The Time My Dad Ate Chinese Food With Cary Grant

The stereotypes a lot of people have of Californians, even to this day, is that we all live next door to movie stars or that movie stars are everywhere we look, but the reality is that while our odds are definitely better in that regard, it’s still a matter of being in the right place at the right time.

For my dad, Joe Little, the right place and the right time was the corporate office of Payless Drugstore in Oakland, California on Friday, September 3, 1966. Dad was a buyer at the time, one of a pool of other buyers. It was around five-thirty, and the outgoing president of Payless, Bill Gherra, stuck his head in Dad’s office and asked if he wanted to go to dinner at Johnny Kan’s with Cary Grant.

Naturally, Dad said yes. Also naturally, he had to put in a call to my mom first, who took it all in stride and told him to have fun. Among the thirteen people in the group besides Grant and my dad were Gherra, Payless’s incoming president, Don Eaton, Gordon Cummings, Fabergé rep Jack Frost, and a woman Dad thought was Grant’s significant other, but who might have been his secretary.

How did Cary Grant come to be in Oakland? After retiring from film acting, Grant became a spokesperson for Fabergé. As in, the cosmetics and personal care company, not the company that makes the fancy eggs and jewelry. This new venture was a win-win for everyone, because not only did Fabergé get a lot of clout for working with Cary Grant, but it enabled Grant to focus on his new daughter. According to Gene Siskel, Grant was most interested in the perks of the job, particularly the unlimited use of the company’s DC-3 and their private car.

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My dad suspects, and he’s probably correct, that Grant’s plane landed in Oakland and he had the whole dinner orchestrated beforehand, including asking a local photographer, Kem Lee, who had a studio at 768 Clay Street, to come in and take a few souvenir pictures.

Even without Grant there, going to Kan’s was a big event, as owner Johnny Kan was a Bay Area luminary and an OG of Chinese American cuisine. In the nineteen-fifties and sixties authentic Asian cooking was still largely unknown to Americans, and Kan made it his mission to educate the public on real deal Chinese food, or at least Chinese food made in such a way that Americans would find it palatable. Back then, the average American generally associated Chinese food with chop suey and would have probably been horrified to learn that many Asians like their meat very, very fresh.

In 1953, with the help of friends and partners George Hall, George Chow and John C. Young, Kan opened his first restaurant and bar, the Cantonese-style Kan’s at 708 Grant Avenue in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Everything was to be as clean, elegant and modern as possible, and chop suey was definitely not on the menu. The space was designed by local designer and Canadian expat Don Clever and the murals painted by Chinese American artist, Jake Lee. Kan’s was also revolutionary for being one of the first Chinese restaurants to use lazy Susans, thanks to a few modifications by George Hall.

Mr. Kan’s establishment was a major hotspot for Hollywood stars and other VIPs, who loved the food and the atmosphere. Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr., Dean Martin, Rita Hayworth, Ingrid Bergman and Marilyn Monroe are just a few of the big names who paid Kan’s a visit. Danny Kaye in particular was good friends with Kan and learned to cook Chinese food in the restaurant kitchen, becoming so proficient at it that he installed a Chinese kitchen next to the regular kitchen in his house. He would even work at the restaurant sometimes. One night in 1964 when Walter Cronkite came to Kan’s for dinner, he was invited to meet the chef. Cronkite went into the kitchen and was shocked to find Danny Kaye at the stove.

Kan’s might have been used to celebrities and important clientele, but the appearance of Cary Grant created quite a stir, as the gentleman was incredibly good-looking and distinguished, with tremendous charisma. The Payless group arrived to a packed dining room at seven-thirty PM, and as soon as Grant’s foot hit the floor, the whole place went silent. “You could have heard a pin drop,” my dad said. “They didn’t know us from Adam, but they all knew Grant.”

It wasn’t until Dad’s group took their seats that Kan’s started humming again, and for two hours my dad sat across from Cary Grant while they ate dinner and enjoyed some chitchat afterwards. What was said at that table is lost to time and a noisy restaurant, but my dad remembers Grant being a very gracious host. Of course, they all took time to pose for photos, and once they were developed my dad received his own copies, both of which were personally autographed.

Sadly, Johnny Kan died of cancer in 1972. Kan’s soldiered on for many years under a new owner, Guy Wong, but the COVID pandemic likely hit it hard, and the restaurant very recently closed. As of a year ago the Kan’s awning and menu photos still adorn the entrance, behind which the dining room sits frozen in time, virtually unchanged from the way it was the night of September 3, 1966.

There have been other changes, of course. The building where my dad worked is now an Uber office and a maker’s space called Circuit Launch, Kem Lee’s photo studio is now a jewelry store called Sing Sang Jewelry. Fabergé is still around, although its history is exceedingly bumpy. Cary Grant passed away in 1986 following a stroke.

Kan’s dining room in 2009… (https://www.yelp.com/biz/kans-restaurant-san-francisco?rr=1)

…and the exterior of the restaurant in January of 2023. (https://www.google.com/maps/place/Kan’s+Restaurant/@37.7935578,-122.4061589,3a,90y,68.63h,91.07t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1syESDGoZC8w5cIz29gCnrdQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192!4m7!3m6!1s0x8085808b6e892561:0xc4e3e078de3b8707!8m2!3d37.7936143!4d-122.4059925!10e5!16s%2Fm%2F04fhylg?entry=ttu)

As for my dad, he’s thriving. The photos taken that night at Kan’s hung on the wall behind the door in my parents’ room for years, right next to an autographed photo of boxer Joe Frazier. Dad has always been very matter-of-fact about them, maybe even a little embarrassed, but if asked, he still speaks fondly of that night and what it was like having Chinese food with a legend.

Another post is coming out on Tuesday. Thanks for reading, all, and I hope to see you then…

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