Guests at the Dixon Historical Society’s fall presentation on the history of Pardi Market were (L-R) Jeanne Chinn, Raymond Lee, Carleton Fong, Darlene Young, Christian Fong, Carl Fong, Nick Stacey and Bing Lee.

DIXON, CA (MPG) - The Dixon Historical Society was honored to have John Fong’s oldest son, Carl Fong, speak about his memories of when his father John Fong had owned Pardi Market. Joining him were one of his younger brothers, Carleton, and his spouse Cindy Fong; one of his younger sisters Darlene Young; his oldest son Christian Fong; his Uncle Bing Lee (brother of John Fong’s wife Amy Fong); and cousins Raymond Lee and Jeanne Chinn. They travelled all the way from Orange County, Seattle, the Bay Area, and Sacramento to be with us here in Dixon this past fall.

The Fong family presentation began as “Pardi Market, a glimpse in the past.” Carl Fong, the oldest of John’s children, introduced his family in attendance and gave thanks to the Stacey Family, George Pardi and all the former Pardi Market team members. 

John Y. Fong, a 3rd-generation American of Chinese heritage, was the youngest of four children.  He married in 1958, had six children (3 boys and 3 girls) and lived on 555 Sierra Dr. in Dixon.  John was a cook, then went into the military, then began working in Dixon. John had a friend who worked at Rainbow Market in Dixon and who recruited John to the market. John Fong and his wife, Amy Fong, spoke different Chinese dialects. Carl spoke his father’s dialect, Hoisan-wa (similar to Cantonese), at home and learned English at school and by watching TV. The Fong family moved back to Sacramento because Carl had hay fever. Although they moved, John Fong loved Dixon and commuted every day.

The Pardi Market was purchased in 1969 from the Pardi family. At one point there were three owners: John Fong with Jerry Louie and Calvin Lee. When asked why John did not change the name from Pardi Market, he said that he wanted to honor the Pardi Family for having given him the opportunity to own his own business. Also, at the family dinner table, he would always remind his children that the customers were their family, and without customers there would be no market and no food on their table.

John Fong kept the market open 365 days a year, closing early on Thanksgiving, Christmas and sometimes New Year’s Eve. John Fong worked 6 days a week, and on Thursday, his only day off, he would drive around and pick up products to sell at the grocery store. He never really had time off. One day there was a bread strike and John’s daughter Darlene recalled driving all over Sacramento to buy bread just for Pardi Market.

Five of the six Fong children worked at the market. Carl started working at Pardi Market at the age of 14 or 15.  At 6 a.m., Carl and his brother Carleton remembered that they would stop on their commute to get donuts at Marie’s Donuts and have them available at the store. Carleton worked in the meat department with his dad while Carmon worked with Jerry Louie and handled the produce department. Carl did cashier, cleaning, stocking, etc.

John Fong taught them how to bag groceries, and how to be quick on the cash register. Staff remembered the buzzer that Carl’s sisters would ring because they would need someone to help bag groceries and then carry them out for the customers. Stay tuned for Part 2 in a future edition.