Featured Chinese Restaurant Wares - F.S. Louie company

(I posted about this 1950s teapot in the Finds thread but have been discovering some interesting background info and thought it deserved it's own thread.)

I picked up this teapot today at a local thrift. The restaurant's address is now a part of a huge hospital system. I've done a bit of research on the teapot and found it is by the F.S. Louie company, which was started by a Chinese immigrant and based in Berkeley, CA. They used wares imported from Japan.

The University of Idaho has an good webpage about Chinese Restaurant Wares and Ephemera, and specifically discuss the F.S. Louie company:
https://www.uidaho.edu/class/anthrolab/collections/aacc/research/restaurant

Here is a YouTube video with lots of interesting info:




My teapot is F.S. Louie's Phoenix and Dragon pattern:




F.S. Louie marks (screen catch from the video):

 

Really like old restaurant ware-nice piece.The coffee cups are great-i drink from them,tough as nails & hefty.
Interesting that the U of I had a page on that-Asian Cultural Studies,yay for universities.

 

I own 2 cups very think porcelain.

 

My old restaurant mugs are thick as a battleship.

 

Ware used in restaurants, Chinese or otherwise, was typically thick and heavy to prevent breakage.

 

I was kindly provided with a copy of F.S. Louie's 1960 catalog and thought I'd share, for reference only.
I especially love the page that shows all the ware with restaurant names!

(Oh, the rabbit holes one goes down when researching a new find!)

"We supply HEAVY & THICK CHINA WARE, especially designed for
CHOP SUEY RESTAURANTS"​

 

The price list at the back of the catalog:

 

Amazing amount of documentation,what a trip !