Rui owns the Chinese Laundry where I’ve taken my work shirts since moving to my current address 4½ years ago. There used to be lots of these laundries in NY and as a kid I worked in the one my best friend’s family owned. Now there are not many left.
This was shot at f1.4 with the Fuji 23mm – note the smooth out of focus background. Doesn’t quite cover the distraction of the pole running through Rui’s head but a good illustration of the bokeh this lens is capable of.
It was a humble living, but it was a living. I saw these laundries close one by one and with chagrin.
Yes. Rui is being closed down by the apartment cooperative his shop is in on the 31st of this month. My oldest friend’s family ran one of these laundries when I was a boy and I used to help out to free him from his chores so we could go out and play sooner.