Route 66: Tulsa, Oklahoma

Part 6: Tulsa, Oklahoma

The Pagoda

The Pagoda was a family enterprise.  Opened in 1963 by Kim Loy Pang, his brother Ky Pang, his sister Mrs. Margaret King and Mrs. King’s son-in-law, James Char. 

In his 1981 obituary, Kim Loy Pang was described as a native of Waipahu, Hawaii.  He moved to Tulsa in the early 1930s and opened the Mandarin Cafe on 3rd street in Tulsa. According to Pang’s obituary, his was the only Chinese restaurant in the city for many years.  After 33 years in the restaurant business, the family opened the Pagoda.  Pang served in World War II, stationed in the Philippines and in New Guinea.  His nephew-in-law, James Char, also a native of Hawaii, started working at the Mandarin Cafe in 1953. Together, the family launched their second restuarant, the Pagoda, in 1963.

Both Pang and Char were well-recognized figures in Tulas. Char was a World War II vet, he was active in multiple public service organizations in Tulsa and contributed to local scholarship funds.  At the time of his death, also in 1981, at the age of 56, he had significant family ties in the mainland US as well as a large extended family still in Hawaii, on Oahu.  Given the Hawaii connection, it is worth considering whether ties between his family and Wai Sue Chun Louie’s family had been part of the social relationship on which their business relationship with the Louies was built.  The family sold the business in 1979.