Frank Wong
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Frank Wong (born September 22, 1932) is a
San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
artist who creates miniature dioramas that depict the San Francisco Chinatown of Wong's youth during the 1930s and 1940s. His works include his grandmother's kitchen, the family's living room at Christmas, an herb shop, Chinese
laundry Laundry is the washing of clothing and other textiles, and, more broadly, their drying and ironing as well. Laundry has been part of history since humans began to wear clothes, so the methods by which different cultures have dealt with this u ...
, shoeshine stand, and life in a
single room occupancy Single-room occupancy (SRO) is a type of low-cost housing typically aimed at residents with low or minimal incomes, or single adults who like a minimalist lifestyle, who rent small, furnished single rooms with a bed, chair, and sometimes a smal ...
hotel common in Chinatown.


Early life and career

Frank Wong was born in
Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
on September 22, 1934. His family moved to Chinatown in San Francisco shortly after his birth. After high school, Wong enlisted in the
U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...
. Following a 4-year stint, he settled in
Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...
and found work making
props A prop, formally known as a (theatrical) property, is an object actors use on stage or screen during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinct ...
for a
costume Costume is the distinctive style of dress and/or makeup of an individual or group that reflects class, gender, occupation, ethnicity, nationality, activity or epoch—in short, culture. The term also was traditionally used to describe typica ...
store and
magicians Magician or The Magician may refer to: Performers * A practitioner of magic (supernatural) * A practitioner of magic (illusion) * Magician (fantasy), a character in a fictional fantasy context Entertainment Books * ''The Magician'', an 18th-ce ...
. Eventually, he became a
prop master The property master, often called the prop(s) master, is an artistic and organizational employee in a film, television or theatrical production who is responsible for purchasing, acquiring, manufacturing, properly placing, and/or overseeing any pro ...
for film and television productions including ''
Magnum, P.I. ''Magnum, P.I.'' is an American crime drama television series starring Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a private investigator (P.I.) living on Oahu, Hawaii. The series ran from December 11, 1980, to May 1, 1988, during its first-run broadcast on ...
''. In the late 1980s, Wong became homesick for San Francisco and he moved back to the city. However, the city of Wong's youth had changed and his family had moved on. During a visit to the
Chinese Historical Society of America The Chinese Historical Society of America ( zh, s=wikt:美国华人, 美国华人wikt:历史, 历史wikt:学会, 学会, t=美國華人歷史學會, p=Měiguó Huárén Lìshǐ Xuéhuì, j=Mei5gwok3 Waa4jan4 Lik6si2 Hok6wui6; abbreviated CHSA) ...
(CHSA) in San Francisco, Wong learned that few images of old Chinatown existed, and he began creating memories of his youth in miniature dioramas. Wong conducted research at the San Francisco Public Library's Chinatown branch and referenced old
Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears ( ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosen ...
catalogs for product label accuracy. In 2004, Wong donated seven miniatures of scenes of Chinatown, titled “The Chinatown Miniatures Collection,” to CHSA. The dioramas include “The Moon Festival,” “Shoeshine Stand,” “Chinese New Year,” “Chinese Laundry,” “Christmas Scene,” “Single Room,” and “Herb Store,” and are on permanent display in CHSA's Main Gallery.


Methods

Wong constructs his dioramas around a single remembered object from his youth, such as an herb chopper, his grandmother's apron, or a sign on a laundry door. Wong creatively employs materials such as plastic tubing to make soup or chili cans, balsa wood to fashion tables, and toothpicks for siding. His dioramas are scaled one inch to one foot.


Documentary film

San Francisco filmmakers James Chan and Corey Tong made “Forever, Chinatown”, a documentary about Wong and the “changing landscape of Chinatown” in San Francisco. In 2016, the first screening of the nearly-completed documentary was shown at
CAAMFest CAAMFest, known prior to 2013 as the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF), is presented every May (Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month) in the San Francisco Bay Area in the United States as the nation' ...
, a celebration of Asian American film, music and food, in San Francisco. The completed documentary aired on PBS in the USA and is available to stream worldwide on
Kanopy Kanopy is an on-demand streaming video platform for public and academic libraries that offers films, TV shows, educational videos and documentaries. The service is free for end users, but libraries pay fees on a pay-per-view model, from which ...
.


Personal

Wong lives near San Francisco's Tenderloin District. He never married and has no children. Wong said ''
Flower Drum Song ''Flower Drum Song'' was the eighth musical theatre, musical by the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein. It is based on the 1957 novel, ''The Flower Drum Song'', by Chinese-American author C. Y. Lee (author), C. Y. Lee. It premiered on Broadway the ...
'', the musical set in San Francisco's Chinatown by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, based on the 1957 novel, ''
The Flower Drum Song ''The Flower Drum Song'' is a novel by Chinese-American author C. Y. Lee, first published in 1957. The novel tells the story of Chinese immigrants in San Francisco, and was a bestseller in its time. It is the basis of 1958 musical ''Flower Dru ...
'', by
Chinese-American Chinese Americans are Americans of Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans have ancestors from mainland China, Hong Kong ...
author C. Y. Lee, “was my life…That was me as a teenage kid.” Wong met
Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American director, actor, writer, producer, and magician who is remembered for his innovative work in film, radio, and theatre. He is among the greatest and most influential film ...
and
Rita Hayworth Rita Hayworth (born Margarita Carmen Cansino; October 17, 1918May 14, 1987) was an American actress, dancer, and Pin-up model, pin-up girl. She achieved fame in the 1940s as one of the top stars of the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of ...
on the San Francisco set of the 1948
film noir Film noir (; ) is a style of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Crime film, crime dramas that emphasizes cynicism (contemporary), cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of Ameri ...
production, ''
The Lady from Shanghai ''The Lady from Shanghai'' is a 1947 American film noir produced and directed by Orson Welles and starring Rita Hayworth, Welles, Everett Sloane, and Glenn Anders. Welles's screenplay is based on the novel ''If I Die Before I Wake'' by Sherwo ...
''.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wong, Frank 1932 births Living people American artists of Chinese descent Artists from San Francisco