Readers asked me about a few Chinese-owned businesses recently. About 120 years ago over half the small businesses in Hawaii were owned by Chinese entrepreneurs.

King Tsin

One of my favorite restaurants in the 1970s was King Tsin, specializing in Northern Chinese cuisine. The food was affordable, looked great and tasted even better.

The spicy garlic prawns or fish with apples, and honey spareribs with orange peel were to die for, as was the beggar’s chicken in ti leaves.

The dish that impressed Craig Kutsunai the most was their “crackling soup.”

“I think it was a spicy, chicken-based soup, and the ‘crackling’ was fried ‘glass’ noodles that were dropped in the soup when they brought it out to your table. I’ve made it a few times, and it always still impresses.”

King Tsin was opened by Joe and Lisa Wang in 1974. Joe Wang said Danny Kaleikini brought in many celebrity friends, such as Jack Nicholson, Elton John, Vincent Price, Paul Anka, Dean Martin and Florence Henderson.

The band Journey liked the food so much they had them cater the backstage area prior to a Blaisdell Arena concert.

It wasn’t until this week that I found out the name combined the last syllables — Chinese characters — from cities Pe-king and Tien-tsin. “We wanted the power and spirit from both,” said Lisa Wang.

I’ve been trying for a long time to remember exactly where it was. Reader Ken Murai and I spent a little time trying to pin it down.

I looked up its 1974 address in the newspaper archives, and it says 1486 S. King St. That puts it Ewa of an alley that’s a remnant of Kaheka Street. Today that’s the Pawaa In-Ha Park, honoring Hawaii’s connection to South Korea but taken over by homeless campers.

Some of its ads say, “Next to police station parking lot.” The old police station between Beretania and Young streets was just mauka of it, and many residents will remember that some of the park used to be a parking lot for the police station.

In 1978 King Tsin opened a second location at Kings Alley. It moved in 1986 to 1110 McCully St. at Young Street and then from 2000-2005 to 2140 S. Beretania St., where Los Chaparros is today. Keo’s moved into its King Street location.

Lai Fong

Andrea Bell said, “While you are on the subject of Chinese heritage and business in Hawaii, what can you tell us about Lai Fong Store on Nuuanu?

“Over the years I’ve made a variety of purchases and have been fascinated by their wares.”

Lai Fong Tom Au was a woman with a strong personality, grandson Robert Au told me. She and her husband, Edward Au, opened the Lai Fong Silk House at 71 S. Hotel St. in 1934.

They sold fine silk cloth, embroidered articles, carved camphor wood and teak wood chests, ivory and jade jewelry, clothing for the whole family, as well as furniture and glassware.

They offered lounging pajamas, Mandarin coats, Chinese gowns, Canton china- ware and carved screens. American and Chinese gowns could be made to order by Madame Lai Fong herself.

They had several other stores over the years: Bethel and Beretania streets; 1118 Nuuanu Ave.; in Kalihi at 1947 N. King St. and 2032 N. King St.; and one on Kalakaua Avenue across from Kuhio Beach.

Edward Au was born in China and fought in the successful Chinese Revolutionary War in 1911 with Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, who had lived in Hawaii and attended ‘Iolani and Punahou.

Lai Fong was a picture bride, selected by Au’s parents in an arranged marriage in 1911. They moved to Hawaii, had several children and opened their stores.

Lai Fong Tom Au died in 1978 at age 82. The third generation of the family continues the Nuuanu Avenue store, Robert Au told me. Their focus has shifted from clothing to furniture, antiques and collectibles.

Bill Mau

Kutsunai asked about William Koon Hee Mau. “From what they told me, when I worked at Ray’s Seafood restaurant in the 1980s, Bill Mau started his whole empire selling hot dogs from a pushcart in Waikiki.

“Then he somehow bought land in Ha-lawa and St. Louis Heights and started developing it. He built the Waikiki Shopping Plaza, where the Lau Yee Chai restaurant moved to, and across the street he had the Waikiki Business Plaza with the Top of Waikiki revolving restaurant. What can you tell me about him?”

Bill Mau is a rags-to-riches success story. He was one of eight children. He was born in 1913 to a Chinese immigrant father and his island wife.

Mau grew up in a Waikiki shack that bordered the land he later purchased and developed into the Waikiki Shopping Plaza and Waikiki Business Plaza.

After graduating from McKinley High School in 1932, Mau worked as an elevator operator, earning $60 a month. He married his wife, Jean Lau, in 1936, and took a civil service job.

In 1941, for $10,000, he opened a hot dog stand on the beach near the Moana hotel. Jean and a partner worked it during the day, and Bill Mau helped out in the evenings. “The first eight hours of a working day are not enough,” was his secret to success.

In eight years his nest egg was worth $100,000, and he invested it in a 100-acre subdivision in Halawa Heights that netted him $500,000.

He bought into the Lau Yee Chai restaurant at Kuhio and Kalakaua avenues in 1953 and moved it to the Waikiki Shopping Plaza 20 years later. The old property was developed into the 19-story Ambassador Hotel in 1968.

The plaza was on land bought from Roy Kelley, who owned a gas station and parking lot on the site. Kelley agreed to sell the property only if Mau would not put a competing hotel on it. The verbal deal was sealed with a handshake, son Richard Kelley said.

With the proceeds from the sale, Kelley built the Outrigger Reef Hotel and the Outrigger Waikiki Hotel.

Mau branched into banking, and even though he had no formal training in the field, his skills at bringing in customers and keeping them satisfied doubled the assets of American Security Bank — now part of First Hawaiian Bank — in just five years. By 1958 he was chairman of the board at age 45.

When the Waikiki Shopping Plaza was finished, he moved American Security Bank into it, away from its Chinatown roots and closer to his own — the place of his birth and his first hot dog stand.

Mau drove a silver Rolls-Royce with the license plate PLAZA on it.

He bought Aloha Motors in 1972 — the largest General Motors Dealership in Hawaii — and planned to develop a twin-tower complex called Aloha Plaza on it. He sold that in 1982 to Japanese investors, and it’s now the Hawai‘i Convention Center.

Mau credited his success to his wife, Jean. “I never would have made it without her.”

William Mau died in 2011 at 97. The family still owns the Waikiki Shopping Plaza and Waikiki Business Plaza.

Have a question or suggestion? Contact Bob Sigall, author of the five “The Companies We Keep” books, at Sigall@Yahoo.com.