{"id":22902,"date":"2025-06-28T22:15:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-28T22:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/22902\/"},"modified":"2025-06-28T22:15:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-28T22:15:11","slug":"north-parks-new-lucky-lane-named-in-honor-of-community-restaurant-owner-nbc-7-san-diego","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/22902\/","title":{"rendered":"North Park\u2019s new Lucky Lane named in honor of community restaurant owner \u2013 NBC 7 San Diego"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Chinese immigrant who became an icon in his North Park neighborhood will now be remembered with a street sign in his honor.<\/p>\n

Lucky Wong immigrated to San Diego when he was just fourteen. He came to the U.S. to stay with family while he chased the ‘American dream’.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis name was Wong Su Chong, Lucky was his nickname,” said his daughter, June, speaking to NBC 7 Saturday before the street renaming ceremony. “He was lucky in gambling with horses,” she laughed.<\/p>\n

The nickname stuck and was featured on the sign of his beloved Golden Phenix restaurant at the corner of Grimm Avenue and North Park Way. It was a business he owned for almost fifty years until his death at 89, last December.<\/p>\n

“That\u2019s why people come to America. It’s for the hope and it\u2019s for a better future,” June Wong said. “A lot of people misunderstand immigrants, that\u2019s a word you have to be careful with (right now). But it inspires others and gives them hope and shows what can happen.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tM.G. Perez<\/p>\n

\t\t\tM.G. Perez<\/p>\n

Community leaders joined June Wong, Saturday, in North Park to unveil the new Lucky Lane sign in the 3800 block of Grimm Avenue, June 28, 2025. <\/p>\n

Renaming the street took a community petition of 4,000 signatures and donations that totaled $10,000. It also required the support of city leaders many of whom ate breakfast here over the decades. Among them at the celebration was District 3 City Council member Stephen Whitburn, and San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this day and time, when we are seemingly discounting both diversity and immigration, Lucky is the personification of why our country is made better by immigrants and uplifting diversity,” Gloria said.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Lucky<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tWong Family<\/p>\n

\t\t\tWong Family<\/p>\n

Lucky Wong seen here in this undated photo, owned the Golden Phenix restaurant for almost 50 years until his death last December.<\/p>\n

\n

At this day and time, when we are seemingly discounting both diversity and immigration, Lucky is the personification of why our country is made better by immigrants and uplifting diversity.<\/p>\n

Todd Gloria, San Diego Mayor<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Most of the money raised by the community is now going to fund the Lucky Wong Memorial Scholarship <\/a>program for students who need support in pursuing an education in culinary arts. Matt Lyons was Lucky’s close friend. He also owns Tribute Pizza nearby. He led the effort to get the city’s attention and support.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Isaac<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tM.G. Perez<\/p>\n

\t\t\tM.G. Perez<\/p>\n

Isaac Espinoza, 25, was awarded a \\$750 scholarship for his education in culinary arts. He is currently a student at the San Diego College of Continuing Education, June 28, 2025. <\/p>\n

“Legends leave more than their name. They leave momentum. Lucky inspired me, and I think he inspired a lot of us,” Lyons said before awarding five community college students with the first scholarships at Saturday’s celebration.<\/p>\n

“Ordinary people like my father don’t think what they do can make a difference in the world. But daily acts of kindness have an impact on people in the long run,” June Wong said.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Members<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tM.G. Perez<\/p>\n

\t\t\tM.G. Perez<\/p>\n

Members of the San Diego Lucky Lion Dancers entertained the crowd Saturday along the new Lucky Lane in North Park, June 28, 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Chinese immigrant who became an icon in his North Park neighborhood will now be remembered with a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":22903,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,718,409,20881,3549,7264,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-22902","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-community","12":"tag-immigration","13":"tag-north-park","14":"tag-san-diego","15":"tag-sandiego","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-united-states-of-america","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22902\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}