| Chips bought by Chan (Chin) Bok Hing, a kingpin of Bay area Chinese gambling from the 1930s until 1947. He came to the US from Canton, China, around 1910, and left for Hong Kong in 1953, as a fugitive, fleeing gambling charges. His headquarters was a pawn shop at 159 Waverly Place, Chinatown, San Francisco. During the 1940s, he operated at least eleven Chinese gambling houses, including "The Palms Club", the "Goat Ranch", and the "Cabbage Patch" in the San Mateo area. For more on Chan, see Gene Trimble's articles "Illegal of the Day" (November 2010) and ”Illegal of the Day”" (September 2015).
Mason & Co. sold 7400 of these chips in six colors to B. Chan, 159 Waverly Place, San Francisco, CA, in 1939 and to B. Chan 380 Vernon Street, Oakland, CA, in 1940. The latter address was Chan's residential address from 1939 until 1953.
Photograph from 11/20/1952 (The Times). |
