Memories of Hop Kee

I visited New Your City several times on family holidays before moving there in 1959 for a huge portion of my life...
On one such trip the whole family went to a restaurant in Manhattan's Chinatown,We walked the narrow twisting cobblestone streets with steam rising from the manhole covers in the of each street,several blocks downtown from where we found parking to where someone knew of this great restaurant:"Hop Kee". I Clearly recall running ahead almost tripping on the cobble stones with my then rather tiny feet (I was about 5 years old)in hard shoes,But regaining my balance before slamming into the warn smooth paving stones.
Finally after what seemed an eternity to me,as I walked passed the last curves of one long block I could see the last block on Mott street and there I waited (As I could not cross the street alone) I stood on the corner impatiently awaiting the other cousins & the grown ups to catch up. We were a large group,My father and his 2 brothers & their family's,My Uncles Milty,his wife Fritzy with their 2 children My cousin's Marsha and Louis,My Uncle Sam his wife Florence,My cousin's Ailene and Howard,My Mother Betty Joan and My sisters Gwenith and Rosylin.
It was Howard (The closest to My) who first caught up to me than my sister Roz,after all we were the only ones running.
We crossed the street like browns cows returning home to the barn,after a long day in the fields in small groups or one at a time,Again a walked ahead but stopped when I saw there were 2 restaurants with the same name one up a few stairs & one down a steep flight of stairs,Not knowing which was the right restaurant we were all soon to be be eating in? I recall the strong almost mystical smells of cooking seemingly coming from every direction,Little did I ever dream that one day in my future I would living right around the corner & being with 2 friends I'd yet to meet the supers of a building & running what was then the first American style deli/sandwich shop in Chinatown. and I walk past the open door on an impossible tilted street and look into the very kitchen where the meal I'd eat that night would be prepared.
To me the most amazing thing is that this restaurant was still open the till my last time there in New York city,When so many others had come and gone through the many decades.