46 Mott
46 Mott Street Bakery
2024
46 Mott
Lun Tai & Co.
1940s
Interview
WITH TONY CHANG (OWNER OF 46 MOTT STREET BAKERY)
Interview conducted in July 2022.
+ Would you give me a brief introduction of yourself and your shop’s history in New York City’s Chinatown?
I’m Tony and I’m the owner of 46 Mott Street Bakery. I rent the whole building. This is a three-story building with a basement. This business has over 40 years of history…
I immigrated to New York in 1999 from Guangzhou, China by myself. At first, I was interested in L.A. – I was at LAX for five hours and then I bought another ticket and was here. Right now I’ve been here for 23 years and I’ve never left Chinatown. I worked in Chinatown and when I started my own business, it was in Chinatown. My first job was in Chinatown and afterwards, everything I did was in Chinatown. I first lived on Ludlow Street. I lived in Chinatown until 17 years ago, where I moved to Brooklyn.
I met my wife in China but she was waiting for the family’s green card, visa. The lawyer suggested I go by myself first. We had our first child in China and at the time, China still had the one-child policy and I didn’t want to do the surgery. She then came to the U.S almost eight months after.
Tony Chang photographed outside his store at our interview session, July 2022.
+ How did you come to be connected to Chinatown?
My in-laws lived here in Chinatown and so I came here and lived with them. Two months later, I got my first job at Holiday Inn on Lafayette Street downtown. Then, I never left Chinatown.
+ What did you think of Chinatown when you first came?
It’s funny, because when I first came here, my mother-in-law hired a Lincoln limousine from a car service to get me… I didn’t know it was a car service and I thought: Wow, rich!! Because I landed at JFK [Airport], the driver passed by the Williamsburg Bridge, which was under construction. When I drove past, I saw the river through holes in the structure and I thought it was scary. Wow, this is NY! This bridge is too old!! (On my in-laws’ first floor of their building was a car service and they had a good relationship.)
My mother-in-law brought me to a very traditional Chinese restaurant for dim sum on Division Street. (Right now it’s already gone.) It changed owners a few times. The dim sum sellers were still using their hands to hold a circular bamboo tray with chicken feet and spare ribs… There were no carts yet.
Tony with fresh tubs of doufu fa (tofu pudding) at 46 Mott Street Bakery, July 2022.
+ How long has the bakery been in this building at 46 Mott?
This year [2022] is the eighth year that the bakery has been about.
+ Tell me about the history of the 46 Mott Bakery. What led your family to start a bakery? When was it founded? Who owns the building?
I started the bakery in 2015. The previous owner, Fong On’s family, had their tofu shop and they owned the building. They were here for 30 years. Before, they rented a store across the street on Mott and then they rented this building and moved here. At the time, Fong On made traditional items like white sugar cake (bat tong goh), soy milk, doufu fa…
The big brother passed away and no one could take over, and the third generation didn’t want to take over. They sold it to my current landlord. Because our landlord wanted to keep the tradition of this business in Chinatown, when she knew that we wanted to have a similar business, she gave the space to us. I rent the whole building. The owner is a Fujienese owner. Our landlord is a really nice person. She wants to keep traditional things in the Chinatown area.
We took over and started the business in 2016. We took over six months to do the renovations.
+ What do you remember about Fong On?
I mostly bought the white sugar cake. Their store layout was really similar. There was a counter to sell items at the front, and behind that a packing area. In the back, there were two small kitchens. Someone told me they used to make bean sprouts and lo baht goh [radish cake]. In the front, they also had a small stove to pan-fry the lo baht goh. Even at the storefront, we didn’t change the glass. It’s the same as the previous owner.
+ What major changes or renovations did you do in the building?
The layout is the same. I haven’t done any changes. I took over this place because I wanted to do the same thing as the previous owner.
I just repainted the walls, redid the floors and the ceilings on the first and second floor, redid the plumbing. The previous owner used the basement as a production area to make noodles and for storage, and there was the dumbwaiter, which we already sealed off.
The second and third floor used to be the kitchen. Now they are commercial offices that I rent out to an association, a dentist, and a small office for the bakery. The Lai Association is on the third floor.
+ Do you have access to floor plans or any old photographs of the shop?
Yes – I hired an architect to draw the floor plan.
Tony hired an architect to help him create new floor plans for an updated store layout. Photographed during our interview session, July 2022.
+ What do you sell here at the bakery?
Our items are very traditional Cantonese style products, but I have changed the recipe. I created the recipes. We make 90% of our products here — like loh baht goh, mung bean cake with coconut milk and sugar, steamed rice cakes…
We also make brown sugar cakes and we use natural ways to make it rise (without yeast or baking powder). We don’t use additives.
46 Mott is our address but we also have 46 items!
Traditional Cantonese sweets and snacks sold at the store, including brown and white sugar cakes (right).
+ How did you see Chinatown affected by the pandemic? How did you feel at this time?
I’ve been in Chinatown for over 23 years and during the pandemic, that is the moment that I will never forget. I couldn’t imagine how Chinatown would change like this… No stores open — only 46 Mott open. There was no one on the street. At the time, I felt… I cannot explain to myself why Chinatown would have that kind of situation. It was so scary without anyone working and businesses open. After 6PM, it was pitch dark, and with only my store turning on its lights in the first 6 months of the pandemic. I can’t forget it in my entire life.
Also, after that, there were more and more old stores closing. And they’re gone. You couldn’t ever imagine they would reopen again to do the same thing. It’s pretty sad.
We distributed rice boxes to seniors and the homeless.
After the pandemic, most friends told me not to give up. I’m also trying to do more traditional products now to have customers learn, through food, our Chinese traditions.
+ What is one of your fondest memories of your family’s shop?
One day, during the pandemic, one customer came to us – I was open and there weren’t many customers – and she said, “Thank God, I work a few blocks away and couldn’t find any stores open.” She was so grateful that we were still open and only bought a few things, but left $10 in tips. I said no, since we aren’t supposed to receive tips, but she insisted. I used the tip to make a picture and I framed it. This encourages me, even without business, and my wife, family, business, to not give up, to not close it… Because I work by myself, making all of the food and selling, to not give up. I have felt supported.
Photograph by Tony Chang.
46 MOTT - BUILDING PHOTOGRAPHS
Photographs taken between 2022 – 2024.
