Forbidden City: The Golden Age of Chinese Nightclubs

A friend of mine, Trina Robbins, has recently written a book that many of us might find interesting.

I haven't seen or read this book yet, but hope to do so soon, as I'm hoping it will provide as much eye candy as the 'Havana Before Castro' book. I'm also curious to see what connections or influences the Chinese nightclubs had on tiki culture. Any book that features exotica dancers from a past era, and a singer named Mai Tai Sing who runs a cocktail lounge has got my interest!

From an amazon.com review ......

Presented as an oral history, Forbidden City: The Golden Age of Chinese Nightclubs records the recollections of nearly two dozen Asian American performers who worked in San Francisco's "all-Chinese" revues from the late 1930s through the 60s.

The transcribed interviews of the artists, and their friends and relatives, paint an intimate portrait of this unique cultural scene. Profiled are some of the better known alumni of the Forbidden City nightclub -- like singers Larry Ching and Frances Chun and dancers Dorothy Toy, Tony Wing, and Jadin Wong -- as well as other performers I'd never heard of before, such as:

• Ellen Chinn, Forbidden City dancer and, according to news of the day, "possessor of Chinatown's most beautiful pair of legs"

• Mai Tai Sing, Forbidden City dancer who later ran a cocktail lounge in Chinatown and played a bit part in the 1960 TV show Hong Kong, starring Rod Taylor

• Coby Yee, "China's Most Daring Dancing Doll", an exotic dancer who performed off and on at the Forbidden City and later bought the club from founder Charlie Low in the mid-60s

• Cynthia Yee, dancer in Dorothy Toy's various revues, Miss Chinatown of 1967, and founder of the Grant Avenue Follies

One of the best things about the book are the more than 200 illustrations, ranging from newspaper ads and magazine articles to family photos and glamor shots. They are absolutely priceless and by themselves worth the price of the book.

There will also be a museum exhibit and opening gala (where you can meet Trina and have her sign your book) to be held in San Francisco in February - more information on this can be found at the following website.

http://www.sfhistory.org/index.php?pageid=20#swing

Fascinating history, indeed. I do hope the eye candy level is high...
Like this stuff:

The story of Forbidden City was touched on in this post, and the thread connected to it:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=29260&forum=1&vpost=406121

Thanks Vern, I'm going to check out the exhibit, and the book.

Here is a news video clip, of the opening of the show - featuring actual Forbidden City dancers.

http://www.ktvu.com/video/22541260/index.html

Wow! Say, is this the same Trina Robbins of 60's/70's underground comix fame?

This article was from earlier this year. They interview Trina Robbins and reference her book. There are some great pictures too.
http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/when-chinatown-nightclubs-beckoned-hollywood/

I am giving this thread a plus 5 million!

Saw this in a photo album recently