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In LA's Chinatown Restaurants: 'Every Day Has Been Bad'
Coronavirus has thrown the Los Angeles restaurant industry into a tailspin. The city had already restricted establishments to take-out and delivery, when on Thursday Gov. Gavin Newsom made those rules statewide.
Many restaurateurs in L.A.'s Chinatown got a taste weeks ago of what was to come.
Joe Liu, co-owner of Golden Lake Eatery, said business started plummeting at the beginning of March as many of his Asian patrons began to self-isolate.
Community leaders also say xenophobia kept non-Asian customers away from Chinatown for fears of contracting COVID-19.
Whatever the reason, Liu went about 20 to 30 customers at his Cambodian Chinese restaurant pre-coronavirus to a handful of orders a day, if he's lucky.
Yesterday he'd been open five hours with only one order for delivery.
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“Every day has been bad!” Liu said in Mandarin.
Liu’s story is now that of almost every restaurant in Los Angeles.
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