Lt. Kimlau Post 1291 building
191 Canal Street | also 193 Canal Street, 189 Canal Street | Little Italy | built 1920
Open on the map6 entries
The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1950
Poy G. Lee designs the American Legion building at 191-193 Canal Street
The Chinatown and Little Italy nomination attributes the six-story, four-bay brick building to Poy G. Lee, around 1950, and notes that Lee was a Legion member. Lee, an American-born architect trained at Pratt, worked in Shanghai from 1923 to 1945, where his projects included the Sun Yat Sen Mausoleum in Nanking, and later designed Chinatown restaurants and the Kimlau Memorial Arch. The facade carries AMERICAN LEGION in metal and neon letters.
“…designed the American Legion building, 191-193 Canal Street (ca. 1950), of which he was a member…”
Source: National Register nomination
- 1961
Chinese American veterans' American Legion post buys 191-193 Canal Street for its headquarters
Lt. B.R. Kimlau Chinese Memorial Post 1291, founded in 1945 by World War II veterans, bought a six-story building at 191-193 Canal Street in 1961. After two years of renovations, it opened the new headquarters on April 28, 1963, the post's 19th anniversary. More than 1,000 people attended, among them Hawaii Senator Hiram Fong and the Republic of China's ambassador to the United Nations. The post had earlier leased the second floor of 196 Canal Street.
Source: ltkimlau.com
- 1963
Kimlau Post 1291 opens its renovated Canal Street headquarters before more than 1,000 guests
On the post's 19th anniversary, after two years of renovating the six-story building it bought in 1961, the Lt. Kimlau Chinese Memorial Post held a grand opening for its new headquarters. More than 1,000 people attended, including American Legion department commander Charles L. Bacon, Hawaii Senator Hiram Fong and Republic of China ambassador to the United Nations Liu Kia. The post's history calls the 1950s and 1960s its most influential years, with membership above 1,000.
Source: ltkimlau.com
- 1970
Kimlau Post 1291 rents out its top three floors to cover rising costs
Amid economic strain in 1970, which its own history ties to the Vietnam War, the Lt. Kimlau Post came dangerously close to taking out a loan. Its commander started a restructuring that cut nonessential activities and sought new revenue, and leaders converted the fourth, fifth and sixth floors of the Canal Street building into rentable offices. The post also began English and American history lessons for newly arrived immigrants.
Source: ltkimlau.com
- 1975
Sio Wai Sang and Susan Sang open Golden Jade Jewelry on Canal Street
Sio Wai Sang and his wife Susan opened Golden Jade Jewelry at 189 Canal Street in March 1975, their second store after S&N Jewelry at 227 Canal Street. Both were from Enping in Guangdong. When they opened S&N in 1973, no other Chinese-owned jewelry store stood on Canal Street, but Chinese owners opened many more from the 1970s until around 1990 as earlier Jewish, Italian and Latin American proprietors moved to Midtown. Golden Jade is in a six-story brick building owned by American Legion Post 1291.
Source: Internet Archive
- 1981
Canal Street jewelers, including Golden Jade's owner, form a merchants association to hire armed guards
Sio Wai Sang, owner of Golden Jade Jewelry in the Legion building, was president of the Canal Street Jewelry Merchants Association for many years between its founding in 1981 and 2000. Members paid several hundred dollars a month, mostly to hire armed guards to patrol Canal Street, until the guards stopped in 1995. Sang left a bullet hole in his store ceiling, from an attempted holdup, as a reminder of those years.
Source: Internet Archive
Further reading
- Golden Jade JewelryPlace Matters
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