BUTTE -The closing of the Pekin Noodle Parlor is more than just the loss of a Butte landmark. This place was also the living embodiment of the Chinese-American experience.
“Yeah, it’s a great loss to the community. I’m very sad to see it go,” Butte resident David Stonehocker said.
The Pekin announced in a Facebook message that it was closing the restaurant after about 115 years of service off Main Street. Pekin is the longest continuing chop suey restaurant in the United States and played a big part in Butte’s historic Chinatown neighborhood.
WATCH: Historic Pekin Noodle Parlor in Butte closes after 115 years
“I’m very sad, it’s the end of an era for those Chinese-Americans who help make Butte a great city on America’s mining frontier,” Mai Wah Society member Pat Munday said.
Montana Western assistant Yu Li took students on a tour of Butte’s historic Chinatown a day after the Pekin closed. She was hoping to have dinner there.
“That is not only a loss for business, but that also is a loss of a living piece of history,” Li said.
The Pekin has been in the Tam Family since it opened in 1911. Many in Butte remember Danny Wong, who ran the place for many decades before he died in 2020. His son, Jerry Tam, took over the restaurant until its closing.
“Now, I think with the restaurant closed, so kind of the linking, the linking to the heritage, to the cultural identity was kind of broken, so I think that’s the sad piece,” Li said.
