Dragon Chinese Restaurant (Gone)
Cedar Rapids, IA
Photo courtesy Don Gardner

The Dragon Chinese Restaurant in Cedar Rapids featured one of the most elaborate restaurant signs in town. With its pagoda-inspired marquee, distinctive lettering, and dragon-themed entrance, it transformed an ordinary downtown building into an unforgettable roadside landmark.

Opened by the Yee family in 1948, the restaurant occupied the ground floor of the historic Muskwaki Building, an 1897 commercial block near the railroad tracks. Rather than blending into its surroundings, Dragon Chinese Restaurant embraced bold mid-century design, adding a dramatic neon sign and decorative architectural elements that made it impossible to miss.

For more than fifty years, the restaurant became a Cedar Rapids institution, serving generations of customers before closing in 2002. Although the building itself dated to the nineteenth century, the colorful additions gave it a distinctly postwar roadside personality that photographers and neon enthusiasts could appreciate.

UPDATE: The Dragon Chinese Restaurant is gone, but the historic Muskwaki Building still stands and is undergoing redevelopment. The restaurant's elaborate pagoda sign and decorative entrance have been removed, and the current whereabouts of the original sign is unknown. 06-26