End of an era for San Carlos hidden gem Devonshire Little Store

“I just came from Taiwan and I was living and working at my uncle’s restaurant New Canton in San Carlos and I came to the store to pay my respects to the family and the wife told me this is a good store to take care of your family,” Sun said.

His uncle was friends with Tang and Sun himself had one conversation with Tang a few months before he died. He said Tang was a high ranking officer for the Chinese Republic Army as a pilot. Sun questioned why Tang chose to work in a little corner store and he said Tang told him the city has good schools and it would provide a good education for his children to go to college and live a successful life in America.

It was advice Sun took seriously. Only a few months later the tragedy occurred and he had the opportunity to take over the little store and live above it. Sun said he followed Tang’s advice, he wanted to give his two children, Lily Sun and Long Sun, a chance to have a good education and to watch after them. Now, Sun’s children are adults, his daughter bought a home in Sacramento and she has a good job, he said.

He said he never forgot about the cold case and for years he saved the newspapers, always wondering if justice would ever be served. But as the murder mystery faded, Sun would become a fixture for the community. Julian Buttler, who now has a family of his own, said he used to ride his skateboard down to the little store every day to get candy.

“I think it was great. It was a place on the way to downtown and we would go get candy or a sandwich,” Buttler said. “And back then, skateboarding was looked down upon and Chung would let us hang out there and skate around and hang out on the staircase.”

It was a little convenience store for the neighborhood and, even more, it was a local hangout for the community. Buttler said his parents trusted Chung and they knew if their son and his friends were at the store they were safe, he said.

The store still sells sandwiches for $5. They also offer beer, drinks and little odds and ends for quick shopping needs.

Longtime San Carlos resident Jonathan Pascale said the corner store was an experience. Sun was personable, and he would ask about family and friends, and truly cares about the community, he said.

“We would go there to see Chung, get a sandwich and candy and sit on the stoop for hours talking and laughing,” Pascale said. “It was somewhere we would go as kids when we had nowhere else to go.”

The appreciation for the Suns and the store runs so deep into the community that David and Nicole Moutoux organized a potluck block party May 7, celebrating Sun’s 30 year commitment to the community.

“Almost 200 people came over, my neighbors said you did a good job and we appreciate you,” said Sun, who added he will remain open until June 1.

Last year, there was a new twist in the cold case when a letter to the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office led investigators to a suspect in Tang’s homicide in Washington County, Oklahoma. There, investigators found an alleged journal entry by a woman named Rayna Hoffman-Ramos who allegedly admitted to the murder of Tang that provided enough evidence to arrest her.

And for Sun, the entire 30 year timeline is a full-circle, he said. In June, he plans to retire and the new owners will turn the store into an ice cream and candy shop, he said.

For Sun, he plans to visit his mom and siblings in Taiwan. When he returns, he said he will live with his daughter in Sacramento where he and his wife Ann Sun can help take care of their granddaughter, he said.

Sun said his last day will be bittersweet because the community has embraced him and his family and for that he will be forever grateful. He will try not to cry because, he said, Chinese men are supposed to be warriors.

“Only cry for your wife,” Sun said. “But a lot of Chinese say, men cry inside, not outside.”

nick@smdailyjournal.com

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