Lung Moon, Thank You – Bonnie Y. Tse

An avid supporter of small businesses, I photographed and shared the story of Lung Moon Bakery as part of the Capturing the Faces & Voices of Manhattan’s Neighborhood Storefronts photography workshop in 2018. The story below was first shared on my social two years later when they announced their closure in 2020.

Storefront photo of Lung Moon Bakery on 83 Mulberry Street, featuring their metal-framed business signage with Chinese characters in red and English letters in green. Right below, their newer maroon awning has their business name printed in white lettering and is centered by a small golden dragon layered in front of the character ‘門‘. — Storefront photo of Lung Moon Bakery on 83 Mulberry Street, featuring their metal-framed business signage with Chinese characters in red and English letters in green. Right below, their second maroon awning has their business name printed in white lettering and is centered by a small golden dragon layered in front of the character ‘門‘.

Before clocking into my office in Chinatown, I would pop into Lung Moon Bakery in search of a homey delight.

I’d exchange good mornings with Law 太, Mui 姐, and Ping 姐 and begin browsing through their luminous silver trays of baked goods. From the classic favorites like pineapple bun, zhi bao dan gao, or egg tart, to the traditional flaky pastries like lou po bing and pei daan sou, Lung Moon had plenty to offer. Their clover-shaped 豆沙包 was my all-time favorite.

Two summers ago, I learned that the bakery came into existence in the 1960s. At the time under a different name, the bakery was already well known for mooncakes. The store then transitioned into the hands of the current owners, Mr. and Mrs. Law in the 1980s. Although they had little experience in the baking industry, they worked with the original staff and bakers to grow the store’s offerings.

On a typical morning before the pandemic, Mrs. Law would be standing by the kitchen doorway, slipping buns into translucent bags. Mr. Law was often in the back of the kitchen with veteran bakers prepping or taking bread out of the oven. Mui 姐 or Ping 姐, two core front-of-house staff, would be by the counter fixing drinks for customers, grabbing a pastry or a sandwich behind the refrigerated case, or standing by ready to greet you.

*A row of fried sesame balls on top of an orange plastic tray. Blurred in the background behind the counter are trays of additional baked goods like almond cookies and flaky thousand-year egg pastries.*

I also learned that mooncakes are Lung Moon’s specialty and that they’re one of the few bakeries in town that make them onsite and by hand. While some places choose to replace old methods of making mooncakes with industrial machinery, Lung Moon showed me their traditional methods continue to conquer the hearts of customers. With locals and tourists racing to their store during Mid-Autumn Festival, the fall season never fails to be their busiest yet fruitful time of the year.

Whenever I visited the store past 6:30 p.m., I also noticed that Ms. Law’s son, Arthur, came to close the shop and relieved her of the day. Arthur tells me he’s been helping every night since he was in high school. Between 6:30 p.m. and the 8:00 p.m. closing time, one 婆婆, a regular customer of Lung Moon, would also come to buy buns at a special price—discounted just for her.

A refrigerated case filled with small rainbow-sprinkled and chocolate-sprinkled cream cakes, fruit tarts, faat gao, nin gao, and more. On the top shelf behind the case are displays of Lung Moon’s earlier paper-printed mooncake boxes. Hanging down above the case are shimmering good luck charms in gold and red colors. One charm is adorned with the character,“福”, and the familiar New Year expression, “心想事成“ .

Like many other eateries and shops in Chinatown, Lung Moon Bakery is a family run, mom-and-pop store that has been creating fond memories for seniors, families, working folks, and tourists in the neighborhood for years. The latest news of Lung Moon’s closure not only revealed how dear they are to the community but also how many immigrant small businesses alike are reevaluating their operations in this unprecedented time and building a new chapter ahead.