The Liquor Store, Washington DC

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At the intersection of North Capitol Street and Florida Avenue in Washington DC, just a mile and a half (2,5 kms) from the Capitol building, there’s a liquor store. Nothing exceptional except that the business is owned and managed by a Cambodian family.
The Pich family arrived in the United States in 1988 after some years in Thai refugee camps and 6 months in Philippines before reaching the US. They have been based in the DC area all these last 20 years, and have bought this liquor business from Korean people in 2006. The two boys of the family, Mak and Pron (aged 25 and 29) managed the store, Monday through Friday, from 10am to 10pm. Their parents work in a hotel downtown and regularly come help and keep an eye on the accountancy.

















This area at the intersection of North Capitol Street and Florida Avenue is not the safest place in DC. This is where the North East neighborhood starts, on the way to Florida, New York and Rhode Island avenues. The ghetto, a lot of hanging around in the streets, evidently some drug dealing and insecurity.
Pron and Mak are separated from their customers with thick windows. The money is checked before anything is delivered… Calling the police to get rid of excited customers is not rare. Still it’s a business, and even during these hard times, the sales of beer, wine, soda, hard liquor and lottery tickets constantly bring people into the shop. The two boys don’t have much time to be bored...

A Valentine Photo Shoot in Chase, Maryland

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On Saturday, February 07, 2009, I drove to Chase, Maryland, a few 10 miles on the East side of Baltimore, on the Chesapeake Bay. I spent part of the day with Cambodian native photographer Rothany, 41, who owns and manages a Photo and Cosmetics studio with his wife. That day, a customer came to have a “Valentine photo shoot”, a gift from her boyfriend…

Rothany arrived in the United States in 1981. He confesses that 30 years later, he still has nightmares from his time spent under the Khmer Rouge regime. After living in Chicago and California and working 10 years as a manufacturing engineer, he came back to his original passion – photography – and opened in 2005 his own studio in Maryland. Rothany has been a photographer for 25 years. Providing photo, video and web design services to his customers. The building where his business is established is shared with a cosmetic studio managed by Rothany’s wife, Sayni, skincare consultant.

Business has been doing pretty good at the start and Rothany didn’t worry much about anything, until … until the economic crisis appeared. Today Rothany worries about the future and about the investments he has made these last years, and wonders for how long he can still hold in his hands his American dream and achievement…

Chamroeun's Garage in NE, Washington DC

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Chamrœun Muy was born in Cambodia in 1957. In 1975, he fled to the United States with most of his family and relatives. They settled in Pennsylvania where Chamrœun received his high school education. When he graduated, he enlisted in the US Army as a soldier and then in the US Navy as an electronic tecchnician.
In 1990, Chamroeun resigned from his position with the Navy to open a business in Northeast Washington DC, where he repairs cars and rents taxi cabs. His wife Evelyn Ruiz (who was born in the Philippines) has quit her job to help him…

In the current economic turmoil, Chamrœun and Evelyn Muy believe they can still make ends meet. They don’t have employees at their garage and they have “an old customer base”, having been established in the area for nearly 20 years now. Even if they claim not to be very rich, all their years of hard work has paid off. They own their house in Forest Heights, Maryland, they cover their business’s expenses and they give Sarah, their only daughter, the quality of life she deserves.

On January 7, 2009, I spent a few hours at the garage of Chamrœun and Evelyn Muy. We talked about how they can pull through in such hard economic times… Chamrœun’s older brother, Phon, a Cambodian who lives in France, was at the garage that day. He was visiting his brother, following the death of their mother, who had recently passed away in Pennsylvania.