. In the basement of his business Lee produced both firm and wine-fermented tofus. He also grew soy and mung bean sprouts. These and possibly other items were sold from his store front on Wentworth. After the earthquake Quong Hop & Co temporarily moved across the bay to Oakland. This move lasted about six months before the business was moved back to San Francisco, this time at 135 Waverly Place. During WWII they focused on fermented tofu. During the health food movement of the 1960s the company went on to become widely known, mostly for their “FUYU” brand of fermented tofu. In 2009 they ran into trouble with the FDA, and have since closed. For further reading on Quong Hop & Co and the history of tofu see:

Shurtleff, William & Akiko Aoyagi
2011 History of Fermented Tofu – A Healthy Nondairy/Vegan Cheese 91610-2011): Extensively Annotated Bibliography and Sourcebook. Soyinfo Center, Lafayette.

Herbs sold to individuals were packaged in small paper envelopes. The museum still has a few of these (see below) that w...
12/22/2021

Herbs sold to individuals were packaged in small paper envelopes. The museum still has a few of these (see below) that were never dispensed with. They are made from scraps of paper folded into small packages.

Address

14301 Fiddletown Road
Fiddletown, CA
95629

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