Dwelling Place, with support from DGRI, curated the Heartside Historic Mural Project centered around highlighting un-sung history of the Heartside neighborhood in Grand Rapids through murals created by Michigan-based artists. 

I had the honor of being one of these artists and was tasked with researching historic immigrant-owned eateries. During my research, I found out Grand Rapids used to have its own small Chinatown! It was fascinating learning about all the laundries, restaurants, and retail shops that early Chinese immigrants had opened here. This mural pays homage to these Chinese American restaurants that were formerly located in the Heartside Neighborhood of Downtown GR—Tea Garden Cafe (est. 1924 by the Liu family) and Sun Sai Gai (est. 1949 by Fong Toy and Alvin Chin). Both businesses were on Division Ave and fed folks for decades, introducing many West Michiganders to Chinese cuisine.

Inspired by archived photos, postcards, and newspaper articles, the painting depicts food and decorations from the restaurants. The Chinese characters is a direct reference to the storefront signage, which says Sun Sai Gai—or “new prosperity”—which was classically written right-to-left but I updated to be read modern left-to-right, as suggested by a community member.