Ming Jade, Newburyport, MA (restaurant )

Name:Ming Jade
Type:restaurant
Street:High Street
City:Newburyport
State:MA
Zip:01950
country:USA
Phone:
Status:defunct

Description:
Tiki Road Trip lists the Ming Jade restaurant as an extant feature of Tikidom in Massachusetts. To let people know, this location is now defunct. An Asian restaurant of the old, retro style; the Ming Jade closed its doors for good with no plans to reopen in another location. The building is still standing, but there is continuous commercial interest in the property, so it may not stand much longer.

I thought I would pick what was the very oldest entry in the Locating Tiki section and see what I could dig up about it.

Ming Jade
55 Storey Ave.
Newburyport, MA 01950

The Ming Jade was opened in the late 1970’s by Nee Kong Moy, a native of Taishan, China who immigrated to South Boston in 1969. The location was a free-standing 3,800 sq. ft. building located on a 1.3 acre lot.

The restaurant closed sometime around 2001 and the building and lot remained vacant for many years – eventually becoming an eyesore and a source of irritation for local residents.

Courtesy of Google Maps, here is how it looked in 2008.

The building was finally demolished and replaced by a Panera Bread in 2010. The Panera Bread remains there today.

I have no idea how tiki, if at all, the Ming Jade was. The late 1970’s is well after the tiki period.

[ Edited by: kenbo-jitsu 2013-02-21 16:59 ]

Thanks for the update Kenbo-Jitsu,

Even with nothing left I appreciate the effort and the bump of the ancient post. :)

Love the way it is grown over by the encroaching jungle, very "urban archeology". It probably had Orchids-Tiki, if at all, but the A-frame makes it Tiki enough, and those roofs going off on the side look interesting. Looks like there was something hanging in the gable, and it had an entrance bridge.