Simon’s Bar and Cafe owner mourned + ‘Kim’s Convenience’ canceled: Your AAPI newsletter

It is Thursday, March 11, and this is The Sacramento Bee’s AAPI weekly newsletter.

Here’s a recap of the stories I’ve covered and ones I’m following:

Dozens of customers, family members and friends gathered outside Simon’s Bar and Cafe in downtown Sacramento on Monday night to honor the life and legacy of owner Simon Chan, who died Sunday evening.

Chan, 69, died after battling COVID-19 for three months, family members said. Born in China in 1951, Chan had been running the bar on 16th Street since 1984, a watering hole popular with state workers and elected officials and known for its mixed menu of bar food and Chinese dishes.

Stacks of flowers and cards were tucked into the door gates, while candles wrapped in red paper formed a heart on the pavement. Beside the candles sat a tall bottle of Jameson whiskey and plastic cups for people to pour shots in Chan’s memory.

Staff and customers remembered him as a larger-than-life personality with an easy warmth and infectious joy who turned his dive bar into a community institution.

“Every kind of person comes through here,” said Alice Morrow, who worked the day shift at Simon’s for 30 years. “He was like a brother to me. ... He brought the party to the party.”

When he wasn’t working in the restaurant, Chan liked to make trips out to Las Vegas with friends, Morrow said. Once she sat in the front rows with Chan at a Cher concert, she said, and another time he got tickets to see “some singer named Steve,” Morrow recalled him saying.

“I said, ‘Stevie Wonder?’ He was like, ‘No, no, Steve something.’ I said, ‘Stevie Nicks?’ He said, ‘Oh yeah, that’s it.’ I said, ‘Simon, I’m coming with you,’” Morrow said with a laugh.

In other news

• Simon Chan, owner of iconic Sacramento bar Simon’s Bar & Cafe, dies (The Sacramento Bee)
• Recent attacks could push Asian Americans to get more politically active, research suggests (The Washington Post)
• ‘You’re not Chinese, are you?’ Bay Area health workers describe racism during pandemic (San Francisco Chronicle)
• Woman accused of spitting on Asian man faces hate crime case (Associated Press)
• Anti-racism resources to support Asian American, Pacific Islander community (NBC News)
• Teen Vogue’s new editor apologizes for past racist tweets after staff complaints: ‘There’s no excuse’ (The Washington Post)
• Asian American and Pacific Islander women stand to lose $400,000 over a 40-year career due to the pay gap (CNBC)
• Suspect Arrested In Oakland Robbery, Assault That Left 75-Year-Old Asian Man Brain Dead (CBS San Francisco)
• Hmong community vaccination clinic opens after concerns over vaccine inequity (KARE 11)
• Column: Kyle Larson can’t outrun past, only change conversation (Associated Press)
• Editorial cartoon: Jack Ohman: AAPI violence ... (The Sacramento Bee)

This week in AAPI pop culture

Surprising news this week: “Kim’s Convenience,” the TV sitcom about your favorite Korean Canadian family, announced Monday that the show will end after its fifth season despite being renewed for six.

“Kim’s Convenience” premiered on CBC in 2016 and follows the antics of a Korean Canadian family who run a convenience store in Toronto, based on the 2011 play by series creator Ins Choi. The show stars Paul Sun-Hyung Lee and Jean Yoon as the parents, Sang-il Kim and Yong-mi Kim, with their daughter Janet and wayward son Jung, played by Andrea Bang and Simu Liu, respectively.

A hit in Canada upon its premiere, it was widely praised across the globe after Netflix picked up the show for distribution. The show has been lauded for its willingness to delve into complicated subjects such as generational differences, racial profiling and the role of the Korean church.

The series will now end April 13 after its creators, Choi and Kevin White, said that they wanted to pursue other projects. What exactly those projects are has yet to be announced.

“At the end of production on Season 5, our two co-creators confirmed they were moving on to other projects,” the show’s producers said in a statement Monday. “Given their departure from the series, we have come to the difficult conclusion that we cannot deliver another season of the same heart and quality that has made the show so special. ... It’s been a privilege and a very great pleasure to work with the Kim’s family of gifted writers and performers for the last five years.”

It’s a bit of a knife-twist for fans after the show was renewed for a sixth season last year. It’s also an unusual situation, given that TV shows are typically canceled by their networks rather than their creators.

Liu, who is set to play the lead in Marvel’s first Asian superhero movie, “Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” on Tuesday evening hopped on Clubhouse to reminisce on his memories of the show and answer questions from Clubhouse users. According to Liu, actors and crew were notified of the decision to cancel the show a day before the official announcement.

Unsurprisingly, he was pretty tight-lipped about the show producers’ next moves, but stated multiple times that he was disappointed by the decision.

“I am heartbroken,” Liu said in a statement on social media Monday. “I feel we deserved better. I feel that you, our most amazing fans, deserved better. ... It has been an unbelievable privilege to entertain you for the last five seasons.”

Liu has good reason to feel let down: One of the most important story arcs of the show — the unsteady, hot-and-cold relationship between Jung and his Appa — was set up for a resolution in season six. Canceling the show means that viewers will never get to see that long-awaited reconciliation between father and son.

Given that the show wasn’t meant to end with season five, it’ll be interesting to see how many story threads the last episode will wrap up, and how many will be left hanging. And with the show’s popularity, perhaps they’ll pull a move from the “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” playbook and return for some kind of reunion special years later.

Details on Choi and White’s surprise decision to back out will probably emerge in time, and I’m sure the tea will be HOT. Until then, you can watch the first four seasons on Netflix.

Got a story suggestion? Please reach out to me at awong@sacbee.com.

That’s it for this week’s newsletter. OK, see you!

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