04/09/2025
Excellent story
By the 1940s, approximately 100 Chinese grocery stores graced the streets of downtown Tucson. In the same period, the Tucson Chinese were proud participants in the U.S. military service during World War II. After the war, many Tucson Chinese veterans used the GI Bill to attend college where they prepared for careers in law, medicine, education, engineering, and architecture.
Many new grocers worked for others initially, and then looked for their own stores in areas that were then “outlying”, to avoid the intense competition in the older areas of the city. One such market was Alan’s Market, in Barrio Hollywood, founded in the 1950s. David Lee, son of the owners and now a University of Arizona pharmacist, recalls,
“I have many fond memories working with my parents at Alan’s Market. In fact, I white washed the building and the imperfect black lettering is my doing. The building had only an evaporative cooler that was ineffective during the humid monsoon season. We had a large walk-in refrigerator for beer, milk products, sodas, meats. I would plan special times to load the beer and sodas into the walk-in just to get cooled down.”
Memory from Patsy Lee Alan’s Daughter
Tucson Chinese Cultural Center
Excerpt from Sandy Chan
