BrightestYoungThings: People's District: Story of The Week

This week: Manh on the Beginning of a New Life

“I am ethnically Chinese and was born in Hai Phong, Vietnam in 1947. My grandparents and my mother are from Canton, the southern part of China. My father was born in Vietnam. We spoke Cantonese at home, and I learned Mandarin and Vietnamese at school.

“When I was eight years old, the French left Vietnam and the country separated. My father moved our family from the north to Da Nang to open a restaurant. We stayed there through the war. My situation, because I had a Taiwan passport, was good because the Vietnamese government treated me like a foreigner. I got married and had children and life was okay.

“Before the war, my mother-in-law came to America. Three years after the war ended, she sponsored me and my family to come here. At the time, the Americans didn’t have an embassy in Vietnam, so the French consulate took care of the paperwork. We went to Thailand for a week and then came here in 1978. We were lucky because we weren’t like the poor people out in the boats. We came to this country by airplane and had family here to help us. We first went to Pennsylvania, but then came to Virginia. My family is seven sisters and brothers all around the world. Now, we are in Canada, San Francisco, Australia, France, and Virginia. I am the only one here.

“Coming to America, I can say, was the beginning of a new life for me. In Vietnam, my father had a business and he could take care of an entire family of seven children and extended family. There, we had an easy life. When we came here, everything started from the beginning. I was very nervous about my new life and did not know what I would do for work. I have one uncle in Arlington who told me to come and work in a restaurant there. He thought because my father had a restaurant, I should cook very good. But I didn’t know how to cook at all and had to learn.

“In the beginning, I had three jobs and some side work selling things at the markets. One time, I met a Vietnamese professor who taught Vietnamese people to learn business for free. He liked my cooking and told me to go to his class. I saw that working in the restaurant was really long hours and gave me no family life. My two kids never saw my face, so I thought it was the wrong way. I took the class and then got a job working in an American bakery with friends.

“Later, a friend who knew that I worked very hard said, ‘Let’s open a bakery together.’ The partnership was hard and did not work out well. After seven years, my friend bought my part and I decided to open my own place in Adams Morgan in 1992. I had a friend in the area who told me about a free space on Adams Mill Road. A couple of years before, it was a rental video place, but it was empty when I went to go see it. I opened this place with $35,000 and did everything myself.

“When I started, I used to make Chinese buns and cook Chinese food, but I didn’t make a profit. There are not too many Vietnamese and Chinese people in this area. Even in Chinatown, you don’t see Chinese people. They all live in Virginia, so it is hard to sell traditional ethnic food here.I decided to just be a bakery. Now, we have been here for 17 years and make cakes for everyone. Just today, I made a cake for Helen Thomas’ birthday. Last week, I made a cake for Jim Graham.

“In my time here, the neighborhood has changed a lot. Now, it looks more nice and beautiful. I am very happy with my business because it gives me good relations with my customer. The young girls who came to my bakery after school when I started now come in with their kids. Sometimes, they move out and come back just to see me. They always say, ‘Oh, Mr. Phung, you are still here? Do you remember when you made my 15th birthday cake?’ I even have one customer from the area who now lives in North Carolina. He comes up every year to pick up a cake. I am very happy with this kind of business and hope to stay here forever.”

KoGiBow Bakery is located at 1817 Adams Mill Road NW. KoGiBow is Chinese for treasure of the nation.

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“Danny Harris is a DC-based photographer and collector of stories. In September, he launched People’s District, a blog that tells a people’s history of DC by sharing the stories and images of its residents. Every day, People’s District presents a different Washingtonian sharing his or her insights on everything from Go Go music to homelessness to fashion to politics. Every Thursday he’ll share a favorite story with us”

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People's District: Story of The Week

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