Paintings survive
restaurant fireJohn Young’s art has been
a Maple Garden mainstay
for years
Robert Hsu has fielded hundreds of telephone calls since news reports of the Thursday morning fire at his Maple Garden restaurant.
"The first question is when will we reopen, and the second question is what about the paintings," Hsu said yesterday as he and workers hosed muddy debris from the kitchen.
The good news is that paintings by the late John Young that cover the walls of the popular Chinese restaurant on Isenberg Street were undamaged by fire, smoke or water.
"Someone was watching out for me," said Hsu. "It's lucky they were not even touched, not one bit."
Fans were moving out the smoke-tinged air yesterday, but the walls of the three dining rooms glowed with the vibrant colors of Young's images of Chinese horses and children at play.
The kitchen was destroyed in the 8 a.m. blaze, which started before workers arrived. The ceiling was chopped open by firefighters who returned three hours later after a fire inspector spotted electrical sparking on the roof.
Hsu estimated the damage at $150,000. He is telling callers he hopes to reopen in 10 days.
He speculated that a gas leak may have been the cause, but he acknowledged that police are investigating the possibility of arson. Two days earlier, taggers sprayed graffiti designs across the wall on the parking lot side. Employees painted over the work the next day.
As for the creations inside, Hsu said he has been offered $1.5 million for his collection by the famous Hawaii artist who died in 1997. "I said no."
Hsu started his Young collection in the 1970s when he was a waiter at another restaurant and Young would leave him a sketch on a napkin as a tip. "We became great friends, like father and son," said Hsu. "He was a rooster and I was a rooster," he said referring to their shared Chinese zodiac sign.
After opening Maple Garden 30 years ago, he asked Young to do a painting of the horses for which the artist was famous. "He told me, 'Come back when you get $20,000.'" The bargain they eventually struck was that Hsu would pay half in cash and Young would take the other half in "meal credit. He brought friends here all the time. It was good for me; it built up the business."
Another time, Young told Hsu, "I'm going to dress this restaurant up."
"I ordered six canvases," Hsu said. "In two three-hour sessions, he filled them up."
Both Hsu and building owner Margie Lee credited the solid construction of the 40-year-old concrete building for containing the blaze. Three apartments upstairs -- with a total of seven people and Hsu's dog Coco in residence -- were not damaged.
Hsu employs 21 people, some of whom are working on the cleanup.
