The Elite Café
The Elite Cafe in downtown Newman was a Chinese restaurant dating back to 1942
In 1942, Businessman Lew Suey built a new home for a restaurant at 1413 "O" Street (now "Main Street") naming it the "Elite Café". The "Elite Café" held it's grand opening on May 16, 1942, serving American & Chinese dishes. In addition to it's good food & service, a novel fish pond was installed in the dining room to attract customers. Lew Suey operated the business, with the help of his brother Wayne, into the 1970's. In 1974, Suey sold the business to Wallace and Wei Sum Chen who changed its name to The China Café. In 2006, new owners renamed the restaurant "Good Times". Good Times remains in business to this day, serving Chinese and American food (ice cream too!).
Trivia: The restaurant was a filming location for the 1989 motion picture "Valentino Returns" featuring Frederic Forrest (Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now") & Veronica Cartwright (Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" & Ridley Scott's "Alien").