SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2021
BAKER CITY HERALD — A5
HISTORY
Royal Cafe:
50 YEARS ON MAIN STREET PART 4 OF 6
By GARY DIELMAN
For the Baker City Herald
Summary of the 1940 Federal Census
of persons residing at 2009 Main St. in
Baker City
Editor’s Note: This is the
fourth in a six-part series of
articles written by Gary Diel-
man, a longtime Baker County
historian, that explores the
vital role that Chinese immi-
grants played in the county’s
history. The series, which start-
ed in the Nov. 6 issue, focuses
on the families who owned the
Royal Cafe on Main Street in
Baker City from 1936 to 1990.
The series will continue over
the next two weeks, publishing
in Saturday issues.
The Engs Come to
Baker City
After Wah Eng retired
to China, Harry continued
running the import-export
business in Pendleton until
about 1924. Harry, Allan,
Gan, and Jack partnered to
purchase the Pendleton Café,
which they operated from
1924 to 1934.
Sometime between the
end of 1934 and early 1935,
Harry, Allan, Gan, Jimmy,
and Jack moved to Baker
City and began operating
The Tea Garden Café on the
second fl oor of 2009 Main St.,
formerly owned by Gracie
Toy (1898-1971). Toy chose to
start a new restaurant, Toy’s
Noodle Parlor, at 1917 Court
St., which she operated under
various names until retire-
ment in 1970.
The 1930 federal census
of Pendleton lists Allan and
Harry as living in a boarding
house that included Germans,
British and Italians. The next
source of the whereabouts of
the Engs is found in Baker
City Directories, which list
businesses, the owners, spous-
es, residence, and whether
they are renters or owners.
In Baker City Directories
(BCD) for the years 1930-
1935, there is no mention of
Engs. However, the 1940 cen-
sus indicates the Engs arrived
in Baker City in 1935.
Baker County Library Historic Photo Collection
Gooey and Faye family in 1952. From left to right, Mary Lou, Dorothy, Paul, and
Richard. Photo taken on the front steps of their house at 1425 Court St.
The Baker County
Library does not have the
1936 BCD. First docu-
mented mention of the Engs
available in the library is
found in the 1937 BCD, in
which Jack Eng is listed as
manager of The Tea Garden
restaurant located on the
second fl oor of 2009 Main
St. (above today’s BELLA
Main St. Market). Listed as
living in apartments across
the hall from the restaurant
are Jack Eng, plus Allan Eng
and Harry Eng, cooks at The
Tea Garden. The Royal Café
is not mentioned in the 1937
BCD.
First mention of the
Royal Café (1910 Main St.)
is in the 1939 BCD. (The
1938 BCD is missing.) Jack
is listed as manager of both
The Tea Garden and Royal
Café. Workers listed at the
Royal Café are Gan Ong,
Harry Eng, and James Eng;
residence for all of the Engs
in 1939 was still 2009 Main.
The 1940 BCD is missing,
as are BCD’s for the WWII
years 1942-1945. Fortunately
the library has the 1941 BCD,
which lists numerous Engs
working at the Royal Café: Al-
len (Allan), Gan, Gooey (pan-
tryman), Harry, Jack (also as
manager of The Tea Garden),
James (Jimmy), Robert Eng
(son of Allan’s brother), plus
two non-Eng workers, Jan and
San Toy. Looking under the
name Royal Café in the 1941
BCD, we fi nd listed as owners:
Allen, Harry, Gan, Jack, and
James. After the war the 1946
BCD listing of owners had not
changed.
Royal Café’s Support of
the American war eff ort
On Dec. 12, 1941, fi ve days
after Japan bombed Pearl
Harbor, the Democrat-Herald
ran an article about two of
the owners of the Royal Café,
Jack Eng and Jimmy Eng,
who had each bought $2,000
defense savings bonds. In an
interview Jack Eng said, “I
don’t know why this should be
so unusual. We are just doing
our part and plan to do much
more. After all, we Chinese
must fi ght twice as hard, be-
cause we have twice as much
to settle with Japan!”
Indeed, the Engs did
contribute much more. All
fi ve of the original owners
and two sons volunteered to
serve in the U.S. military. Jack
and Harry were rejected for
medical reasons. Gan Ong
and Jimmy Eng both served
stateside in the Army. Harry’s
son, Gooey Eng, who enlisted
in the Navy in July 1942 at
age 20, was the only one to
serve overseas.
As a cook on a ship that
sailed all the way to Guadal-
canal, Gooey observed the
results of the land and sea
battles fought there at the
beginning of the U.S. war
against Japan in the Pacifi c.
Gooey was assigned to a small
transport boat which sailed
The April 8, 1940, Federal Census listed nine male
Chinese restaurant workers living in second-fl oor apart-
ments at 2009 Main St. (above present BELLA Main Street
Market): Jack Eng, Gan Eng, James Eng, Allen Eng, Harry
Eng, Gooey Eng, Shou Heen Lew, Ah Pon Lui, and Eddie
Wu. (Across the hall on the Main Street side of the building
was the Chinese Tea Garden restaurant, where many, if not
all, worked.)
All nine Chinese had been living there since April 1, 1935,
all born in China, all had an eighth grade education, and all
worked 60 hours per week. Total apartment rent for all nine
residents was $50. Individual resident information follows:
• Jack Eng, age 36, head of the household and manager
of a restaurant and received no wages.
• Gan Eng, 37, lodger and a partner of a restaurant and
received no wages. (Gan’s offi cial surname at immigration
was Ong, a common spelling variant of Eng.)
• James Eng, 34, lodger, a partner of a restaurant and
received no wages. (Jimmy is his real fi rst name.)
• Allen Eng, 41, lodger, a partner of a restaurant and
received no wages.
• Harry Eng, 41, lodger, a partner of a restaurant and
received no wages.
• Gooey Eng, 19, lodger and dish washer at a restaurant;
earned $800 in income for the year 1939.
• Shou Heen Lew, 18, lodger and dish washer at a restau-
rant; earned $800 in income for the year 1939.
• Ah Pon Lui, 41, lodger and cook at a restaurant; earned
$900 in income for the year 1939.
• Eddie Wu, 40, lodger and cook at a restaurant; earned
$1,000 in income for the year 1939.
around the Solomon Islands
for two years between early
1943 and early 1945. Gooey’s
service in the Navy ended in
January 1946, when his escort
carrier was in the middle of
the Pacifi c Ocean, where his
ship was involved with the
atomic bomb testing in the
Marshall Islands. By the time
he was discharged, Gooey had
obtained the rank of Ship’s
Cook, First Class, a rank
equal to Chief Petty Offi cer,
and was in charge of one of
two kitchens on a ship with a
3,000-man crew.
After discharge from the
Navy, Gooey, who was not yet
married, heard about the GI
War Brides Act that allowed
persons who served in the mil-
itary to bring wives to the U.S.
Instead of returning to Baker
City, Gooey worked a year as
a cook at the Evergreen Hotel
in Vancouver, Washington, in
order to earn enough money
to return to China and pay
for an elaborate wedding. In
Chinese tradition it was the
groom’s family who paid for
the wedding.
In 1947 Gooey returned to
China, where he was intro-
duced to his future bride,
Faye Lee, by a woman from
the same village, who had
married into the Eng village.
After several dates Gooey and
Faye were married in October
1947. In early 1948 Gooey
and Faye sailed on the S.S.
President Wilson from Hong
Kong to San Francisco and on
to Baker City.
D.B. Cooper legend began 50 years ago
By DOUGLAS PERRY
oregonlive.com
“Bomber hijacks Portland
jet fl ight,” The Oregonian’s
headline screamed from the
front page.
“Skyjacker, $200,000
Sought Here,” offered The
Oregon Journal.
Fifty years ago, on Nov. 24,
1971, a “nondescript,” well-
dressed man bought a $20
ticket at Portland Interna-
tional Airport and boarded
Northwest Orient Flight 305
bound for Seattle.
That man would hijack the
Boeing 727 and ultimately
parachute out of the plane
somewhere over the Pacifi c
Northwest. He took $200,000
in ransom with him.
The Journal’s coverage the
next day included an inter-
view with a Flight 305 passen-
ger named Richard Simmons,
who ran an employment
program, called Job Therapy,
for former convicts.
“I’m sure (the skyjacker)
will need therapy such as we
offer, for he certainly will not
get away with this and will be
caught,” Simmons said.
It turned out Simmons was
The Oregonian
The Oregonian on Nov. 25, 1971.
wrong. The skyjacker almost
certainly never partook in
Job Therapy, for he was never
found, the crime never solved.
And ever since Nov. 24,
1971, the mystery of D.B. Coo-
per (the skyjacker bought the
ticket using the name Dan
Cooper) has fascinated people
the world over. Last weekend,
more than 200 people gath-
ered at the Kiggins Theatre
in Vancouver for CooperCon,
a celebration of the case’s
myriad theories and suspects.
The FBI offi cially abandoned
the hunt in 2016.
The arrival of the half-
century mark has spiked
interest, but the heyday of
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Cooper fascination was the
1970s — right here in the Pa-
cifi c Northwest. That’s when
the annual celebrations of
the skyjacker spontaneously
started in Ariel, Wash. That’s
when T-shirts with the mes-
sage “D.B. Cooper, where are
you?” popped up at Portland
stores.
An example of how Early
Coopermania expressed itself:
Someone secured a credit
card in the name of D.B. Coo-
per and started having luxury
items sent to an apparently
random offi ce at 4429 NE
Broadway in Portland. The
cardholder never paid for the
purchases, of course, prompt-
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ing American Express to send
a letter to the offi ce that be-
gan: “Dear Mr. Cooper: Quite
frankly, the American Express
Card is not for everyone.”
The quest to fi nd the real
D.B. Cooper, meanwhile,
continued apace.
Five years after the
skyjacking, a farmer in Clark
County discovered a “tat-
tered and moss-stained” pair
of pants in a tree. He called
the FBI, and G-men hustled
out to the farm — though
they seemed a little embar-
rassed when reporters also
showed up.
“All we want to do is pose
the question, ‘Are these his
pants?’” Agent Dick Dyer
told the press. “We’ve been
getting pants, parachutes and
parachute cords for fi ve years.
I’m not that excited about it,
but we’ve got to give it the full
shot.”
Despite that full shot (the
agents sent the potential
evidence to the FBI Lab in
Quantico, Virginia), we still
don’t know if those were D.B.
Cooper’s pants. Just as we
don’t know the skyjacker’s
real name or whether he
survived the dangerous night-
time leap from Flight 305.
The same year that pro-
duced the wayward pants also
saw publication of a comic
D.B. Cooper novel, “King
of the Midnight Blue,” by a
Seattle writer named Darrell
Bob Houston. “Sex and Sky-
jack Shocker,” the book’s cover
promised.
Houston immediately re-
ceived feelers from Hollywood,
he said, but he scotched any
potential deal by demanding
a whopping $200,000 for the
rights — in 20-dollar bills, plus
four parachutes.
No matter. Like most
Cooper chasers over the years,
Houston wasn’t in it for the
money. Something about the
mysterious skyjacker spoke
to him.
“D.B. Cooper was an
outlaw, yes,” Houston said
while promoting his book in
Portland. “But I guess the sav-
ing grace was that he didn’t
hurt anybody. Besides, if we
eliminated all the outlaws, like
Billy the Kid and Jesse James,
what heroes would America
have left?”
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