David Louie

David Louie's family owned the Wah Mee, a Chinese restaurant on Mermaid Avenue at 24th Street. The establishment opened in the 1940s and was an extremely popular destination for generations of Coney Island residents. David's father emigrated from China in the 1920s and wound up owning and operating several restaurants in New York. The family lost the Mermaid Avenue home and restaurant they owned during the city's Urban Renewal onslaught of the 1970s. David is a veteran who served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, as was his father, who joined the U.S. army during World War II when he was in his 40s. In this interview David Louie tells what it was like to grow up and live in Coney Island during the 1950s-1970s.