Chicken Chop Suey At Seree Coffee Shop Is More Than A Blast From The Past.

 

My visit to Seree Coffee Shop was more than a blast from the past, but also an adventure and a visit into my own childhood, though not in the way you would imagine.  Seree Coffee Shop on Grand Ave. in the shadow of downtown Los Angeles has been on my radar for over a decade, but not high enough for me to visit until now.  Seree serves American breakfasts plus old style Chinese  food like chop suey, fried rice, and other rice dishes.  It’s been open over 50 years with the same owner-chef, Kenny.  You could probably drive by it every day and not realize there’s a restaurant inside.  

 

And the inside is as spartan as they come.  Just a small window into the kitchen where you could place your order with the owner/chef.  

 

Talk about walking into a time warp!  It took forever to get my food because there were two large orders ahead of me, but I really didn’t mind.

 

The closest thing I could find to a menu had pictures but no prices.   This chicken chop suey on a bed of fried rice weighed over 2 pounds and cost $11.50.  And everyone gets a brownie in the end.  

 

Now while I said that this trip brought back childhood memories, I don't mean memories of chop suey.  I really don't remember eating chop suey as a kid and I’m not sure if I’ve had it more than a handful of times in my life. I don’t remember the last time I had chop suey.  Maybe Fargo, North Dakota in the late 1970s, not counting the Princess Cruise chop suey that wasn’t.  

Where the childhood memories come in is as I was plotting Seree’s location I noted that the junior high school my mom attended in the 1930s was just two blocks away.  When I saw that I had thought I had never been by John Adams Junior High before, but I did recognize it as I drove by.  

 

I also noted that the house I lived at as a 3 year old was just 3 blocks away from there. As I slowly drove down the street checking addresses, I thought I recognized where I lived. But the address was off by 2, 213 instead of 215.  Then I saw the building next door, a newly built multi unit monstrosity with unit addresses like 215½ and 215¾.  What had they done to my house?  

And as I looked past where my house used to stand, there was another old house, in pristine condition.  Why did they have to tear down mine?  Oh, and it's for sale for $900,000.

Oh well.