Chinatown family life - what tourists don't see
« Back to Article | Buy Photos | More Photo Galleries
previous next
previous next
previous next
previous next

To get his dad home from a doctor's appointment, Zhihua Mo must carry him up the stairs - there's no elevator.

Photo: Brant Ward / The Chronicle

0
Comments 
[Show All]
To get his dad home from a doctor's appointment, Zhihua Mo must carry him up the stairs - there's no elevator.
Lifen Deng makes dinner as husband Zhihua Mo squeezes by in their tiny Chinatown single-room occupancy home. Mo's dad lives in another SRO a block away.
Deng says she must buy the family's groceries almost daily since there's little storage room.
Part of Zhihua Mo's routine is to go to his father's SRO and wash his feet and give him a shave.
Bao Qi Mo, 85, depends on his son for such everyday tasks.
A back ailment keeps Bao Qi Mo in his home - an 8-by-10-foot single-room occupancy apartment on Powell Street near Broadway in Chinatown.
Zhihua Mo (left), his wife, Lifen Deng, and their son Scott share a family meal in their apartment. They sleep in bunk beds: Scott gets the top, Mo and Deng the bottom.
Shao Cong, 16, looks out the window of his new SRO room which will allow him to have a desk to work at. Three generations of the Mo family have made their homes and lived their lives in small but tidy Chinatown SROs (single resident occupancy).
advertisement | your ad here

Most Commented Photo

Quick Steel-Cut Oats With Blueberry-Cinnamon - Media (1 of 15) 15 easy breakfast recipes

advertisement | your ad here

Chronicle Photo Store

Purchase Chronicle photos from our collection of timeless, telling, newsworthy and beautiful images.