Chronicling San Diego’s Mom and Pops: Questions for Angie Huang

Freelance photographer Angie Huang’s series on mom-and-pop shops in San Diego is an introspective look at her life growing up in a small business family and the hustle it takes to make it in America. It’s an aspirational pursuit to document the history of underrepresented businesses, and the people who find purpose in them. 

When she stumbled across the now-defunct New Life Laundromat in North Park, she found a place that embodied that purpose and had her confronting her own memories of her mother’s former business, AJ Tack, which sold equine equipment. The mom-and-pop shop is familiar territory for Angie, the daughter of Chinese immigrants. It’s an expression of a parent’s responsibility to their children. A place to come of age and a memory to cherish.

Safelight: I was looking at your piece on New Life Laundromat. I felt like these represent the American Dream that people don’t think exists anymore.

Angie: That's what I'm drawn towards. The piles of things that need to be sorted out in the corner of the room. The break room, which is just a table with a microwave on it. It’s their entire life. When you open a business, your whole life revolves around that. Your kids are born into it. They grow up going to the shop, hanging out or helping. 

I don't know if it's because I'm drawn to the grittiness. I see the Happy Father's Day card pinned to the wall. I love the simplicity. It’s a shared history that reminds me of my childhood experiences as part of a small business family.

Safelight: Why are you drawn to highlighting business in immigrant communities like City Heights?

Angie: It’s me seeking out something familiar in a new place because I'm not from San Diego; I'm from Texas. These mom-and-pop shops, especially Asian-owned ones, feel like home.

The reality is that these mom-and-pop places aren't necessarily glamorous, put together, and Instagrammable. The reason there is a pile of cardboard boxes that need to be broken down is because they can't get to it. There's a million and one things to do when you're also trying to raise a family.

Part of it is the luck of walking and exploring my neighborhood of City Heights. For New Life Landromat, I was running and they had a sign up that announced New Life was closing on December 31st. I remember it being early December and thought it would be worthwhile to snap a photo. I paused outside the front of the building and they had a newspaper feature, from years ago. I was able to read about their history. Upon hearing the owners were Chinese like me, I knew I had to do it. 

In the beginning of profiling small businesses, It was really hard to ask people to take pictures of their store. 

One time, the shop is closed now, but there was a Chinese restaurant supply store that's right across from Super Cocina in City Heights. I tried so hard to get some pictures of the owner, but she would always say, “you don’t want pictures of me, why don’t you find a nicer place”. 

People like her always work the hardest. They work so hard. They are there even when it's not super busy, so why can't they have nice photos of themselves?

When I took those pictures of my mom at her warehouse, I didn't think much of it. Then, those pictures became very cherished to me because that business is no longer here.

In some ways, I'm like a historian. These businesses are memories for people, something gained or lost. Nobody else is going to capture these pictures. Without them, these people's children will never have a record of a place that was so monumental in their lives, a pillar of sorts.

I get that when you're working it, it just feels like work. It's not. It's a whole life.

A third place for some of those kids, sometimes the center of their little universe.

Safelight: What direction do you think City Heights and Normal Heights are heading? Do you think they will remain to represent the small-town aspects of San Diego?

Angie: I hope it remains. Especially in Normal Heights, a lot of these businesses seem to be doing really well. I'd be shocked if Rabbit Hole one day was replaced by Applebee's. Some of these businesses are doing really well for themselves. I think that  San Diegans love supporting local.

In terms of City Heights, I don't know if its worry, but I can see that area changing a lot in the near future. That’s why I’ve started taking pictures in the neighborhood. Who knows where these places are gonna be in 5 to 10 years.

The gentrification push is no joke.