Riverside renames Wong Way to right 'insensitive' street name

Riverside officials have righted what many believe is a decades-old wrong.

For 48 years, "Wong Way" was the name on a short connector street near downtown Riverside.

Now, it is "Wong Street."

Regardless of whether it's way or street, the block is still named after the late George Wong, the last resident of Riverside's former Chinatown. Wong was believed to be 90 or older when he died in 1974, a holdout who never moved from his longtime home.

The former street name, unanimously approved by the Riverside City Council in 1961, appeared to be more of a joke than an honor, said current Riverside City Councilman Mike Gardner, who requested the street name change.

The former street name appeared to imply a "wrong way" while also disparaging Chinese immigrants with limited English skills, Gardner said. The double-entendre wasn't always appreciated.

"It's insensitive and it's a bad joke," said Jean Wong, a member of a citizen group opposed to development of the Chinatown site about block or two from Wong Street. She is not related to George Wong.

Gardner said he had met George Wong shortly before he died and had long thought the old street name didn't show proper respect.

"I wanted to go back and correct the insult," Gardner said.

Wong left China and settled in Riverside in 1914, said Vince Moses, former director of the Riverside Metropolitan Museum and an expert in local history.

The lifelong bachelor lived near the corner of Brockton and Tequesquite avenues, Moses said, and his collection of old cars became something of a landmark. By various accounts, Wong had worked as a cook at the Mission Inn, eventually owned much of Chinatown and ran a restaurant there called Bamboo Gardens.

Chinese immigrants had first settled in Riverside in the 1870s, opening laundries and other businesses, Moses said. A second wave, attracted by work in the citrus groves, arrived in the early 20th century. The community had as many as 500 residents but dwindled until only Wong remained.

Wong delighted in telling tales about events that happened during Chinatown's heyday, said Norton Younglove, a former Riverside city councilman and county supervisor whose father, a fuel wholesaler, regularly sold kerosene to Wong.

"George was quite a character," Younglove said. "He was good storyteller."

Moses said Wong subtly got back at the City Council.

On the other side of the street sign, he painted in Chinese characters a somewhat different street name that reflected his given name. It read: "Wong Ho Leun Street." Wong Ho Leun means "yellow river moon," Moses said.

That sign disappeared at some point and the city replaced it with one that said "Wong Way" on both sides.

The new "Wong Street" signs, installed last month, bring back the Chinese characters.

A search of Google maps turned up four other streets named Wong Way -- in San Jose and San Bruno; in Bristol, Mass.; and New Brunswick, Canada.

If, back in 1961, the Riverside council meant to poke fun at the diction of Chinese immigrants, the joke fell flat in more ways than one. When Wong told stories about Chinatown, he spoke in proper English without a noticeable accent, Younglove recalled.