Nom Wah Tea Parlor

 

Nom Wah Tea Parlor is the oldest continuously-running restaurant in New York's Chinatown. It opened at 13-15 Doyers Street in 1920, and moved to the space next door in 1968, where it remains. Originally, it was primarily a bakery, but it is now known for its Hong Kong-style dim sum. The original owners are unknown, but is was run by the Choy Family in the 1940s, and sold to one of its employees, Wally Tang, in 1974. It's now owned by Wally's nephew, Wilson, who has expanded the business to other locations.

Doyers Street has one of the most infamous reputations in New York City history. It was named after Hendrik Doyer, a Dutch immigrant who built a distillery and tavern there in 1791. In the late 19th century, the area transformed into Chinatown, with the first Chinese language theater located on Doyers. The short street also became infamous for its tenements, gambling parlors, and opium dens. It is only one block, about 200 yards (183 m) long, with a sharp bend in the middle. That bend earned the name "Bloody Angle," because the sharp turn made it a perfect spot for rival gangs to ambush one another. In his book "The Gangs of New York," Herbert Asbury wrote, "The police believe, and can prove it so far as such proof is possible, that more men have been murdered at the Bloody Angle than at any other place of like area in the world." Doyers Street remains at the heart of Manhattan's Chinatown, though it's been a long time since it's seen warring tongs. Bloody Angle is now just the spot where tourists and hipsters line up to get into Nom Wah.