Recently, the Center for Oral History Research Program’s own Alex Cline interviewed The Fung Brothers, an American duo of Chinese descent consisting of comedian-rappers Andrew and David Fung. Originally from Seattle, the Fung Brothers changed base to Alhambra, CA, and will soon be moving to New York. They are best known for their YouTube videos about NBA player Jeremy Lin, Asian food, and the “626” area of the San Gabriel Valley. They also have a TV show on A&E Network’s FYI channel titled “What the Fung?!”

Alex’s oral history with The Fung Brothers is part of The Suburban Chinatown oral history interview series. The series features full-life oral history interviews with many of the most important, influential, and interesting individuals comprising the largely Chinese immigrant population that came to the Los Angeles area following the abolition of the nation’s anti-Asian immigration laws in 1965. First coming mainly from Taiwan and Hong Kong, this huge wave of immigration differed dramatically from that of the earlier generation of mostly Cantonese-speaking immigrants from southern China that is associated with Los Angeles’ historic Chinatown. Coming to the United States as students, professionals, businesspeople, and entrepreneurs, many of these immigrants settled in outlying areas around Los Angeles, principally in the San Gabriel Valley east of downtown Los Angeles, transforming that area and others into what has been called the first suburban Chinatown, itself a huge, unique, and significant phenomenon that is still developing after more than four decades. Initially undertaken in collaboration with the American East Asian Cultural and Educational Foundation in the San Gabriel Valley and begun in connection with that foundation’s important contribution to UCLA Library Special Collections, the ongoing interview series includes figures in business, education, politics, medicine, religion, community service, philanthropy, and media. The series itself chronicles the extraordinary contribution Chinese immigrants and American-born Chinese have made and continue to make to the history and culture of Southern California and spearheads a larger collecting initiative of the UCLA Library to provide a central home for a comprehensive aggregation of diverse materials pertaining to the history and culture of Chinese Americans in Los Angeles.

For more information about accessing The Suburban Chinatown oral history interviews, please contact UCLA Library Special Collections.