A team from MOCA salvaging the Mee Heung Chow Main Co.

The Mee Heung Chow Main Company was established in 1928, and located at 75 Mott Street. The company was not only a shop, but also a vibrant way of life in New York City’s Chinatown. The noodle manufacturing shop had a multi-architectural-style interior, including classical Acanthus leaf motifs and Ming and Han dynasty wood-carvings. In her book, “Chinatown: A Portrait of a Closed Society,” Gwen Kinkead fondly writes about observing four elders playing mahjong in the shop while wedging their pieces between boxes of noodles. In 1992, after the shop closed, MOCA salvaged the front sign, the noodle bags, stationery, and more.