Tag Archives: Chopstick Charley’s

The Many Ways of Knowing Beach and Peach Park

Posted on February 17, 2022 | Leave a comment

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Once, neighborhood kids rode horses here. Then motorcycles. Now they call it the best place in the city to ride mountain bikes. Each story of the woods once called “Mud Hills,” and now Beach and Peach Park, tells a different facet of human experience. The homeless man in the “hut” of stone slabs knows it differently than the neighbor with his scotch who relitigates fourth-down plays from his days as high school quarterback hero. Beach and Peach is Jax in microcosm.

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Tagged Aileen Dunlap, alligators Jacksonville, Beach and Peach Park, Beach and Peach Preserve, Beach and Peach Urban Bike Park, Beach and Peach Urban Park, Beach Boulevard, Bobby Smith, Brian Krupp, Buck Buchanan, Chopstick Charley, Chopstick Charley's, Ernest and Evelyn Anders, Ernest Anders, Eve Drive, Evelyn Anders, Goony Golf dinosaur, jax psycho geo, Jim Purvis, Jody Minter, John C. Christian, Mud Hills, Muddy Hills, Nimitz Court, Outlaw Motorcycle Club, Outlaws Jacksonville, Outlaws Motorcycle Gang, Pamela Howell, Pat Gionet, Peach Drive, Rebekah Berk, Scott Spooner, Southside Estates, Tim Gilmore, Windy Hill

Here he is, the original Chopstick Charley.

Posted on March 2, 2019 | 1 comment

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I did not know, when I first published my story about Chopstick Charley’s, the oldest Chinese restaurant in the city, that it was his birthday. On August 18, 2017, John Ming “Chopstick Charley” Cheung would’ve turned 99.

Mai Hoo Cheung emailed me on Wednesday, February 27, 2019, solving mysteries and saying, “I knew the original Chopstick Charley. He was my father.”

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Tagged Aunt Jo, Chopstick Charley, Chopstick Charley's, Chun Wo Cheung, Clo Cheung, Fong S. Ong, Garry Cheung, Gator Lodge, jax psycho geo, Jennifer 8 Lee, John Ming Cheung, Kitty Cheung, Larry Cheung, Mai Hoo Cheung, Mai Hoo Luau, Mama Lee, Mildred Utley, Palace Motel, Papa Lee, Philips Highway, Susan Bush, Susan King, The Hunt for General Tso, Tim Gilmore, Tommy Cheung, Vincent Acri

2 New Year’s Stories: Remembering Kyle Marshall, DJ Chef Rocc, and New Life at Gator Lodge

Posted on December 31, 2018 | Leave a comment

Click below for either (why not both?) of the two full stories. Happy New Year’s! Here’s where we’ve been. Here’s where we’re going.

1. You shouldn’t die of congestive heart failure at 38 years old. Jacksonville loved F. Kyle Marshall. Some say he personified the city. I first met Kyle, where Rain Dogs is now, at Five Points Barber Shop, in 1931.

2. Lisa King learned to love people, coming and going, learned to love Jax when she first learned to walk at Gator Lodge. Never mind Haydon Burns and Aileen Wuornos. At her birthday party at this crossroads thrums the great untapped strength of the city’s diversity.

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Tagged 1045 Park Street, Aileen Wuornos, Alan Justiss, Andrew Jensen, Arcade Men’s Shop, Bebe Deluxe, Beckham Henry, Big Buck$ Crew, Birdies Five Points, Black Hats, Blackfinn, Bruce's Liquor Store, Burro Bar, Chopstick Charley, Chopstick Charley's, Clay Wickham, Consolidation, Corky Bell’s Seafood, Cracksonville, Dialectable Beats, Diamond Inn, DJ Chef Rocc, F. Kyle Marshall, Feryle Jump, Five Points, Five Points Barber Shop, Five Points Tavern, Folio Weekly, Frances Kyle Newton, Gator Lodge, Gator Lounge, Goode's Bakery, Hans Tanzler, Haydon Burns, Hurricane Dora, Ian Ranne, Jacksonville City Council, Jacksonville Florida, Jai Shree Laxmi Kuber LLC, jaxpsychogeo, Julius Collier, Ken Organes, Linda King, Lisa King, London Bridge, Lora Gudbranson, Losco Road, Maddy Clifton, Marie Jump, Midtown Lodge, New Order, Night Hawks, Philips Highway, Phyllis Chesler, Prem Patel, Rain Dogs, Richard Brewer, Richard Ceriello, Richard Petty, Salvatore Tomarchio, Sam King, Sharkettes, Shaun Thurston, Shelton Hull, Spillers Gallery, St. Johns Town Center, Susan Bush, Susan King, Thoren Perego, Tim Gilmore, Truman Capote, TSI, Tyria Moore, Van’s Package House, Vincent Acri, Wally Gator, White Hats, Wu Tang Clan

Who Was Chopstick Charley?

Posted on August 19, 2017 | 1 comment

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It rains through the ceiling on the front corner booth. Everyone’s favorite is the woo dip harr, shrimp wrapped in bacon with sweet and sour sauce. It’s the oldest Chinese restaurant in the city.

“Charley” was “tiny” and “spoke very little English.” His wife, whose name Susan can’t recall, was a broad-shouldered white woman with dark curly hair who stood a head taller than Charley.

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Tagged Chopstick Charley's, Gator Lodge, Jacksonville, jaxpsychogeo, Mike King, Miss Kitty, Palace Motel, Philips Highway, Philips Highway motel, Susan Bush, Susan King, The Joe, The Three Hundred, Tim Gilmore