Fung Ming Restaurant (Demolished)
Sterling, IL Photo courtesy Kelly Sullivan
If you're in the mood for Chinese food, Fung Ming Restaurant was once a good place to stop in Sterling, Illinois. The restaurant served Cantonese and Chinese-American favorites for years and was a familiar sight in downtown Sterling. 07-11
Although not much has been documented about its early history, Fung Ming built a loyal following over the years, with many locals remembering its Cantonese dishes and especially its egg rolls. It was one of those neighborhood restaurants that quietly became part of the community, serving good food without a lot of fanfare.
Unfortunately, the restaurant eventually closed, and the vacant building met the wrecking ball in 2016. The property was cleared as part of a downtown redevelopment project, bringing an end to another longtime local business. The fate of the restaurant's neon sign isn't known.
UPDATE: Fung Ming Restaurant is gone, and the building was demolished in 2016 as part of a downtown redevelopment project. Another familiar roadside restaurant has faded into memory. 06-26
Yun's Chinese Food Restaurant (Gone)
Sault Ste Marie ON, Canada Photo courtesy Alan Culley
Yun's Chinese Food Restaurant has one of those signs that's hard to drive past without slowing down. Check out the feather details on the projecting marquee—they really set this one apart. By the time I photographed it, the sign was showing its age, and I wasn't sure if the neon still lit up, but it was still one of the more interesting vintage restaurant signs in downtown Sault Ste. Marie. 06-14
The building has a much longer story than the sign alone might suggest. Before it became Yun's Restaurant, it was home to Johnstone's Dairy Bar, a popular local hangout dating back to the 1940s. During restoration work years later, workers uncovered the old painted ghost sign for the dairy bar hidden beneath the brick façade, giving the building another layer of history that had been forgotten for decades.
The restaurant itself was operated by members of the Yun family, who had been part of Sault Ste. Marie's Chinese restaurant scene for generations. The business originally operated under the name Island City before becoming Yun's Restaurant, and the family has remained connected to other well-known local restaurants over the years.
After Yun's closed, the building found new life as a coffee house, an art gallery, and eventually as the offices of a local law firm. Thankfully, the owners chose to leave the old Yun's sign in place. It's always nice to see a piece of a building's history survive, even when the business itself is long gone. Signs like this help tell the story of what once occupied these storefronts, and they're becoming harder to find every year.
UPDATE: Yun's Restaurant is no longer operating and the sign has been gone since sometime before 2012. 07-26
Fung Ming Restaurant (Demolished)
Yun's Chinese Food Restaurant (Gone)
