Manufacturer: Shenango China
User: Elite Chinese Restaurant, Los Angeles
Date of plate: circa 1927 – 1944

June 4, 1940 ad in Los Angeles's Daily News

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Notes: A May 28, 1940, notice in Los Angeles's Daily News is the first mention found of the Elite Chinese Restaurant. It advertises: "Now open New Chinatown's smartest, most ultra-modern restaurant – The New Elite Chinese Restaurant – at 454 Jung Jing Road in New Chinatown on North Broadway. Family Style Dinner 50¢ & up. Dine in our beautiful outdoor patio. Mandarin dinners by special arrangement for parties. No liquor served."

The last ad found for the Elite was on June 4, 1940. It is not known when the Elite closed, but on September 1944, a "New Chinatown Canteen for Allied servicemen of all races" opened in the New Elite's location at 454 Jung Jing Road.

With the war over, as of March 23, 1949, a new Chinese restaurant had opened it its place: Soo Chow restaurant.

The Incaware plate has a wide brown/red line in the middle of the rim that is interrupted by the word Elite in an upright script font with Chinese symbols on its right and left. A matchbook provides the ID with the same symbols and the restaurant's address in New Chinatown on North Broadway.

Contributors:
Roland Burritt: research
Ebay seller Deborah Armstrong – Back Then Here Again: plate photos